Bringing business strategy to life (ULMS075)

In the contemporary, intensive and highly volatile and competitive business environment, leadership plays a significant and vital role in the success of an enterprise. Therefore, leadership has received substantial attention from scholars and practitioners and it is increasingly becoming a prominent subject for study.

The module intends to enable students with academic understanding of leadership theory and, importantly, to allow for critical engagement with the current debates surrounding its application within the organisational context. This course will provide students with an opportunity to learn essential core skills and techniques involved in leadership, enabling them to become better and effective leaders in their prospective careers. This course will develop and enhance students’ leadership skills and techniques so they will be able to inspire a team, successfully manage change and conflict, and better serve the needs of a team.

Module leader: Lisa Chamberlain

Lisa is a Graduate Teaching Fellow and PhD candidate at the University of Liverpool. Her research explores quality of working life issues, and her teaching focuses on human resource management and leadership. Lisa is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Aims

To develop confidence in understanding and communicating complex ideas
To develop skills in research, collaborative learning and writing effective commentary on their opinions and view on a topic
To introduce students to the concepts and theories of business strategy.

Content

The following topics will be considered on the module:

What is strategy?
Mission statements and being in charge
The environment and its impact
Resources and the principles of competitive advantage
An international perspective and strategy documentation.

Structure

The module will be delivered over a three-week period in six two hour sessions (four hours per week, total 12 hours contact time). The final block will be an assessment session.

Each session will include a formal lecture covering the topic identified. Integral to the session will be opportunities for students, in a seminar style, to discuss (in English) issues both in small groups and a whole class. Students will be actively encouraged to contribute.

In addition, it is expected that students will spend 34-38 study hours outside of the classroom contact hours on activities including assigned reading, optional reading of areas of personal interest, homework tasks, web research and preparation for assessment.

The indicative schedule is as follows:

Session one: What is strategy?

Course introduction and setting the scene in terms of definitions and business skills required to be driven by strategy
Housekeeping issues like course work, objectives of the course, etc.
Student’s objective for the course
Review of key aspects of successful strategy in the student’s eyes
Discussion on a successful business they respect and why
Strategy defined
What makes up a business strategic capability?
Depth and breadth of business strategy
Strategic decisions for large and small business.

Session two: Mission statements and being in charge

Why are mission statements important to business, what makes a good one and how it can impact at all levels in a business?
What skills do managers need to lead strategically focused businesses?
How can we use strategic theory to help us as individuals develop our business acumen and so potential?
Mission statements defined
A review of some key business mission statements, what works and what doesn’t
The concept of personal mission statements
Drafting your own mission statement
Case study on what makes top flight managers capable of running a strategically focused business.

Session three: The environment and its impact

Why having an external and internal focus is critical to strategic success
Outlining what tools are available to help a manager fully understand the environment in which they operate
Applying the following key environmental scanning tools
- SWOT
- PESTLE
- Five forces
- Five whys
- Gap analysis.

Session four: Resources and the principles of competitive advantage

What resources does business need to manage strategically and how the development of competitive advantage should be the focus and goal of strategic management
In this session we will explore the following concepts:
- Resources
- The value chain
- Networks
- Competitive advantage.
This session will also review audio materials from a world leading business strategist concluding with a discussion on the value of competitive advantage.

Session five: An international perspective and strategy documentation

What drives international strategy development, what choices does a business have, and how is business strategy written and communicated
Elements of international business strategy
What are the international drivers?
What are the international pitfalls?
Components of a business strategy
Ask the expert – a business owner will attend and take a questions and answers session from the class on the role and impact of strategy.

Session six: Reflection discussion

In this final session, the students will talk about what they have learnt in the previous sessions and discuss their ideas and thoughts on the subject. Students’ questions that need to be clarified will be answered in this reflection session.

Teaching methods

The teaching approach will include the following:

Taught sessions
Flipped classroom – preparation work
Small group working
Group discussions
Presentations
Online learning.

Assessment

Assessment will be by written essay/reflection of 1,000-1,200 words (worth 100% of the overall mark).

Standard University policies apply with regard to late submission of assessments.

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module, students will be able to:

Better understand and communicate complex ideas in written language
Research a topic and work collaboratively in this research to produce a written essay/reflection
Demonstrate an introductory understanding of certain aspects and theories of strategy and the application to business.

Skills

Key skills that will be developed:

Collaboration and teamwork, through group discussions, activities and tasks in class, and collaborative research
Communication, developed orally in group discussions, activities and tasks in class, and in writing by production of assessed assignment.

Books, ebooks and websites

The University Library website provides access to many relevant books and electronic books, as well as academic journals and databases.