06220362 - Business policy and strategy

This seminar aims at introducing the most important concepts of business policy and strategy. Students will be familiarised with key concepts and tools and trained to use them in order to better understand organizations' ethics, policy and strategic choices. More precisely, students will be trained to identify organisations' strategic position and challenges, to understand and assess their choices.

TARGETED KNOWLEDGE

• Be able to develop, implement, assess and revise the strategy of a company or a department of a company by using technical and analytical knowledge and capacities at the corporate, business unit and operational levels
• Be able to roll-out the strategy of a company or a department of a company/organization byintegrating different aspects (marketing, finance, logistics, HR…)
• Understand the dynamics of the environment in which firms operate

TARGETED SKILLS

• Formulate a business policy
• Make strategic diagnosis : environmental, internal
• Identify firm's strategic capabilities
• Use analytical tools to assess firms' strategic choices at the business unit and corporate levels
• Develop the competencies required to design and implement strategies
• Formulate recommendations

Business policy and strategy : introducing the concepts

Part 1. The strategic position
1. The environment
1.1. Analysing the macroenvironment: the PESTEL analysis
1.2. Understanding the industry and sector dynamics: Porter's 5.1 forces and the dynamics of industry structure
1.3. Identifying competitors and markets: strategic groups and market segments
2. Strategic capabilities
2.1. Concepts and definitions: Resources, competences and capabilities
2.2. The bases of competitive advantages: the V.R.I.N characteristics and the organizational knowledge
2.3. Diagnosing strategic capabilities: the value chain and the SWOT analysis
3. Strategic purpose and culture
3.1 Organisational purpose: mission, values, vision, objectives
3.2 Corporate governance
3.3 CSR, ethics and stakeholders' management

Part 2. Strategic choices
1. Business Unit strategies
1.1. Generic strategies
1.2. The strategic clock
2. Corporate strategies
2.1. Strategy direction : the Ansoff Matrix
2.2. Diversification: drivers and performance
2.3. Integration and outsourcing
3. Portfolio matrix
3.1. The growth/share (BCG) matrix
3.2. The directional policy (McKinsey) matrix
3.3. The parenting (Ashridge) matrix

Part 3. Implementing strategies
1. Growth strategies: organic vs. external growth
2. Evaluating strategies: the SAF criteria and techniques of evaluation

Final Exam
Written, 3 hours
Case study

Continuing Examination
Written exam
Team work - case study

TEACHING METHODS
During the seminar, students will be familiarised with key concepts and tools using essentially case studies, team work and videos.

TECHNOLOGY ENHANCED LEARNING:
Use of different teaching supports such as videos, case studies, etc.

PRE-REQUISITE
No specific knowledge is required to attend the seminar. However, we expect students to keep informed about the latest information related to the business environment. Reading specialized newspaper like the Financial Times, the Economist or Harvard Business Review is an imperative.

ADDITIONAL READINGS:
Business Insider
The Economist
Financial Times
Harvard Business Review
Strategy + Business