Strategy and Competitiveness

General knowledge of business management.

Classes are theoretical-practical (TP).
In approaching the themes, audiovisual and digital means will be used to present the contents and examples that illustrate them, as well as practical cases and exercises in class, individual and in groups, to encourage active participation.

The pedagogical methods used will be: the expositive, the interrogative (with questions to the students during the exposition) and the case study, allowing a practical approach, active with interaction of the students in order to facilitate the creation of ideas and confirmation of the results. learned contents, as well as a strong approximation to current/real organizational contexts.

Tools that facilitate learning and stimulate students will be used, making use of educational technology, such as: Kahoot, Socrative and Mentimeter.

Strategy is indispensable for the success of organizations. In order to define the path for the future of an organization, company or other type of institution, it is essential to have a strategy that ensures that the intended objectives are achieved. The strategy seeks to understand the reasons that explain persistent differences in performance between companies.
Within the scope of strategy, a strategic diagnosis begins, the strategic possibilities are evaluated and the one that is most suitable for the organization and best suited to external conditions is chosen. Then, the selected strategic decisions are implemented and the results or objectives being achieved are determined and, if necessary, corrections are made to obtain the desired performance.

The purpose of this curricular unit is to provide students with knowledge and practices of diagnosis, choice/formulation and implementation of the strategy.

At the end of this course students should be able to:

• Know the meaning of Organizational Strategy

• Understand the evolution of the Strategy concept

• Recognize the importance of Strategic Thinking and Planning in a company

• Become aware of the different existing competitive strategies

• Recognize the characteristics that make a company competitive

• Understand the stages of the strategic planning process

• Understand the BSC as an alternative strategy management tool

1. Introduction to Organizational Strategy
1.1. The nature of the Strategy
1.2. Characteristics of strategic decisions and strategy
1.3. Concept and evolution
1.4. Strategic Thinking and Planning.
1.5. The Strategic Management Process

2. Strategic Analysis and Positioning
2.1. External Environment
2.1.1. The macro environment
2.1.2. The Micro Surroundings
2.2. Identification of the company’s competitive position: analysis of strategic groups
2.3. Critical Success Factors
2.4. Internal environment
2.4.1. Resources and Capabilities Audit
2.4.2. Value Chain Analysis
2.4.3. Benchmarking
2.5. Final SWOT Analysis
2.6. Culture and stakeholder expectations

3. Choosing the strategy
3.1. Competitive Strategy: the foundations for business strategy
3.2. Corporate Strategy and diversification
3.3. International Strategy
3.4. Innovation and entrepreneurship
3.5. Mergers Acquisitions and Alliances

4. The Implementation of the Strategy
4.1. Strategy assessment: suitability, feasibility and acceptability
4.2. Strategy development process
4.3. The design of the organizational structure
4.4. Management control and resource allocation
4.5. The implementation of the strategy through the BSC – Balanced Scorecard

NAO

Barney, J.B. (2002). Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage, 3th Edition. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

Barney J.B., & Hesterly, W.S. (2018). Strategic Management and Competitive Advantage, 6th Edition. Pearson.

HBR’s Must-Reads on Strategy (2012). Harvard Business School Press.

Kaplan, R., & Norton, D. (2001). Organização Orientada para a Estratégia, 15ª Edição. Editora Campus, São Paulo.

Kaplan, R., & Norton D. (2009). Prémio de Execução. Actual Editora, Lisboa.

Kim, W. C., & Mauborgne, R. (2007). A Estratégia Oceano Azul: Como criar mais mercado e tornar a concorrência irrelevamte. Actual Editora, Lisboa.

Mintzberg, H., Lampel, J., Queen, J. B., & Ghoshal, S. (2006). O Processo da Estratégia, 4ª Edição. Bookman.

Rumelt, R. (2011). Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters. Deckle Edge.

Whitthington, R., Regnér, P., Angwin, D., Jonhson, G., & Scholes, K. (2020). Exploring Strategy, 12th Edition. Pearson Education Limited.