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2012/2013  BA-HAS_SMSP  Strategic Management in a Service Perspective

English Title
Strategic Management in a Service Perspective

Course information
Language English
Exam ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Bachelor
Duration One Quarter
Course period Third Quarter
Time Table Please see course schedule at e-Campus
Study board
Study Board for BSc in Service Management
Course coordinator
  • Lisa Gärber - Center for Strategic Management and Globalization
Main Category of the Course
  • Corporate and Business Strategy
Last updated on 10-12-2012
Learning objectives
At the end of this course, students will:
  • Understand the particular strategic challenges associated with service industries and businesses.
  • Understand the key issues of strategic management: value creation, value appropriation, superior positioning, sustained competitive advantage.
  • Be cognizant with the fundamental theorizing in the strategic management field, notably the resource-based view and the positioning approach.
  • Understand the hierarchy of strategies in a company (functional, business, corporate) and the overall characteristics of the strategy process.
  • Be able to apply fundamental strategy tools like SWOT, resource and positioning analysis to concrete firms and industries.
  • Understand how: various functional areas fit together and influence the performance of the organization, which provides an important way in which this courses serves an integrative purpose relative to the other courses in this program
  • Be familiar with the application of strategic techniques in an interantional context.
  • Understand the chalenges of global strategies and structures.
Prerequisite
Students not enrolled BSc in Business Administration & Service Management must document A level in English equal to TOEFL 575 and A level in mathematics equal to Danish level B.
Examination
.
Strategic Management in a Service Perspective:
Type of test Oral with Written Assignment
Marking scale 7-step scale
Second examiner External examiner
Exam period Spring Term
Aids Please, see the detailed regulations below
Duration 20 Minutes
The final exam is a 72-hour group project. The project can be max. 10 standard pages in length and the group size should be max. 2-3 students.

The project will be followed by an individual, 20 minutes oral exam, which takes its point of departure in the group project, but also natural relations to theory and models from syllabus. The individual assessment is based on a combined evaluation of the written group project and the individual oral exam.

Re-examination. Make-up examinations are given as an individual oral exam based on the group project. Re-take examinations are given as an individual oral exam based on the group project handed in for the regular examination, as well as a supplementary piece, max. 5 standard pages in length
Course content

The course provides an introduction to core thinking on strategic management that is how firms seek to achieve and sustain competitive advantage.Like “Introduction to Management Studies,” the course provides students with a general understanding of the issues, considerations, analyses, and decision-making situations that confront general managers, but takes an explicit strategic point of view. Strategic decision-making is concerned with the long-term performance of the firm, the size and scope of its business activities, the market position of the firm, the resources needed to perform diverse corporate functions, etc. Moreover, management must consider how to coordinate and utilize the specialized departmental functions that in the organization to achieve superior performance on a consistent basis.
To achieve these aims, the course introduces both classical and new strategic management models within the area of Strategic Management that can be used by the students to address some of the fundamental strategic issues confronting the company: Are we well positioned in an industry? What are the key resources on the basis of which we compete? How can we upgrade our resource base? What are the costs of doing this? Can we increase not just our creation of value but also our appropriation of value? How is revenue distributed across the multiple input-suppliers? What are the specific strategic challenges of service industries and business—and how can we handle these?
Teaching methods
The course structure: The course is built around a standard textbook (see curriculum below) which introduces the basic strategy concepts and a compendium of articles that consider strategic management in a service perspective.
The course starts by introducing some basic terms like a mission, vision, goals and strategy and look at different ways in which strategies are developed in theory and in practice. Next follows an introduction of how we can analyze the environment of the company, the internal resources, capabilities, and processes of the company. On the basis of these analytical models for strategy development we assess the role of corporate headquarters, alternative ways of competing, and innovative methods of strategic renewal and growth. This is followed by a discussion of how the different types of strategies can be synthesized, and how we can evaluate and chose among them.
In the second part of the course, the tools and insights of the first part are applied to service business and industries, and we consider the particular challenges raised by services. How does it matter that service-industries are heavily human capital-intensive? What are the sources of competitive advantage in service industries? What role does reputation play? And so on.
Teaching is lecture-based. However, because of the relatively small classes on this program, there is room for interactive teaching.
Student workload
Classes 30 hours
Preparation for class (incl exam) 122 hours
Exam 73 hours
Expected literature
  • Grant, R. 2009: Contemporary Strategy Analysis , Text and Cases, 7edition, Wiley
  • Compendium with key papers on strategic management in service industries.

Please note, changes may occur. The teacher will upload the final reading list to LEARN two weeks before the course starts.

Last updated on 10-12-2012