A55705 Strategic management

Scuola di Economia e Management
Syllabus
Academic Year 2018/19 Second Semester

foto
Docente TitolareMassimo Solbiati
E-mailmsolbiati@liuc.it
Office"Torre" (main tower), 7th floor
Phone0331 572205

Learning Objectives

At the end of the course the student will be able:

  1. to understand what strategy is 
  2. to analyze the external environment: industry forces  / competitiveness of locations
  3. to apply strategic thinking to recent developments: creating shared value / smart connected products 
  4. to evaluate the elements of the entrepreneurial formula and their coherence with business models
  5. to measure the performance of business strategies

Learning targets

Students will develop a critical understanding of business strategy. They will acquire concepts and tools to analyze strategy and identify and assess success factors. The analysis of the external environment and the elements of the entrepreneurial formula will be applied to real world cases in a team project. Students will be stimulated to apply the learned concepts to dfferent business models and recent economic and societal trends. 

Course Content

Strategy is crucial for business performance. The course aims at presenting the elements of succesful strategies, taking into account internal and external business factors.

  1. Introduction
  2. Overview: what is strategy?
  3. The Five Forces Model
  4. The Diamond Model
  5. Recent developments in strategic thinking: Creating Shared Value / Smart Connected Products
  6. The Entrepreneurial Formula
  7. How to measure strategy

The course is aimed at providing the knowledge needed to deal with each of these issues at the business strategy level.

 

Course Delivery

The course will be divided into two modules, by professor Massimo Solbiati and professor Michael Keller.

After the presentation of the course in the first lesson, where professor Massimo Solbiati presents concepts of strategy, of strategic management and of the entrepreneurial formula (Prof. Vittorio Coda), the first module of the course will be focused on the big picture of strategic management within its external environment: industry analysis, location analysis, relation with society and recent trends. The instructor of this first module of the course will be professor Michael Keller. The second module, that will be conducted by professor Massimo Solbiati, will be focused on the link between business strategy, operations, decisions and performance: in every lesson direct testimonials (managers and entrepreneurs) will explain the strategy of their firms and their results.

The whole course will be paralleled by a continous team project where students will directly apply the learned concepts to a real world case.

 

Mandatory readings for attendees are:

Books available in the library:

Vittorio Coda (2010). "Entrepreneural values and Strategic Management. Essays in Management Theory" - chapter 3.

Michael E. Porter (2008). "On Competition". Harvard Business review Book. chapters 1, 2 and 6.

Articles available in the course dropbox:

Michael E. Porter and James E. Heppelmann (2015). "How Smart Connected Products are Transforming Competition". Harvard Business Review.

 

Mandatory readings for non attendees :

Vittorio Coda (2010). "Entrepreneural values and Strategic Management. Essays in Management Theory" - chapter 3.

Michael E. Porter (2008). "On Competition". Harvard Business review Book. chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

Articles available in the course dropbox:

Michael E. Porter and James E. Heppelmann (2015). "How Smart Connected Products are Transforming Competition". Harvard Business Review.

 

Students are responsible for consulting on regular basis the website of the course on “my.liuc.it” and the course dropbox where updates, additional material and slides about the course are posted. 

 

Course Etiquette

In your own interest and of your colleagues, please strictly observe the following courtesy rules:

1. arrive in class on time; do not leave early without prior explicit instructor’s approval;

2. use your mobiles and laptops responsibly;

3. do not walk in and out of the classroom during lessons;

4. deliver the group work on time: no late submissions are allowed.

 

Required Readings

Mandatory readings for attendees are:

Books available in the library:

Vittorio Coda (2010). "Entrepreneural values and Strategic Management. Essays in Management Theory" - chapter 3.

Michael E. Porter (2008). "On Competition". Harvard Business review Book. chapters 1, 2 and 6.

Articles available in the course dropbox:

Michael E. Porter and James E. Heppelmann (2015). "How Smart Connected Products are Transforming Competition". Harvard Business Review.

 

Mandatory readings for non attendees :

Vittorio Coda (2010). "Entrepreneural values and Strategic Management. Essays in Management Theory" - chapter 3.

Michael E. Porter (2008). "On Competition". Harvard Business review Book. chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

Articles available in the course dropbox:

Michael E. Porter and James E. Heppelmann (2015). "How Smart Connected Products are Transforming Competition". Harvard Business Review.

Course Evaluation

For students attending classes, the grade is based on an individual written exam (60%) on required readings, and on the grade of the team project (prof. Solbiati assignment 20% and prof. Keller assignment 20%).

For students non attending classes, grade is entirely based on an individual written exam on the required readings.

The written exam for the attending students will be a multiple choice test with 18 questions.

For non attending students the written exam will be a multiple choice test with 30 questions.

Syllabus

Session 1
Hours of lesson: 4
Instructor: M. Solbiati

Topics:

Course presentation.

Strategy, Strategic Planning, Strategic Performance, and the Entrepreneurial Formula by Prof. Vittorio Coda. How measuring strategy's performance.

Readings:

Session 2
Hours of lesson: 4
Instructor: M. Keller

Topics:

Strategic management - The big picture: Introduction to the module.

Strategy Basics. The Five Fources.

Organization of the team projects for module 1

Readings:

Session 3
Hours of lesson: 4
Instructor: M. Keller

Topics:

Five Tests of a good strategy

Diamond Model

Group work

Readings:

Session 4
Hours of lesson: 6
Instructor: M. Keller

Topics:

Creating Shared Value

Team feedback

Readings:

Session 6
Hours of lesson: 4
Instructor: M. Keller

Topics:

Creating shared value

Team project feddbacks

Group work

Readings:

Session 7
Hours of lesson: 4
Instructor: M. Solbiati

Topics:

Growth and investments strategy in a family business.  How measuring strategy's performance - a real case (testimonial)

Readings:

Session 8
Hours of lesson: 4
Instructor: M. Solbiati

Topics:

Strategy in a high tech company: the drivers of innovation - a real case (testimonial)

Readings:

Session 9
Hours of lesson: 4
Instructor: M. Solbiati

Topics:

Strategy for changing the business model - a real case.  How measuring strategy's performance - a real case (testimonial)

Readings:

Session 10
Hours of lesson: 4
Instructor: M. Solbiati

Topics:

Strategy for a star up company.  How measuring strategy's performance - a real case (testimonial)

Readings:

Session 11
Hours of lesson: 4
Instructor: M. Solbiati

Topics:

Strategy of internationalization of a industry 4.0 company.  How measuring strategy's performance - a real case (testimonial)

Readings:

Session 12
Hours of lesson: 4
Instructor: M. Solbiati

Topics:

Class presentation - work groups presentations

Readings:

Session 13
Hours of lesson: 2
Instructor: M. Solbiati

Topics:

Exam

Readings:


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