Undergraduate Course: Strategic Management (CMSE10002)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Building on your studies of particular functional areas of the firm, Strategic Management deals with the direction of the business and considers how its leadership and management might affect change. The course is taught and assessed in part through case studies, to develop your skills for conducting a strategic analysis of a business unit or significant issue within a firm so you can learn to formulate recommendations based on this analysis and communicate these recommendations persuasively. These skills are essential for gaining advantage in your job application process and in your future careers.
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| Course description |
Coursework in the form of live hands-on projects with companies is the defining feature of the course. This enables you to investigate, analyse and present recommendations on, a strategic consulting project for management of a multinational, national or regional business. Senior executives will brief you on the challenges and the backgrounds to the projects in order to get you started, and you will be allocated to particular company projects and student teams, with a number of teams working in parallel on each project. You will also be supported and advised by practising management consultants from one of the world's leading consulting companies, as well as by professionals from one of the world's leading banks. They will make you aware of what is expected of your presentations and provide you with tips to shape your approach for your assessment.
Student Learning Experience
The course requires you to work through a number of online 'workbooks' prepared by the Course Organiser ahead of class, to guide you through the main theoretical constructs and issues; these require you to read sections of the set text, additional readings and short videos that amplify key learning points, and then to complete assessed multiple choice tests online. This enables the lecture sessions to take on more of a 'workshop' format examining critical issues in more depth and to enhance your understanding, as well as to allow guest lecture inputs. Allied to these you are required to work through a number of case studies in tutorials to help develop your individual and team-level analytic and presentation skills.
There is a single two-hour workshop and a one-hour small group tutorial or seminar most weeks. Importantly, you will also be allocated to teams and expected to contribute as a team member in tutorials and on the assessed team project. Your individual and team learning will be assessed through three activities: six pre-class tests associated with workbooks and readings; team corporate challenges in the format of a presentation; and a case-based 'take-home' essay (3,000 words) that will be completed in the examination period. The case will be released around the beginning of the December exam diet and will be due around the end of the exam diet.
The four learning outcomes for the Course have been mapped against these three means of assessment (available in the Course Handbook).
As detailed below (see Recent Developments), pre-class tests contribute to your assessed mark and working through online workbooks and readings and completing them upfront will help you to learn in a very different way: by first assimilating concepts from the reading and workbooks; enabling you to participate more effectively in lecture workshops so your understanding can be refined; and the immediate access to video material on real issues being addressed by C-suite executives (i.e. CEOs and heads of functions) will deepen your understanding as you progress. The videos are also important for enriching your thinking and answers, and giving you ideas you can potentially deploy in case studies in tutorials and team-level assessed Company Projects.
Companies will brief the class on their projects in week two, and at that point you will be allocated to projects in teams of c.five people and will be expected to work on them during the whole of the course to apply and demonstrate your learning. You will be assessed on this via a team presentation to a Panel in the penultimate week. There is also a take-home case-based essay on the course during the exam diet in December.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Business Studies Honours entry. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students must have at least 4 Business courses at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2020/21, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 8,
Summative Assessment Hours 1,
Revision Session Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
165 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Feedback |
Generic feedback on your coursework, together with individual marks, will be made available via Learn. You will also be able to review your individual feedback electronically via Grademark on Learn.
Your examination marks will be posted on Learn as soon as possible after the Boards of Examiners meeting (normally end of January/beginning of February). |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand and discuss critically conceptual tools and frameworks in Strategic Management.
- Understand and apply a method for conducting a strategic analysis of a firm.
- Research information, identify & analyse key issues in strategic management relating to a specified case.
- Construct and deliver a coherent and professional strategic presentation of your ideas with associated analyses and back-up work contained in an extended slide-deck.
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Reading List
Set Text
The course relies on a selection of textbook chapters and articles. The core textbook for the coursewill be made available online before the start of the Course. Details will be given on Learn.
The set text is:
Grant, Robert, M. (2016), Contemporary Strategy Analysis. 9th edition. Wiley: UK.
HD30.28 Gra.
Additional articles
A small number of articles allied to each lecture will be placed on Learn for you to read and digest.
Other Reserved materials
Several texts to supplement Grant have been made available via the Course Reserve List in the University Library:
Dess, Gregory G., Lumpkin, G. T. and Taylor, M.L. (2004) Strategic Management: Text and cases.
McGraw-Hill: Boston (Mass). HD30.28 Des.
Harrison, Jeffrey S. (2003) Strategic Management of Resources and Relationships: Concepts.
Wiley: New York. HD30.28 Har.
Hitt, Michael A., Ireland, R. D. and Hoskisson, R.E. (2005) Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization. Thomson. HD30.28 Hit.
Mintzberg, H. et al (2003) The Strategy Process: Concepts, Contexts, Cases. Prentice Hall: New York. HD30.28 Min.
International Business BS0037
Globalisation and Trade BS0038
Business and Multinational Enterprise BS
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Knowledge and Understanding:
After completing this course, students should be able to:
*Understand the complexity of strategic management
*Understand the traditional approaches of strategic analysis
*Know the main tools of strategy analysis and their limitations
*Understand the different perspectives for managing the strategic development of businesses
Cognitive Skills:
After completing this course, students should be able to:
*Manage and analyse relevant information about firms in a clear, sound and explicit way.
*Use conceptual ideas to develop persuasive and useful business arguments.
*Apply strategy theories and models to complex new environments and contexts
*Participate in team working
*Communicate analyses and conclusions clearly and persuasively
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| Additional Class Delivery Information |
2 hour lecture per week
1 hour(s) tutorial per week for 8 week(s) |
| Keywords | SM |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Ian Clarke
Tel: (0131 6)50 9505
Email: Ian.Clarke@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Ellie Harkes
Tel: (0131 6)50 3825
Email: Ellie.Harkes@ed.ac.uk |
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