Strategic ManagementModule Details

Module description

The module is concerned with managerial decisions and actions that affect the performance and survival of business enterprises. The module is focused on the information, analyses, organizational processes, and skills and business judgment managers must use to devise strategies, position their businesses, define firm boundaries and maximize long-term profits in the face of uncertainty and competition. The key strategic business decisions of concern in this module involve selecting competitive strategies, creating and defending competitive advantages, defining firm boundaries and allocating critical resources over long periods.

Aim of the module

The module aims at equipping students with the key concepts, tools, and principles of strategy formulation and competitive analysis.

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of this module students should be able to: 
1.    Analyze the main structural features of an industry 
2.    Develop strategies that position the firm most favorably in relation to competition 
3.    Recognize the different stages of industry evolution
4.    Appraise the resources and capabilities of the firm in terms of their ability to confer sustainable competitive advantage 
5.    Formulate strategies that leverage a firm’s core competencies.
6.    Distinguish the two primary types of competitive advantage: cost and differentiation and formulate strategies to create a cost and/or a differentiation advantage.
7.    Analyze dynamics in competitive rivalry including competitive action and response, first-mover advantage, co-opetition and winner-take-all and make appropriate recommendations for acting both proactively and defensively.
8.    Formulate strategies for exploiting international business opportunities including foreign entry strategies and international location of production.
9.    Recognize strategic decisions that present ethical challenges.