Course 2007-2008 a.y.
8304 - COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS AND BUSINESS SCENARIOS
MM-LS - OSI-LS - AFC-LS - CLAPI-LS - CLEFIN-LS - CLELI-LS - CLEACC-LS - DES-LS - CLEMIT-LS - CLG-LS - M-LS
Course taught in English
Go to class group/s: 31
ANTONIO MARTELLI
This course is intended for those who are interested in taking responsibility for the overall strategy of a business unit or corporation as well as for those who are interested in exploring new themes and techniques, namely competitive intelligence and scenario building and planning. It is also aimed at students who would like to work in strategic planning groups within companies or serve as outside consultants.
This course was developed to:
- provide new techniques and tools for strategic management;
- offer an opportunity to apply new tools and techniques in business practices
- stimulate classroom learning by analyzing and discussing in-depth case studies;
- offer a learning experience with a sense of collaboration and community to make students more confident with their academic background.
The course consists of two modules.
First module: Competitive intelligence
The subject of this module is competitive intelligence performed by applying tools and techniques, most of them already learned in the previous academic years.
By attending this course, students are able to identify in a specific industry the competitive strategies of competitors, as well as to explore how value chains have been designed or re-designed, how resources and competences have been managed to make innovation effective and how sustainable the business model is from strategic, financial, and social points of view.
Key points of the module are:
- Competitive intelligence: content, tools and process;
- Business model analysis;
- Case study: Competitive intelligence in the financial service industry;
- Case study: Competitive intelligence in the consumer goods industry;
- Case study: Competitive intelligence in the industrial goods industry.
Second module: Scenario Building and Planning
The subject of this module is the approach to strategic management by means of scenarios. The term "scenarios" refers to a set of methodologies and techniques which have been worked out in the last 35 years or so with the aim of giving executives the possibility of elaborating and implementing their strategies on an extended basis. By attending this course, students are able to master the essential tools of Scenario Building & Planning in the frame of strategic analysis.
The main topics of the course are the following:
- A general introduction to ideas and techniques applied in Scenario Building and Planning: The case of Royal Dutch Shell and the oil shocks of the Seventies;
- Intuitive logics: The case of the future of the European textile industry and others;
- Trend impact analysis: The case of the man-made fibers in Italy and others;
- Cross- impact analysis: a) probability-basic approach, The case of the demand of petrol for motor transport in Italy in 2010; b) verbal approach, The case of the Internet service providers and others;
- Scenario Planning in particular: The case of the impact of IT onnewspapers/ The case of organizations in the 21st century.
Attending students
- 25% written exam aimed at assessing participants' skills in applying concepts, models and theories to a real case;
- 75% team and individual assignments.
Non-attending students
Oral exam
Required readings
- A. Martelli, Course Package - Cases and Readings, papers
- M. Lindgren, H. Bandhold, Scenario planning. The link between future and strategy, Palgrave, 2003.
Additional required readings for non-attending students
K. Van der Heijden, Scenarios. The Art of Strategic Conversation, New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1996.