Bachelor Degree in Business Administration and Economics

Updated A.Y. 2019-2020

Course Overview

Learning objectives:

Knowledge and Understanding: acquire basic approach and tools for strategy making.

Applying Knowledge and Understanding: apply the general approach to strategic making to specific context and decisions, mainly in the area of the digital transformation.

Making Judgements: evaluate the competitive scenario using a set of alternative models (such as the SWOT analysis) and, based on these considerations, propose a business or corporate strategy.

Communication Skills: communicate the analysis and the proposals in discussions and group presentations.

Learning Skills: develop searching skills so to find relevant information in the cases and prioritizing skills so to detect the few relevant issues.

Syllabus_2019-20.pdf

Course structure

Part I: Overview on Strategic Management
• Strategic management and strategic competitiveness
• The external organization
• The internal organization

Part II: Business-level strategy
• Business-level strategy
• Cost-leadership strategy
• Differentiation strategy
• Niche strategy
• Competitive rivalry

Part III: Corporate-level strategy
• Corporate-level strategy
• Diversification strategy
• Merger and acquisition strategy
• International Strategy
• Cooperative strategy
• Strategic Leadership

Part IV: Digital Transformation
• Digital Transformation: key characteristics and impacts
• Digital Transformation governance: What and How
• Digital transformation tool-kit (I): customer and competition
• Digital transformation tool-kit (I): data, innovation and value

Updated A.Y. 2018-2019

Course Description
The course explains up-to-date standard strategic management process. The coverage ranges from basic analytical tools, through developing strategies, to putting strategic intent into action.
The focus of this course is on developing pragmatic and action-oriented analytical skills supported by an a mix of business strategy standard framework coupled with illustrative and in-depth cases.
The objectives of the course are:
• to develop an understanding of the business-strategy framework;
• to understand and apply the analytical tools and lenses used by managers throughout the strategic management process;
• to understand the approach strategists use in order to develop and sustain their businesses;
• to understand the challenges deriving from the ongoing digital transformation

Teaching Method
Academic classes based on text book & articles, plus web materials.
Case studies for going closer to practice.

 

Schedule of Topics

Topic 1  Strategic management and strategic competitiveness
Topic 2 The external environment
Topic 3 The internal organization
Topic 4 Integrating internal and external resources
Topic 5 Business-level strategy
Topic 6 Competitive rivalry and competitive dynamics
Topic 7 Corporate-level strategy
Topic 8 Strategic acquisition and restructuring
Topic 9 International strategy
Topic 10 Cooperative strategy
Topic 11  Digital transformation and strategy
Topic 12 Digital transformation pillars: customers, competition, data, innovation and value

Textbook and Materials
The reference textbook is: H. Volberda, R. Morgan, P. Reinmoller, R. Ireland, R. Hoskisson, Strategic Management. Competitiveness and Globalization. Concepts and Cases, Cengage Learning, 2011
Plus selected readings and reports from Management Consulting companies (available on the course webpage)

Assessment
The assessment is looking both at the knowledge of the theoretical models and at the capability to use these models to analyse the business cases.
Specifically, the assessment is based on:
• a written test made of six open questions
plus
• the participation to the case studies that will be discussed during the course (up to 2 extra marks).

Office hours
On demand – to be booked by e-mail.

E-mail
corrado.cerruti@uniroma2.it