Strategic Management: From Insight to Decision (edX)

This advanced strategic management course helps you translate strategic insights into smart strategic decisions on positioning, partnering and being socially responsible:

Positioning the Firm:

- How can strategy portfolios guide corporate strategy and help decision-makers scope the activities of their organization?

- How can general strategies help organizations gain competitive advantages in their industries?

- How can organizations make competition irrelevant and create uncontested market space?

Orchestrating Strategic Alliances:

- What is the case for cooperative strategy? When should we move from a competitive to a cooperative mindset?

- What are strategic alliances and what is their payoff?

- How can firms build and orchestrate collaborative ecosystems to enhance their (innovative) performance?

Embracing Social Responsibility:

- What is the role of business in society? How do organizations contribute and cause harm to the public good?

- What exactly are the social responsibilities of organizations?

- To whom are they responsible and for what? Why should they care?

- How can ethics inform strategic decisions? How can we encourage ethical behavior and reconcile responsibility and profitability?

All key ideas from the online lectures are illustrated through a real-life case study on Tesla and its role in the technological transformation of the global automotive industry to help you better prepare for real-life situations in your company.

After completing this course you will improve your career qualifications as Business Development Manager, Sales Manager or Consultant. Professionals from the industries of Automotive, IT, Finance, Health Care, Telecommunication and the Energy sector have already completed the course.

This course is part of the "Managing Technology & Innovation: How to deal with disruptive change" MicroMasters designed to teach the critical skills needed to be successful in this exciting field.

What you'll learn

- Position your organization in times of transition

- Orchestrate strategic alliances and broader innovation networks

- Assess strategic options not just from an economic, but also from an ethical perspective

Syllabus

THEME 1: POSITIONING THE FIRM

Week 1: Red Ocean Strategy

- Corporate Strategy: Explore the tools that help to decide on the scope of the business.

- Generic Strategy I: Become familiar with cost leadership strategies.

- Generic Strategy II: Become familiar with differentiation strategies.

Week 2: Blue Ocean Strategy

- Blue Ocean Strategy: Understand how to create uncontested market space and make competition irrelevant.

THEME 2: ORCHESTRATING STRATEGIC ALLIANCES

Week 3: Strategic Alliances

- Alliance Purpose: Explore the concept and different types of strategic alliances.

- Alliance Pay-Off: Reflect upon the opportunities and risks of strategic alliances.

Week 4: Collaborative Networks

- Ecosystems: Uncover the key elements of effective ecosystem orchestration.

- Open Innovation: Learn about open innovation as a collaborative approach to new product development.

THEME 3: EMBRACING SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Week 5: Social Responsibility

- Business and Society: Reflect upon the role of business in society and identify its contributions to the public good.

- Corporate Social Responsibility: Unpack organizations’ broader social responsibilities

Week 6: Business Ethics

- Ethics Foundations: Review philosophical approaches that help inform ethical decision making.

- Ethics Applications: Discuss ethical decision making in the context of business practice.

Prerequisites

Successful completion of MTI005x "Strategic Management: From Intuition to Insight" is highly recommended, successful completion of MTI001x, MTI002x, MTI003x and MTI004x is beneficial.