Strategy is considered to be the queen of the managerial disciplines and a key success factor in all areas of human activity. The purpose of strategy is to improve the ability to shape and adapt to unfolding circumstances. As such, strategic actions are purposeful, deliberate and meaningful, with the goal of linking now with a desired future state. Given their paramount importance, strategic decisions are rarely straightforward or simple. This is because they involve value judgments that depend to a large degree on people’s attitudes, perceptions and assumptions. This is why so many strategic decisions turn out to be ill-judged. In this respect, strategic management is concerned with complexity arising out of ambiguous and non-routine situations with organization-wide rather than operation-specific implications.
Strategy has always been considered important. As early as 400 BC Sun Tzu wrote about strategy in his famous book Art of War "…it is a question of life and death". However, the conceptualization of ‘strategy’ as a construct is far more abstract than what is typically depicted in literature and practice. The word ‘strategy’ is now applied to almost every management activity to add misleading rhetorical weight. In contemporary business settings, strategy can provide the direction and scope of the organization over the long term, in order to achieve competitive advantage in a changing environment. Without a strategy the organization is like a ship without a rudder, going around in circles. In this respect, there are numerous examples of how a successful strategy can lead to success, even in cases where resources are limited and are not overwhelmingly superior to those of competitors.
The aim of the course is to help students understand and evaluate strategy and strategic choices, so as to answer the question “Why are some firms more successful than others?” To this end, students will learn specific tools and methods that can aid them in designing and evaluating appropriate strategies for different companies that possess disparate resources and capabilities, and operate in diverse micro and macro environments. Furthermore, students will learn how to formulate implementation plans and control strategy execution so as to attain a sustainable competitive advantage. At a broader level, this course seeks to develop students’ capability for strategic thinking and creativity, enhancing their capacity to effectively tackle complex strategic situations.
- Teacher: Alexandros Papalexandris