Business Strategy, Term 2, 2007

1. Overview

This subject presents a comprehensive overview of the major topics in business strategy.

The instructor during the 2nd semester of each year is Kwanghui Lim. Click the "contact" tab on the left for details.

Portions of this website require a username and password. Students may obtain this information from the coursepack.

2. Scope and Learning Objectives

This course has four primary aims:

• To provide students with an understanding of the primary roles and responsibilities of a general manager in formulating and implementing business strategies;
• To introduce students to the fundamental issues involved in coordinating the activities of different functional areas (marketing, manufacturing, R&D, accounting, human resource management and finance)
• To introduce student to the frameworks and tools commonly used in developing and assessing business strategies; and
• To help students develop decision making skills from a top management perspective.

Upon completing the course, students should be able to:

• Understand the basic concepts of business strategy and how firms create competitive advantage;
• Be familiar with the conceptual tools commonly employed, and proficient in using these tools to formulate and assess strategies;
• Apply basic game theoretic concepts (e.g. added value, payoff matrices, and game trees) to business situations;
• Apply the methods commonly used to analyze the firm’s internal resources and  capabilities, including the notions of structural advantage, core competences, and capabilities-based advantages, as well as the benefits and risks of vertical integration;
• Understand the conditions necessary for a capability or competency to be the basis of a long-term advantage, and how they can be developed and sustained

3. Teaching Philosophy and Approach

My role is to expose students to fundamental conceptual tools of business strategy, along with several applications. This is not a "practical" course, where you get a "how to" guide. This is a conceptual course to get you thinking about fundamental ideas. However, being conceptual doesn't mean this class is boring: we cover many real-life industries and cases. As an analogy, people who learn to play a musical instrument need to learn both the Theory of Music as well as to practice regularly. Practice is essential and some people are born gifted, but even they can push further with a strong foundation. Business Strategy is similar to the Theory of Music class -- it will give you a deeper understanding that will help you in crafting “real” business strategies for real organizations.

My teaching style is based on a student-directed approach. I try to facilitate my students’ self-discovery by providing exciting content, motivation and guidance, but only they can truly learn. Each session uses case discussions, debates, and lively arguments. I expect students to play an active role in class and to prepare by analysing each week’s readings and cases beforehand.