Competitive Strategy 

Objectives

This course offers a strategic and integrated perspective of the determinants of the value creating potential of a company and of how it can, through its strategy, influence its profitability. The value created by a firm in a given market depends not only on the characteristics of the market and on the intensity of competition, but also on the company's competitive advantage or disadvantage. The first session (The Dynamics of Price Competition) analyzes the determinants of the intensity of price competition. The second session (Positioning for Competitive Advantage) focuses on strategies to create a competitive advantage. The third session (Competing in Digital Markets) discusses the dynamics of competition in digital markets such as smartphones, social networks, or e-books.

General characterization

Code

14217

Credits

3

Responsible teacher

Luís Almeida Costa

Hours

Weekly - Available soon

Total - Available soon

Teaching language

Portuguese | English

Prerequisites

Available soon

Bibliography

• Rao, A.R., M.E. Bergen e S. Davis, “How to Fight a Price War”, Harvard Business Review, Março-Abril 2000, págs. 107-116.
• Porter, M.E., “The Five Competitive Forces that Shape Strategy”, Harvard Business Review, Janeiro 2008, págs. 79-93.
• Besanko, D., D. Dranove, M. Shanley e S. Schaefer, Economics of Strategy, Wiley, 2017 (7a edição), cap. 9.
• Van Alstyne, M. W., G. G. Parker e S. P. Choudary, “Pipelines, Platforms, and the New Rules of Strategy”, Harvard Business Review, Abril 2016, págs. 54-63.
• Zhu, F., e M. Iansiti, "Why Some Platforms Thrive... and Others Don't", Harvard Business Review, Janeiro-Fevereiro 2019, págs. 3-9.

• Beauregard Textile Company
• Under Armour and the Sports Apparel and Footwear Industry in 2017
• Voice War: Hey Google vs. Alexa vs. Siri

Teaching method

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

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

Sessão I – THE DYNAMICS OF PRICE COMPETITION
This session analyzes the determinants of the intensity of price competition. Some of the issues discusses are: How to explain industry differences? How to influence the intensity of competition in a given industry?
Sessão II – POSITIONING FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
This session focuses on strategies to create a competitive advantage. Some of the issues discusses are: What different strategies to create a competitive advantage exist? How to evaluate the consistency between the strategy of the company and its business model?
Sessão III – CONCORRÊNCIA EM MERCADOS DIGITAIS
This session focuses on the dynamics of competition in digital markets, which are characterized by network effects. Some of the topics discussed are: What are the distinctive features of competition in digital markets?
What strategies to develop in those markets?

Programs

Programs where the course is taught: