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Strategic Management

Approx. 11 hours to complete

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Course Summary

This course provides an overview of strategic management, with a focus on analyzing internal and external environments to develop effective business strategies.

Key Learning Points

Learn how to analyze the competitive environment and identify key success factors
Understand the process of strategic planning and implementation
Explore the role of innovation and technology in strategic management

Learning Outcomes

Develop a strategic plan for a business
Analyze a company's competitive environment
Identify key success factors and develop strategies to address them

Prerequisites or good to have knowledge before taking this course

Basic knowledge of business concepts
Familiarity with Excel and PowerPoint

Course Difficulty Level

Intermediate

Course Format

Online
Self-paced
Video lectures
Quizzes and assignments

Similar Courses

Business Strategy
Strategic Leadership and Management

Related Education Paths

Notable People in This Field

Professor at Harvard Business School
Professor at Harvard Business School

Related Books

Description

The world of business strategy is in transition. What used to work doesn't anymore -- not necessarily.

This course prepares you to think strategically in an age when companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft have become more valuable (in market cap terms) than companies like Exxon. Today, business value and competitive advantage arise more often from consumer perceptions of what is "cool" than from physical assets or economies of scale. In this course -- the first of a three-course specialization tailored specifically for the age of creativity and innovation -- you will gear up for the challenges of strategy formulation and implementation in a 21st century business. After taking the course, you'll be able to: - Explain why "doing" strategy is considered "the high point of managerial activity" (Mintzberg); - Recognize and avoid the old, tired ideas about strategy that are still out there, so you can adopt fresher, better ideas; - Point out how doing strategy has changed because of advancing technology and globalization; - Prepare for the Capstone Project for the Strategic Management and Innovation Specialization

Outline

A 21st Century Approach to Business Strategy
A Creative Company CEO Calls for a New Approach
Introduction to the Course

What is strategy? And why do we care about it?
What Strategy Is...
What Strategy Is...continued
What Strategy Is...more examples
What Strategy Is...Still More
What Strategy Is...Conclusions
What's a Strategic Situation (and what isn't)?
Strategy's Most Famous Thought Leader: Michael Porter
The Main Ideas in Porter's "What is Strategy?"
Criticisms of Porter's Strategy as Position Approach
The Alternative View: Strategy as Capability
More on Embrace, Extend, and Extinguish
Apple iPod + iTunes and Yael Naim
Oldest McDonalds Video
A Strategic Ploy?
Summary of Mintzberg's Five Ps of Strategy
Prisoner's Dilemma Matrices
More on the Prisoner's Dilemma
Michael Porter's "What is Strategy?"
Mintzberg vs Porter
The Meanings of "Strategy"
Recognizing Strategic Situations
What do YOU think?
Which way do YOU lean?
Strategy as Position vs Capability

The Evolution of Strategy...Past Progress, Past Mistakes
Early Approaches to Business Strategy
Strategy, Scripted and Programmed
The BCG Matrix and Growth Curve
Strategy as Multi-faceted Analysis
What We Can Learn...
The military antecedents of business strategy
Critiques of Strategic Planning
BCG's Big Ideas
Post Mortems for Porter's Approach?
Where the History of Business Strategy Leaves Us
Learning from the History of Business Strategy

Changing World, Changing Strategies
Comparing 1975 and Today
How Products, Services, and Work Now Move Easily Around the Globe
How the Competitive Game Shifts in a Globalized World
The World's Most Sophisticated Differentiation Strategies?
Aesthetics...the Last Frontier of Sustainable Advantage?
Internet Growth, Shipping Traffic Growth
The Realities of the Globalised World
Examples of Shifts to Differentiation Strategies - Wal-Mart, McDonalds
The Future of Competitive Strategy? The Example of Vipp
Hyper Competition and Hyper Differentiation Described
Strategic Implications of Changes in the World

Capstone Project Intro -- Strategy in a 21st Century Creative Company
Meet e-Types - A 21st Century Creative Company
e-Types execs explaining how they think about their business
A Major Controversy - At Stake: The Future and Soul of the Company
e-Types partners debating which design to present to TD
Questions We Ask You To Consider...
Some Samples of e-Types Work
IMPORTANT Additional Details on Your Final Assignment
References and Additional Resources
One last thing...

Summary of User Reviews

Read reviews for Coursera's Strategic Management course. Users are generally positive about this course, praising its comprehensive coverage. However, some users found the course to be too theoretical and lacking in practical examples.

Key Aspect Users Liked About This Course

Comprehensive coverage

Pros from User Reviews

In-depth coverage of strategic management concepts
Well-structured lectures and assignments
Engaging and knowledgeable instructors
Great platform for networking with other learners

Cons from User Reviews

Lack of practical examples and case studies
Some users found the course to be too theoretical
Limited feedback on assignments
Not suitable for those with no prior business knowledge
Some technical issues with the platform

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