Introduction to Strategy
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Introduction to Strategy
This course is part of multiple programs.
Instructor: Edson Ito
1,977 already enrolled
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What you'll learn
Understand a business scenario
Use strategic tools
Identify another player’s strategy
Details to know
See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills
Build your subject-matter expertise
- Learn new concepts from industry experts
- Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
- Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
- Earn a shareable career certificate
There are 5 modules in this course
This course was developed for professionals from any area who wish to improve their knowledge of strategy and who intend to apply this knowledge to their personal and professional life.
The art and science of strategy is important because it offers tools to support decision making in volatile, uncertain, chaotic, and ambiguous scenarios. As a strategist, you will need to make decisions with information incomplete and often contradictory. The lack of access to information can be partially addressed with the analysis techniques that you will learn in this course. This course will be focused and will offer some of the most important tools for the elaboration of the strategy and will develop your ability to use them.
This week's goal is to introduce the concept of strategy. We will discuss how strategy is an ancient concept, whose basic principles are the same since ancient times until today. We present the mission, vision, and values and describe the importance of understanding the external environment in which the company is inserted.
What's included
10 videos5 readings1 assignment1 peer review
10 videos•Total 172 minutes
- Introduction to the Course•6 minutes
- Course Organization•5 minutes
- Strategy Concept•12 minutes
- Mission, Vision, and Values•10 minutes
- Elements of Strategy•13 minutes
- External Analysis: STEP•11 minutes
- External Analysis: 5 Forces•32 minutes
- Online Education post-COVID•8 minutes
- Analysis Step-by-Step•13 minutes
- Recording of Introduction to Strategy Live Session on 21-11-11 20:07:49 [03:45]•64 minutes
5 readings•Total 170 minutes
- Syllabus•10 minutes
- What is Strategy?•60 minutes
- Mission, Vision, and Values•30 minutes
- STEP, PEST or PESTEL analysis•30 minutes
- The five competitive forces that shape strategy•40 minutes
1 assignment•Total 25 minutes
- Practice quiz: Introduction to Strategy•25 minutes
1 peer review•Total 180 minutes
- Strategy and its shaping forces•180 minutes
In this week we will discuss the internal analysis techniques, that is, the activities directly and indirectly related to the company's purpose, and the VRIO technique, which helps us understand which of the internal resources determine the sources of competitive advantage.
What's included
5 videos3 readings1 assignment
5 videos•Total 38 minutes
- Internal Analysis - Introduction•2 minutes
- Internal Analysis•15 minutes
- Value Chain Analysis: Primary Activities•5 minutes
- Value Chain Analysis: Secondary Activities•8 minutes
- VRIO Analysis•9 minutes
3 readings•Total 90 minutes
- Internal Analysis•15 minutes
- How to map your industry's profit pool•30 minutes
- VRIO Analysis•45 minutes
1 assignment•Total 25 minutes
- Practice quiz: Internal Analysis•25 minutes
This week is dedicated to the study of the SWOT - TOWS technique, which allows you to identify how to use internal resources (both strengths and weaknesses) to deal with the opportunities and threats generated by the external environment. The student will realize that this technique is different from the traditional SWOT technique.
What's included
4 videos1 reading1 assignment
4 videos•Total 24 minutes
- SWOT - TOWS - Introduction•1 minute
- SWOT - TOWS•8 minutes
- Sequence of Analysis•3 minutes
- Case Study - COVID•12 minutes
1 reading•Total 45 minutes
- SWOT Analysis•45 minutes
1 assignment•Total 25 minutes
- Practice quiz: SWOT - TOWS•25 minutes
Week 4 is dedicated to the discussion of Strategic monitoring techniques. Strategic monitoring is important because macro-environment variables change frequently. Therefore, it is important to use a professional system to identify changes, understand what they mean and how they affect the company's business.
What's included
7 videos4 readings1 assignment1 discussion prompt
7 videos•Total 179 minutes
- Strategic Monitoring - Introduction•1 minute
- Strategic Monitoring•9 minutes
- Industry Drivers•7 minutes
- Surprise Avoidance•6 minutes
- Response and Adaptation•3 minutes
- Recording of Introduction to Strategy Live Session on 21-12-02 20:08:48 [05:04]•65 minutes
- Recording of Live Session - Introduction to Strategy on 22-11-23 12:05:27 [27:10]•87 minutes
4 readings•Total 145 minutes
- Strategic Monitoring•30 minutes
- The next normal arrives: Trends that will define 2021—and beyond•30 minutes
- Anticipating disruptive innovation•45 minutes
- Leadership and Decision-Making•40 minutes
1 assignment•Total 25 minutes
- Practice quiz: Strategic Monitoring•25 minutes
1 discussion prompt•Total 10 minutes
- Strategic monitoring system•10 minutes
Week 5 is dedicated to the study of generic strategies, as presented by Porter. A generic strategy is a way for the company to position itself within the industry, and each of the generic strategies indicates how to use company elements to avoid direct competition against other companies that use other generic strategies.
What's included
6 videos3 readings1 assignment1 discussion prompt
6 videos•Total 29 minutes
- On Generic Strategies - Introduction•1 minute
- On Generic Strategies•4 minutes
- Cost Leadership•8 minutes
- Differentiation•4 minutes
- Focus•10 minutes
- Have a Nice Journey•1 minute
3 readings•Total 90 minutes
- Porter's Generic Strategies•40 minutes
- Analytical toolkit•40 minutes
- Staff-graded assignment instructions•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 25 minutes
- Practice quiz: Generic strategies•25 minutes
1 discussion prompt•Total 10 minutes
- What is your company's generic strategy?•10 minutes
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