EdX

Organizational Design: Creating Competitive Advantage (edX)

Organizational Design: Creating Competitive Advantage (edX)

Learn how to design control systems, decision-making processes and a culture that enables value creation and the development of sustainable competitive advantage. In order to sustain themselves, organizations need to compete for scarce resources both in input and output markets. Because of this organizations need to create some kind of competitive advantage.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see EdX's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

In this business and management course, suitable for managers and leaders in midsize to large organizations, you will learn the principles of organizational design and how design elements can be leveraged to gain competitive advantage. We will discuss various organizational structures and how an effective organizational design can help achieve a company’s goals and objectives in a sustainable manner. Since organizations involve collaborative activities, you’ll also learn how to create suitable control systems, decision-making processes and culture and reporting relationships to ensure that the efforts of a diverse set of employees are suitably coordinated to achieve the organizational purpose.

What you'll learn

  • Interrelationship between an organization’s strategy and structure
  • Effective use of control systems
  • How to achieve Competitive advantage through different designs
  • Structural alternatives such as functional, divisional and matrix
  • Structural tradeoffs such as centralization, formalization and complexity
  • How to manage structural change

Course Syllabus

Week 1 :
Interrelationship between organization structure and strategy
Case used – Joy of Running
Relationship between organizations and markets
Control systems in organizations
Case used – Cunningham Motors

Week 2:
Leveraging specialization in organization design
Competitive advantage achieved through different designs
Case discussion of Ford Motors Company and General Motors

Week 3:
Strategic outsourcing
Decision making framework for outsourcing
Variety versus scale tradeoff

Week 4:
Different Organization Structures – functional, divisional and Matrix
Case discussion of a Consumer Durables Company having a hybrid structure
Structural tradeoffs – complexity, formalization and centralization

Week 5:
Mechanistic and Organic designs
Case discussion of Acme and Omega

Week 6:
How to manage structural change
Case used – VFM Solutions
Putting it all together

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Doing Business in Latin America (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad de los Andes

Doing Business in Latin America (Coursera)

Join us in the course Doing Business in Latin America. In this course, you will learn about the characteristics of the biggest multilatinas, how they have built their domestic and international competitive advantage, and you will identify which are the challenges and innovations to achieve the sustainability of their superior economic performance. The course includes videos presenting and explaining the topics, learning and evaluation activities, interviews, reviews, reports, and additional bibliography. Assessment activities are designed so that you get feedback, which is saved in the platform, so that you can pick up where you left off when you go online again.

Oct 12th 2026
4 Weeks
Cosmopolitan Tang: Aristocratic Culture in China (edX) EdX
HarvardX,Harvard University

Cosmopolitan Tang: Aristocratic Culture in China (edX)

Explore the reunification of China under the Tang with a focus on aristocratic culture — from poetry to calligraphy to literature. By the Tang period, China was divided into northern and southern dynasties with different rulers and political systems. The north was conquered by relatively unsophisticated barbarians, but in the south, the aristocratic families established a refined appreciation of writing and literature.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Dynamic Systems & Controls (saylor.org) Saylor Academy
Saylor.org

Dynamic Systems & Controls (saylor.org)

The study of dynamic systems focuses on the behavior of physical systems as well as the physics of individual components and the interactions between them. Control systems are designed to enable dynamic systems to respond in a specific manner. In this course, we will learn about the mathematical modeling, analysis, and control of physical systems that are in rest, in motion, or acted upon by a force.

Legacy Course
Self-Paced
Business Strategy: The Art of Looking into the Future (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Coventry University

Business Strategy: The Art of Looking into the Future (FutureLearn)

Is your business strategy set up for the future? Explore strategic management tools to prepare for the future of your business. Explore the process of strategy formation in the construction industry. Where do you expect to find your business 10, 15, or 20 years from today? On this course, you are encouraged to depart from the present and start looking to the future of your business.

No sessions available
2 Weeks
Fundamentos de los Clientes y la Competencia con Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women (Coursera) Coursera
Goldman Sachs

Fundamentos de los Clientes y la Competencia con Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women (Coursera)

Este curso online gratuito es uno de los 10 cursos disponibles en la colección Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women, diseñado para emprendedoras listas para llevar su negocio al siguiente nivel. En este curso, examinarás el proceso de compra de tus clientes y explorarás los beneficios de la segmentación de mercados. Al analizar a tus competidores e identificar tu ventaja competitiva, considerarás cómo la comprensión de tus clientes y competidores pueden ayudar a maximizar el valor de tu oferta al obtener crecimiento empresarial para tu negocio a medida que crece.

Sep 21st 2026
1 Week
Competitive Advantage: Using Information to Build Business Success (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Deakin University

Competitive Advantage: Using Information to Build Business Success (FutureLearn)

Learn the value of information to businesses and how it can give you a competitive advantage. Apple, Facebook and Google are three of today’s most vibrant companies. What do they have in common? They all understand that the value of their business is built on what they know about their business and their customers. They know that information is the key to contemporary business success.

Mar 28th 2022
2 Weeks
Fundamentals of Organization (POK) Polimi OPEN KNOWLEDGE
Politecnico di Milano

Fundamentals of Organization (POK)

This course introduces the key theories, concepts, models and approaches related to Organizational Design, Business Process Management and Decision Making Process Management. Organization is a fundamental theme to understand the real functioning of each company or, more in general, of any institution, and it is part of the basic know-how of each manager. Organization design implies decisions on how work is subdivided and how coordination between the various activities and people who autonomously perform them is guaranteed.

Available
3 Weeks
Dynamics and Control (edX) EdX
Universitat Politècnica de València,UPValenciaX

Dynamics and Control (edX)

This is an interactive course about the basic concepts of Systems, Control and their impact in all the human activities. First, the basic concepts of systems, dynamics, structure and control are introduced. Then, looking at many examples in Nature and human made devices, we will realize that the dynamic behavior of most systems can be modified by adding a control system. Later we will see how knowing how to evaluate the dynamic behavior of a system and measure its performance will provide the tools to design new controlled systems fulfilling some requirements.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Justice (edX) EdX
HarvardX,Harvard University

Justice (edX)

Justice, one of the most famous courses taught at Harvard College, is an introduction to moral and political philosophy, offering an opportunity to discuss contemporary dilemmas and controversies. Taught by lauded Harvard professor Michael Sandel, Justice explores critical analysis of classical and contemporary theories of justice, including discussion of present-day applications.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Découvrir la science politique (edX) EdX
LouvainX,Université Catholique de Louvain - UCL

Découvrir la science politique (edX)

Décrypter des enjeux politiques actuels à partir d’une boîte à outils: des notions importantes, une démarche analytique et une perspective critique. Le politique nous concerne tous : chaque jour, des décisions publiques sont adoptées qui impactent notre quotidien. Dans quel contexte ces décisions sont-elles adoptées ? Au 21ème siècle, de nombreux paradoxes brouillent la vision que nous pouvons en avoir.

Self Paced
Self-Paced