Learning Outcomes:
• Further enhance strategic thinking and analysis skills;
• Critically evaluate the appropriateness of a firm’s competitive, international, and corporate strategy with logical arguments
and relevant terminology;
• Develop an appreciation of the principal ways firms can create value from cross-border activities;
• Develop an understanding of how firms create value from location choices and the sharing and transfer of knowledge and
resources across borders;
• Evaluate the relationship between diversification, risk, and firm performance;
• Enhance participants’ abilities to evaluate M&A activity;
• Develop an understanding of the main analytical techniques and conceptual frameworks to manage diversified firms;
• Critically appreciate the role of strategic leaders in multinational corporations.
Indicative Module Content:
The module is divided into three broad topical areas. The first topic is a review of competitive strategy through a discussion of the Edward Jones and Sandlands Vineyards cases. These cases teach important and timeless principles that will be utilized in subsequent cases. Second, we consider the elements of Global Strategy and the Multinational Enterprise using the CEMEX and P&G Japan cases. We also examine global strategy in the context of emerging markets, a topic that also allows us to explore market failures, network effects and multi-sided platforms using the Ant Financial and Jumia Nigeria cases. Third, we examine corporate strategy, with a focus on the creation of economic value through diversification, using the cases of Disney and Cadbury Schweppes. We also look at how diversified companies, such as Mondelez, Danaher, and GE are managed, exploring the role of strategic leadership in the case of GE, and corporate governance in the case of Mondelez. We will conclude with a short case and exercise to consolidate your understanding of strategic leadership.