Prague, Czech Republic

Strategic Management and Decision Making

Strategic Management and Decision Making will equip students with the concepts, skills, and experience to make choices that will set their business apart from others, create unique value, and result in sustainable competitive advantage. The course will condense some 50 years of exceptional thinking into practical tools that can be applied to any business, illustrated by numerous contemporary examples. More importantly, students will develop practical skills of application, analysis, and decision-making through the use of case studies from multiple sectors and geographies. Finally, each day will include an interesting and challenging group activity designed to build valuable problem-solving and teamworking skills.

Course leader

Mike Robinson
Mike is a Senior Lecturer at UWE Bristol, where he teaches strategy, decision-making, and enterprise. Before joining UWE, he enjoyed a 35-year career across industry and local government.

Target group

Young professionals and university students with intermediary level of English

Course aim

This course will suit students seeking to progress in management to positions where they can influence the strategy of the whole business, but it also has much to offer those seeking the insights to develop innovative solutions to complex questions facing businesses of any size.

Acquired skills
- Use evidence-based decision-making in addressing real-world, practice-relevant issues
- Understand how businesses create value and sustainable competitive advantage
- Analyse business environments at macro- and industry level
- Make trade-off choices between strategic options based on rational processes
- Use a comprehensive toolkit of ideas to generate multiple perspectives of issues and opportunities
- Work collaboratively with others to analyse management problems from a strategic perspective
- Develop a highly ethical view of how to do business


Schedule

Day 1:
Introduction to Strategy and Decision Making • Course learning outcomes, structure, and assessment • What is strategy? • The case study method • Value networks: how businesses create value • Definitions of strategy: purpose; process; and output • Group Activity: The Best Movie of 2023


Day 2:
Strategic Positioning: understanding the environment and creating value • External analysis: PESTEL; and Porter’s Five Forces model • Competitive positioning and sustainable competitive advantage • Porter’s Generic Strategies: differentiation; leadership; and hybrids • The Value Proposition and Value Chain • Rational and non-rational decision-making • Example: McDonalds • Case study: JetBlue (1) • Group Activity: Desert Survival

Day 3:
Strategic fit • Five tests of a good strategy • Lines of defence: tailored value chain; trade-off choices; and activity systems • Levels of planning and decision-making • Example: IKEA • Case Study: JetBlue (2) • Group Activity: Ferrari

Day 4:
The Resource-Based View • Internal analysis: The McKinsey 7-S Model; and organisational culture • Resources: heterogeneity; tangibility; rent; and immobility • Competencies and core competencies: the VRIO Test • Example: CarMax • Case Study: CEMEX (1) • Group Activity: The Kansas City Chiefs

Day 5:
Dynamic Capabilities • Competencies: integration, building, and reconfiguration • Organisational learning • Routines: sensing; seizing; and transforming competencies • Example: Grace Manufacturing • Case Study: CEMEX (2) • Group Activity: Aldi

Day 6:
Blue Ocean: making the competition irrelevant • Strategic drift and path dependency • Challenging the assumptions of competition: value innovation • Process: Buyer Utility Mapping; Four Actions Framework; and the Strategy Canvas • Example: Cirque du Soleil • Case Study: Citizen M Hotels • Group Activity: Czech-US

Day 7:
Disruptive Innovation • Dominant design and component and architectural innovation • Why businesses fail: cognitive limits and disruptive innovation • Christensen’s Theory of Disruption • Strategic direction: Ansoff Growth Matrix; and Lynch Expansion Method Matrix • Example: British Airways • Case Study: Blockbuster and Netflix • Group Activity: Coca-Cola

Day 8:
Corporate Strategy • Purpose: composition; coordination; and value • How parents add value to strategic business units: the Ashridge Parenting Model • Planning and control: BCG Matrix; and GE Multifactor Matrix • Diversification: growth; risk; and value • Example: Saab • Case study: Esquel • Group Activity: Friends and Enemies

Day 9:
Business Ethics • Ethical decision-making: theory and practice • The Shareholder View: businesses behaving badly • The Triple Bottom Line and Stakeholder View • The role of business in society and Corporate Social Responsibility • Examples: Uber • Case Study: Football and Gambling • Group Exercise: Starbucks

Day 10:
Presentation of Group Project

Credits info

5 EC
You will receive an official Certificate of Attendance upon completion of your course which you may use to show evidence of the skills you have learnt during the course and have the credits accepted by your home university.

Fee info

EUR 950: Course fee includes the application fee, study materials, afternoon/evening social activities and events during the week and barbecue. Other expenses, such as meals, accommodation, insurance, personal expenses, extra activities (such as trips outside the town over the weekend) are not included in the price.


Please note, after the 30th of April 2024, there will be a late enrollment fee charged in the amount of 50EUR on top of the course fee.
EUR 247: Accommodation fee for a 13-night stay at Botic Student House starts at 19 EUR/night for a double bed room. Single bed is 25EUR/night.