Module Directory

This module is designed to encourage students to reflect on a variety of issues relating to business strategy, such as: the nature of business strategy; the approaches to strategy development; the implications of strategic choices; stakeholder interests and the wider context of strategy.

In particular, the module encourages students to evaluate many of the aspects of strategy and strategic thinking that are not usually reflected upon. This module provides students with an insight into the nature of business strategy and its implications, which go beyond what might be expected in the standard textbook. Consequently, the module offers an insight into a range of current business issues, management dilemmas, ethical considerations, and general governance issues relating to the strategic direction of organisations. Overall, the module provides an introduction to strategy and a critical examination of its application in practice.

The aims of this module are:

• To provide an overview of the different approaches to strategy, introduce you to the different tools used in the business strategy analysis, and to discuss issues related to the management of business strategy.


• To enable you to connect business strategy and strategic management issues to business situations.


• To train you in strategic thinking as well as in analysing and making sense of the complexities of the business world around you.
  To enable you critically to analyse and work with different aspects of business strategy and strategic management, especially in view of your own future managerial practice relating to strategy, either in terms of your own strategic decision-making or in terms of dealing with strategic decisions made in the upper echelons of organisations.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Recognise and understand what ‘strategy’ is.


2. Understand the different tools that strategists use to create a strategy.


3. Understand the issues that strategists might face when using these tools.


4. Link a specific case to general theoretical issues and approaches.


5. Make sense of a business situation, analyse it using relevant models and develop a strategy.

Skills for Your Professional Life (Transferable Skills)

Analytical Skills and Cognitive Skills:

1. A1 Synthesis and bringing together concepts and ideas


2. A2 Critical thinking


3. A3 Evaluation of evidence


4. A4 Creative problem solving


5. A5 Recognise rival conceptual ideas


6. C1 Writing a business report


7. C3 Expressing ideas for business purposes


8. C5 Argumentation/Essay writing skills

Data Analysis Skills:

1. D2 Analysing qualitative data


2. D4 Analysing academic literature


3. D6 Desk research/netnographic skills

Social Skills:

1. S4 Showing own initiative


2. S5 Demonstrating motivation to succeed

Technical Skills:

1. T1 Core IT skills (word, excel, Powerpoint, outlook)

Research Skills:

1. R3 Using different research methods appropriately


2. R4 Reporting research findings


3. R6 Understanding plagiarism and referencing

Business Management Skills:

1. BM2 Ability to identify significance and effects of HRM practices


2. BM3 Ability to develop greater sensitivity and awareness around implied and explicit ethical assumptions and beliefs

Staff teaching on the module will be available to support your learning both during the formal learning and teaching sessions as well as during weekly Academic Support Hours, the details of which are available centrally online.

This module will be delivered via:

• Ten weekly lectures and nine weekly seminars.

The lectures introduce you to key strategic management concepts and theories. The seminars are aimed at demonstrating the application of the concepts to contemporary business practice. Lecture slides will be posted on Moodle. ]

During the lectures, seminar tasks will be set. These can be based on case-study exercises and/or relevant readings. The seminar material will be broadly related to material covered in the lectures, but it will usually also introduce you to something new.