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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2011/2012
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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Business School : Business Studies

Postgraduate Course: Strategic Management (MBA) (BUST11213)

Course Outline
School Business School College College of Humanities and Social Science
Course type Standard Availability Not available to visiting students
Credit level (Normal year taken) SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) Credits 10
Home subject area Business Studies Other subject area None
Course website None Taught in Gaelic? No
Course description This course is concerned with the strategic management process. Rarely is the formulation of strategy straightforward. Corporate complexity and market uncertainty often result in messy and sometimes political processes. Consequently, many of the concepts, frameworks and tools that we use often appear very straightforward in theory, but can be difficult to apply in practice. This is because at its heart strategy is a social process, which can be difficult to quantify or to analyse objectively. But, ultimately, it is these social processes that underpin economic performance.

This course is designed to both introduce strategic management to MBA students, and to begin integrating knowledge from your previous learning and experience to identify and address strategic concerns of firms. There are eight overlapping and interweaving key themes. They include strategic leadership, the context of strategic management and society, competitive analysis, strategy in the multi-business firm, blue ocean strategy and disruptive innovation, transformation and renewal and strategy implementation. Each theme is based around a case. For each theme there will be a 30-minute lecture on theory, followed by 90 minutes of group discussion and analysis of the case in syndicate groups, followed by 60 minutes of group presentations, and finally, 30 minutes of a case de-brief and Q&A. The first four days is designed to encourage students to reflect on their own experiences and to share them with the rest of the class.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Additional Costs None
Course Delivery Information
Delivery period: 2011/12 Semester 1, Not available to visiting students (SS1) WebCT enabled:  Yes Quota:  None
Location Activity Description Weeks Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
No Classes have been defined for this Course
First Class First class information not currently available
No Exam Information
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and Understanding of
&· The complexity of strategic management in firms;
&· A knowledge of key concepts associated with strategic management process;
&· Different perspectives for managing strategically;
&· The current issues being faced by strategic managers.

Cognitive Skills
&· The ability to manage and synthesise relevant information about firms in a clear, sound and explicit way;
&· Broad, integrative thinking;
&· The ability to use management concepts to produce persuasive conclusions about real firms
&· Ability to apply theories and models to new environments and contexts
&· Ability to evaluate and critique business theories and models

Key Skills
&· Ability to analyse complex business situations
&· Skills of argument development and persuasion
&· Group working and presentation skills
&· The ability to communicate analyses and conclusions clearly and persuasively

Subject Specific Skills
By the end of the course students will have learned
&· Useful approaches of strategic analysis, and their limitations
&· Knowledge of strategy alternatives for firms in different contexts
&· Different perspectives for managing strategically
Assessment Information
Assessment is linked directly to the aims and objectives of the module, and is based on the application of the concepts and frameworks to real cases. The assessment for this course comprises the following components, with the marks allocations in parentheses:

A. Teams&© presentations (X2) of strategy analyses & recommendations for their case (10%)

B. Team&©s CEO memos (X2) to corporate stakeholders outlining the adopted strategy (10%)

C. Participation (peer assessed within syndicate groups) (10%)

D. Written examination $ú &«role play&ª (70%)
Special Arrangements
None
Additional Information
Academic description Not entered
Syllabus Introduction to the module
Introducing Strategy

Strategic Leadership

Strategic Context: Business and Society

Competitive Analysis

Strategy and the multi-business firm

Strategy Process I: Innovation

Strategy Process II: Transformation

Implementation
Transferable skills Not entered
Reading list Not entered
Study Abroad Not entered
Study Pattern Not entered
Keywords Not entered
Contacts
Course organiser Dr Robert Mackay
Tel:
Email: Brad.Mackay@ed.ac.uk
Course secretary Mr Stuart Mallen
Tel: (0131 6)50 8071
Email: Stuart.Mallen@ed.ac.uk
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copyright 2011 The University of Edinburgh - 1 September 2011 5:43 am