Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
Strategic thinking and management involve a transversal view of organizations (resources, capabilities, various functions/management areas) and their environment.
The course will introduce and develop the fundamentals of corporate and organizational strategic thinking within a multi-polar and international context, while raising several (critical) issues/questions. Relying on good understanding and an integrative view of the different functions in organizations, this strategy course will cover some specific concepts, methods and methodologies, with illustrations from leading organizations.
The course will introduce contexts, contents and processes of strategic management in an international dimension. One part of the course will be directly devoted to "international strategies" but the "international" dimension will be embedded in all other parts.
Relying on current business issues and challenges, the course mainly addresses the following questions:
- What is Strategy? What is Strategic Management?
- What are the important tools to master for achieving a strategic analysis?
- How to make strategic choices at the business and corporate levels ?
- What is an international strategy ? (why? when? how to internationalize ? + critical perspective)
- Which are the various strategy methods to support strategy implementation ?
- How to manage strategic changes successfully ?
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
Upon completion of this course, students should be able to demonstrate that they have acquired the knowledge and skills to:
- Discuss key challenges and concepts related to strategy and strategic management
- Apply analytical frameworks in strategy
- Assess business strategy
- Identify and apply business model components
- Assess and understand diverse multi-sided platform strategies
- Identify and distinguish between alternative strategy options at the corporate-level
- Evaluate the ways in which a corporate parent can add or destroy value for its portfolio of business units
- Assess and critically analyse the internationalisation drivers and potential of different markets
- Understand how to make appropriate choices between different strategy methods
- Demonstrate ability to understand and solve strategy-related problems/situatio
- Be capable of professional team work and presentations
- Develop a critical sense
- Argue on debate/challenge questions
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
To take benefit of this course, students must have a clear understanding of what is an organization as well as understand some fundamentals in Management Studies (such as Accounting, Human Resources Management, Supply Chain Management and Marketing).
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Interactive pedagogical approach based on several teaching methods:
- Academic lectures (including illustrative videos and examples)
- Active preparation of the course (readings and preparation of the case studies by group to apply concepts/tools seen during the course, pre-readings, videos, preparation of conferences)
- Case studies sessions during which students will present their work, prepare challenge questions and debate about them.
- Conferences/ panel with guest speakers
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Blended learning
Further information:
Blended learning (predominantly face-to-face)
Additional information:
The course is held in English
Course materials and recommended or required readings
Platform(s) used for course materials:
- LOL@
Further information:
The book reference is:
D.Angwin, P. Regnér, G. Johnson, K. Scholes, R. Whittington,(2023), "Exploring Strategy, Text & Cases", Pearson, 13th Edition.
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
written exam ( multiple-choice questionnaire )
Other : See details below
Further information:
Attendance to and active preparation and participation (work to be sumitted on Lola + presentation in front of the group) during the lectures, case studies and conferences/panel are strictly compulsory (30% of the final grade)
Written exam (MCQ) based on academic lectures, conferences and case studies (70% of the final grade)
Work placement(s)
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
The students will find more details on the conferences, documents to read and information on possible changes occuring during the period of the course on Lol@ educational resources platform of HEC-ULiège.
Attendance to class is mandatory. Each session leads to a participation grade and a grade of ZERO is automatically given in case of absence. If students accumulate more than two absences, they will automatically get a grade of ZERO for the entire continuous assessment of this course (which accounts for 30% of the final grade). In case you have a valid justification for this absence, please send justification documents to Aurélie Bruninx (aurelie.bruninx@uliege.be). Basically, only health related absences or major personal justified cases are accepted. You know the dates in advance so please organize yourself.
Contacts
Academic coordinator : Prof. Nathalie Crutzen
Teachers:
- Prof. Nathalie Crutzen, HEC Liege
- Anthony Santino, Egon Zehnder & HEC Liege
Teaching Assistant: Aurélie Bruninx (aurelie.bruninx@uliege.be)