Strategy 

Objectives

This course offers a strategic and integrated perspective about the relation between Strategy and value creation. In a competitive landscape characterized by a high pace of technological innovation, changing consumer behavior, accelerated digitalization, growing concerns with environmental and public health issues, and increasing competition, value creation by companies often implies the development of disruptive strategies or the ability to sustain their competitive advantages. The first part of the course focuses on how to approach the strategy formulation process when the objective is to develop disruptive strategies for value creation. The second part of the course focuses on the determinants of the sustainability of the competitive advantage of a company.

General characterization

Code

14215

Credits

3

Responsible teacher

Luís Almeida Costa

Hours

Weekly - Available soon

Total - Available soon

Teaching language

Portuguese | English

Prerequisites

Available soon

Bibliography

Leituras obrigatórias:
• Kim, W.C., e R. Mauborgne, “Blue Ocean Strategy”, Harvard Business Review, Outubro 2004, págs.
76-84.
• Kim, W.C., e R. Mauborgne, “Red Ocean Traps”, Harvard Business Review, Março 2015, págs. 68-73.
• Besanko, D., D. Dranove, M. Shanley e S. Schaefer, Economics of Strategy, Wiley, 2017 (7a edição), cap. 11.
• Cool, K., L. Almeida Costa e I. Dierickx, “Constructing Competitive Advantage”, in Handbook of Strategy and Management, Pettigrew, A., H. Thomas, and R. Whittington eds., Sage Publications, 2002.
Casos:
• Apple Inc. in 2018
• Michelin in China in 2016

Teaching method

This course develops the ability of participants to conduct a strategic analysis through a carefully controlled combination of lectures, case discussions.

Evaluation method

The assessment of this curricular unit is done together with the block of curricular units of the same area of knowledge. This assessment has 3 moments, which together define the final grade of the curricular unit:
• Individual exam with a weighting of 50% of the total mark
• Group work with a weighting of 35% of the total grade value
• Individual reflection-action exercise carried out at the end of the curricular unit, with a weighting of 15% of the total grade value. The set of individual action-reflection exercises is a journaling activity, which will constitute, at the end, a learning portfolio capable of synthesising the contributions of the Executive Master for that student.

Subject matter

Session I – DISRUPTIVE STRATEGIES FOR VALUE CREATION
This session focuses on how to approach the strategy formulation process when the objective is to develop disruptive strategies for value creation. Some of the issues discussed are: How to redefine the “rules of the game” to the company’s advantage? How has digitalization been revolutionizing competition in most industries? How to take advantage of technological and market trends?
Session II – SUSTAINABILITY OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
This session focuses on the determinants of the sustainability of the competitive advantage of a company. Some of the topics analyzed are: Why are some companies able to sustain dominant positions for decades, while others, once relevant, disappear or become insignificant? What factors determine the sustainability of the competitive advantage of a company?
Which ones are particularly relevant nowadays?

Programs

Programs where the course is taught: