Strategy and Competiveness

No basic knowledge recommended.

Courses are theoretical and practical where themes contents will be presented and illustrated through discussion of concrete cases. Students are asked to prepare classes previously reading carefully the references given in each chapter. This previous work is essential to make students fully aware of the contents to be discussed, to facilitate learning and to improve the final outcome.

Intended learning objectives of the curricular unit

• To know and understand the meaning and evolution of strategic management: main theories and trends on research.
• To understand and master the concepts and rationale of strategy planning and thinking.
• Be able to perform basic techniques which allow the diagnosis of the actual positioning of the firm.
• To identify strategic options that allowed competitive advantage.
• Be able to choose and evaluate strategy.
• Be able to implement strategy based on Balanced Scorecard for competitive advantage.

1. Syllabus

1. Business strategy: concepts, evolution and main theories
2. Strategic analysis and positioning: External an internal environment and culture.
3. Strategic choices and strategy evaluation.
4. Strategy implementation with Balanced Scorecard 

2.   Demonstration of the syllabus coherence with the curricular unit’s intended learning objectives

1. Business strategy: concepts, evolution and main theories, introduces core concepts and main theories. In this item students work in some leading articles in the field. Differences between strategy thinking and planning are clarified.
2. Strategy analysis and positioning presents several tools and methodologies for strategic diagnosis aiming to identify sources of competitive advantage, context opportunities and threats and strengths and weaknesses of the organization.
3. The strategy choices and strategy evaluation, shows and characterizes the bases of strategies, the possible alternatives and the methods to be followed in the business scenario keeping in mind the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship. Then strategy selected is evaluated in order to minimize risk.
4. Strategy implementation with BSC, focus of the course, based in the methodology developed by Kaplan and Norton in the book “The Execution Premium” (2008).

The student’s evaluation can be carried out in two alternative ways, which must be agreed upon with the professor:
1. Final exam under the terms and conditions required by the institute.
2. Mixed assessment.

In the second alternative, the students must have a minimum presence in classes of 85%, solve a case or an MVE application report (individual or maximum of three students per group), a summary of an article, or develop an essay or prepare a case study.

The final grade is determined as follows: case grade 20%, summary grade 20%, MVE report 20%, and the remaining 40% refers to the exam grade, carried out in any of the seasons admitted by ISCAC.

The three evaluations mentioned - case, summary, and MVE report - will only be considered with the exam for the final grade, if they are carried out during the academic period.

NAO