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CS Advanced Level Notes
UNIT DESCRIPTION
The aim of the paper is to strengthen the strategic thinking capability of the candidate in formulating and implementing a corporate strategy that can help organisations build a sustainable competitive advantage.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
A candidate who passes this paper should be able to:
- Analyse an organization’s environment and formulate an actionable business strategy that is grounded in theory and practice from multiple business disciplines
- Demonstrate an ability for critical and strategic thinking
- Develop and implement a realistic strategic plan
- Understand the strategic decisions that organisations make in strategic management
- Effectively react to and incorporate emerging issues in strategic management.
CONTENT
Overview of Strategic Management
- Concept of strategy
- Purpose of strategy
- Characteristics of strategy
- Advantages and disadvantages of strategic planning
- Strategy approaches
- Strategic versus tactical decisions
- Patterns of strategy development
History of the Organisation and Culture
- History of the Organisation
- Importance of history
- Path dependency
- History as a resource
- Historical analysis
- Mission: stated and perceived
- Organisational culture
- Influence of culture on strategy
- Undertaking cultural analysis
- Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory
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Strategy Levels and Intent
- Corporate strategy
- Business strategy
- Operational strategy
- Functional strategy
- Vision statement
- Mission statement
- Strategic objectives
- Statement of corporate values
Strategic Management Process
- Steps in the strategic management process
- Strategic management in different contexts
- Uncertainty and strategic drift
- Limitations of strategic management
Strategic Analysis: The External Environment
- Policy and administrative framework
- Political environment
- Economic environment
- Sociocultural environment
- Technological environment
- Ecological environment
- Legal environment
- Key drivers for change
- Industry and sector analysis
- Tools for external analysis
- Competitor Analysis
Strategic Analysis: The Internal Environment
- Distinctive resources and capabilities as a basis of competitive advantage
- VRIO- value of resources and capabilities, rarity, inimitability, organisational support
- Organisational knowledge as a basis of competitive advantage
- Diagnosing resources and capabilities
- The value chain and value system
- Activity systems
- Benchmarking
- Strengths and Weaknesses
- The Balanced Scorecard and Strategy map
- Critical success factor analysis
- Scenario planning
- Gap Analysis
- SWOT and the business model
- Key features of corporate culture
- Health cultures that aid strategy execution
- Unhealthy cultures that impede strategy execution
- Influence of culture on strategy
- Undertaking cultural analysis
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Business Strategy and Models
- Generic competitive strategies
- Cost leadership strategy
- Differentiation strategy
- Focus strategy
- Hybrid strategy
- The Strategy Clock
- Interactive strategies
- Interactive price and quality strategies
- Cooperative strategy
- Game theory
- Business models
- Value creation. configuration and capture
- Business model patterns
Corporate Strategy and Diversification
- Strategy directors
- Diversification and performance
- Vertical integration
- Value creation and corporate parent
- Portfolio matrices
- The BCG (growth/share) matrix
- The directional policy (GE- McKinsey) matrix
- PIMS (Profit Impact on Marketing Strategy
- Parenting matrix
- The Scenario/vision – building approach
International Strategy
- Internationalisation drivers
- International business environment and challenges
- Geographical sources of advantage
- Locational advantage: Porter’s Diamond
- The international value system
- International strategies
- Market selection and strategy
- Internationalisation and performance
Strategy Development Processes
- Strategic thinking
- The paradox of logic and creativity
- The art and science of strategic thinking
- The “Deep Dive” analogy: acumen, allocation of resources and action
- Strategy formation
- Deliberate strategy developers
- Emergent strategy developers
- Logical incrementalism
- Strategy as an outcome of political processes
- Implications for managing strategy development
- Strategy development in different contexts
- Managing deliberate and emergent strategies
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Matching Organisational Structure to Strategy
- Value chain activities to be performed internally
- Value chain activities to be outsourced
- Aligning structure with strategy
- Organisational structure
- Simple structure
- Functional structure
- Divisional structure
- Matrix structure
- Multinational structures
- Project-based structures
- Strategy and structure fit
- Delegation of authority
- Systems
- Planning system
- Performance targeting systems
- Configurations and adaptability
- The McKinsey 7-Ss
- Agility and resilience
- Collaboration with external parties and strategic allies (network structure)
Leadership and Strategic Change
- Strategic Leadership vision and change
- Theories of leadership and change
- Types of strategic change
- Levers for strategic change
- Methods of introducing strategic change
- Strategic leadership roles and effectiveness
- Strategic change: revolution versus evolution
- Diagnosing the change context
- Managing major changes
- Problems of formal change programmes
- Managing corporate politics
- Managing complexity
- Leadership in practice
The Practice of Strategy
- The strategists
- Top managers and directors
- Strategic planners
- Middle managers
- Strategy consultants
- Strategising
- Strategy analysis
- Strategy issue-selling
- Strategic decision making
- Communicating the strategy
- Strategy methodologies
- Strategy workshops
- Strategy projects
- Hypothesis testing
- Business cases and strategic plans
- Strategy Implementation
- Relationship between strategy formulation and implementation
- Plans Programs and budgets
- Steps for effective strategy implementation
- Resource allocation
Strategic Control
- Evaluation and control in strategic management
- The strategic control process
- Monitoring evaluation and reporting
- Measuring corporate performance
- Strategic information systems
- Strategic surveillance
- Guidelines for proper control
- Balance Scorecard as a tool for control
- Sustaining organisational effectiveness
