Taught In English

There is no language prerequisite for courses at this language level.

Advised previous requirements: Business economics.

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT I

INTRODUCTION
In today’s turbulent business environments, firms are exposed to increasingly frequent drastic and disruptive changes, that make even well proven business models become under question or even obsolete. In this context, business leaders must focus, not only in the administrative or operational challenges that running a firm demands, but also in developing an insightful understanding of the overall characteristics of the industrial sector where they compete, and of its main future trends, including, economical, political and cultural factors. Additionally, business leaders need to have a deep awareness of the strenghts and weaknessess of the firms they run, in order to match adequately the
characteristics of the goods and services they provide to market requirements. This is what Strategic Management is about.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
The course aims at developing the necessary skills to perform sound strategic analyses of any kind of industries. For that purpose, several frameworks for strategic analysis will be presented, and case studies will be discussed with the purpose of appreciating how real life companies make strategic decisions. The objectives of the course are to help you:
1. To root your analysis of businesses in frameworks that will ease the identification of their key features. You should be able to determine whether a business is attractive or not.
2. To conceive business strategies that may be applied to real life business. You should be able to justify the merits of different strategic initiatives using the same kind of arguments that a manager would use.
3. To understand which are the sources of competitive advantage or disadvantage of a particular business. You should be able to propose
initiatives aimed at strengthening or developing resources and capabilities.
4. To understand under which conditions might two business gain advantage because of being run by the same firm. You should be able to assess
critically the relative merits of diversification decisions.
5. To understand when collaboration initiatives with other firms for specific projects can be convenient or dangerous for our company. You should be able to categorize strategic alliances and diagnose their future prospects.
6. To understand the really novel features of the “new economy”. You should be able to identify which are the reasons that make some business be
stable and predictable and others be highly dynamic and unpredictable.

TOPICS
1. Introduction
2. Strategic Management Concepts
3. The External Environment
· Strategic Matrixes
· Structural Analysis of Industries
4. The Internal Environment
· Resources, Capabilities, and Competencies
5. Business-level Strategies
· The Positioning School

MIDTERM EXAM
6. Corporate-level Strategies
· Diversification
· Governance
· Strategies for Growth
7. Cooperative Strategies
· Strategic Alliances
8. Competitive Dynamics
9. Strategy in the New Economy
10. Strategic Planning
Summary and Review

FINAL EXAM
Bibliography
Suggested Reading:
Text Book: Competitive Strategy: Competitiveness and Globalization (4th
Edition) by M. Hitt, D. Ireland, & R. Hoskisson
Required Readings and Cases to be announced when the course begins.