Content

One of the most important decisions which an enterprise or an organization has to take is determining the direction in which they want to grow and develop. This is called strategy. In a strategy, an enterprise determines where and how it wishes to compete and which investments it will have to do and which skills it shall have to build in order to be successful. Both existing and new enterprises need strategies. One important finding during the last years is that great (and sometimes persisting) differences exist between the business results of enterprises.

In this course, an analysis is made of how the business results of enterprises and the accomplishments of organizations are determined by a combination of strategy, business branch structure and surroundings. This analysis is then used to indicate how enterprises formulate and implement strategies.
Two levels of strategy formulation will be discerned: competition strategy and concern strategy. A competition strategy indicates how an enterprise can position itself on a business branch and how it can gain a competing advantage. A concern strategy indicates in which business branches an enterprise needs to invest (for example through internal developments, takeovers or joint-ventures).

Course material

Used course material:

• Slides, which will be uploaded on Toledo
• Course notes, taken during the lectures
• Literature, which will be uploaded on Toledo

Recommended reading:

• Reader (bundling of all relevant articles), which is available at Ekonomika Kursusdienst

Toledo is being used for this learning activity

Format: more information

The focus of this course is on explaining the core concepts of Strategic Management. Students are expected to critically and thoroughy study the theory and examples that are presented during the lectures. For every chapter a list will be provided with the recommended readings that should be read for a clear understanding of the concepts and examples presented in class. These recommended readings will be bundled in a 'reader'.