Search our site
Search our site

Strategic Management

  • Module code: BS7576
  • Year: 2018/9
  • Level: 7
  • Credits: 15
  • Pre-requisites: None
  • Co-requisites: None

Summary

This module is a core module for the Master of Business Administration. The module explores how an organisation could develop widely supported and high quality decisions in a manner that would ensure its ability to succeed and remain sustainable. The module also helps you to learn how to translate a strategy into action in organisations and engage with the challenges that the implementation of strategy brings about in order to ensure sustainable success in a rapidly changing environment.

To achieve this we will be examining a number of conceptual and analytical approaches and models to help us understand the assets and capabilities of the organisation, and its relationships with suppliers, customers, regulatory bodies and other firms. Following on from this analysis we will consider the issues involved in understanding and designing strategic options and introduce a number of ideas as how the execution of strategy should be understood and related to different activities of the organisation that relate to the implementation of its different strategic options in terms of people, processes and technology.

Aims

  • To evaluate and prioritise environmental impacts upon organisational context
  • To understand the interplay of different processes which underpin the creation and capture of value in organisations
  • To analyse various bases of competitive advantage available to the firm
  • To learn how organisational design, systems and processes could be aligned with the executed strategy
  • To appreciate uniformity and diversity in the strategies of public, private, voluntary, profit and not for profit organisations

Learning outcomes

  • To evaluate and prioritise environmental impacts upon organisational context
  • To understand the interplay of different processes which underpin the creation and capture of value in organisations
  • To analyse various bases of competitive advantage available to the firm
  • To learn how organisational design, systems and processes could be aligned with the executed strategy
  • To appreciate uniformity and diversity in the strategies of public, private, voluntary, profit and not for profit organisations

Curriculum content

  • Understanding strategy: as a disputed field whose development is conditioned by cultural, social and ethical issues in organisations
  • Environmental analysis and competitive dynamics: impacts on organisations including transition, industry structure, technology, markets; strategic interactions, risk, uncertainty, and crises
  • Organisational capabilities: survival, sustainability and competitive advantage. Value and supply chains. Integrating information and knowledge into strategic processes
  • Stakeholders: trade-offs between stakeholder groups. Profit, not-for profit and voluntary organisations. Governance and ethics.
  • Networks: Supply and value chains; alliances and mergers. Organisational structure; restructuring.
  • Strategy execution challenge: Exploring how the changes in the environment is making strategy execution more important but more difficult.
  • Diagnosing strategy execution problems: Diagnosing and identifying the most common strategy execution problems and the efforts that should be properly directed at them.
  • Aligning action with strategy: Exploring key organisational components which affect strategy execution, including the allocation of responsibility and accountability, organisation structure, performance measurements, targets, and reward systems.

Teaching and learning strategy

The module will be delivered using a mixture of formal input and class discussion/debate concerning key strategic issues and themes highlighted in the curriculum above. Students will be encouraged to develop creative and entrepreneurial strategic thinking.

The module will be supported by the core texts and additional readings, and will be delivered by a multi-disciplinary team using case studies chosen for their multi-functional content and fit with the curriculum.

Breakdown of Teaching and Learning Hours

Definitive UNISTATS Category Indicative Description Hours
Scheduled learning and teaching Full time 40 Executive & Russia 32
Guided independent study Full time 110 Executive & Russia 118
Total (number of credits x 10) 150

Assessment strategy

The module will be assessed by a combination of class groupwork and an individual coursework. The group work engages individuals in collaborative and interactive situations designed to appreciate challenges of strategy execution and implementation such communication of strategy, time management and achieving specific performance outcome. The individual course work assignment aims to stretch the individual's critical thinking, research skills and ability to apply theoretical knowledge to a specific organisational context.

Mapping of Learning Outcomes to Assessment Strategy (Indicative)

Learning Outcome Assessment Strategy
1) contribute effectively to analysis to problems of risks inherent in strategic decisions and recommend appropriate options for organisational growth and sustainability within and across different contexts Group Presentation Coursework
2) distinguish between different levels of strategy and strategic approaches in organizations Group Presentation Coursework
3) evaluate alternative approaches and discourses in the organisational quest for competitive position and the need to create value for its many stakeholders Group Presentation Coursework
4) address key strategic problems, issues and tradeoffs associated with the execution of strategy in different contexts Group Presentation Coursework
5) assess the importance of interdependence, co-operation, rivalry and network effects for strategic execution and outcomes. implementation and control Group Presentation Coursework
6) balance analytical techniques with intuitive, heuristic and creative approaches to strategy execution, Group Presentation Coursework

Elements of Assessment

Description of Assessment Definitive UNISTATS Categories Percentage
Group Presentation Practical Exam 30%
Individual Coursework Coursework 70%
Total (to equal 100%) 100%

Achieving a pass

It IS NOT a requirement that any element of assessment is passed separately in order to achieve an overall pass for the module.

Bibliography core texts

Clegg, S., Carter, C., Kornberger, M. & Schweitzer, J. (2011) Strategy Theory & Practice, London: Sage.

Making Smarter Decisions (2007) Harvard Business Review, HBS: Boston, Mass

MacLennan, A. (2011) Strategy Execution - Translating strategy into action in complex organizations, NY: Routledge.

Pantalea, D., Pal, N. (2010) From Strategy to Execution, Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

Bibliography recommended reading

Ambrosini, V., Johnson, G., & Scholes, K. (1998) Exploring Techniques of Analysis and Evaluation in Strategic Management. Harlow: Prentice Hall Europe.

Fitzroy, P., and Hulbert, J. (2005) Strategic Management: Creating Value in Turbulent Times, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.

Hrebiniank, L.G. (2005) Making Strategy Work: Leading effective execution and change. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Jarzabkowski, P. (2005) Strategy as practice - an activity-based approach.  Sage Publications.

Jenkins, M. and Ambrosini, V. (2002) Strategic Management: A Multi-Perspective Approach, Basingstoke: Palgrave

Kaplan, R.S. and Norton, D.P. (2004) Strategy Maps - Converting intangible assets into tangible outcomes. Harvard Business School Publication Corporation.

Mintzberg, H., Ahlstrand, B.W., Lampel, J. and Koch, R. (2009) Strategy Safari/FT Guide to Strategy Pack, Financial Times Prentice Hall.

Osterwalder, A., Peigner, Y. (2010), Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers, John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Segal-Horn, S. (2004) The Strategy Reader, Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Simerson, K. (2011) Strategic Planning - A Practical Guide to Strategy Formulation and Execution, Praeger.

Tovstiga, G. (2010) Strategy as Practice: A Practitioner's Guide to Strategic Thinking, John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Volberda, H.W., Morgan, R.E., Reinmoeller, P., Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D. and Hoskisson, R.E. (2011) Stratetic Management Competitiveness and Globalization, Cengage Learning EMEA

Whittington, R. (2000) What is Strategy and Does it Matter?, Cengage Learning EMEA.

Wilson, D., Cummings, S. (2003) Images of Strategy, Blackwell Publisher


Journals

Strategic Management Journal

Academy of Management Journal

Academy of Management Review

Organization Science

Organization Studies

Human Relations

Find a course

Course finder

Find a course
>