BE431-5-AU-CO:
Business Strategy

The details
2026/27
Essex Business School
Colchester Campus
Autumn
Undergraduate: Level 5
Current
Thursday 08 October 2026
Friday 18 December 2026
15
09 April 2026

 

Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)

 

(none)

Key module for

BBA N100 Business Administration,
BBA N100CO Business Administration,
BBA N103 Business Administration (Including Placement Year),
BBA N103CO Business Administration (Including Placement Year),
BBA N104 Business Administration (Including Foundation Year),
BBA N104CO Business Administration (Including Foundation Year),
BBA N110 Business Administration (Including Year Abroad),
BBA N110CO Business Administration (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N200 Business Management,
BSC N201 Business Management (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N202 Business Management (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N204 Business Management (Including Placement Year),
BA NR19 Business Management and Modern Languages,
BA N1R9 Business Management with a Modern Language,
BSC N2N5 Marketing Management (Including Foundation Year),
BSC NN25 Marketing Management,
BSC NN25TD Marketing Management,
BSC NN2M Marketing Management (Including Placement Year),
BSC NNF5 Marketing Management (Including Year Abroad),
LLB MN00 Law with Business,
LLB MN01 Law with Business (Including Year Abroad),
LLB MN02 Law with Business (Including Placement Year),
LLB MN03 Law with Business (Including Foundation Year),
BA N19R Business Management and Language Studies,
BSC N344 Finance and Management,
BSC N345 Finance and Management (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N346 Finance and Management (Including Placement Year),
BSC N347 Finance and Management (Including Foundation Year),
BA LN10 Business Economics,
BA LN11 Business Economics (Including Year Abroad),
BA LN12 Business Economics (Including Placement Year),
BA LX10 Business Economics (Including Foundation Year),
MMANNN35 Marketing Management,
MMANNN36 Marketing Management (Including Placement Year),
MMANNN37 Marketing Management (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N355 International Business and Finance,
BSC N355CO International Business and Finance,
BSC N356 International Business and Finance (Including Placement Year),
BSC N356CO International Business and Finance (Including Placement Year),
BSC N357 International Business and Finance (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N357CO International Business and Finance (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N358 International Business and Finance (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N358CO International Business and Finance (Including Foundation Year),
BA L215 Politics with Business,
BSC N260 Business and Human Resource Management,
BSC N261 Business and Human Resource Management (including Placement Year),
BSC N262 Business and Human Resource Management (including Year Abroad),
BSC N263 Business and Human Resource Management (Including Foundation Year),
BA N29RCO Business Management with Language Studies

Module description

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.

Module aims

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.

Module learning outcomes

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

Module information

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.

Learning and teaching methods

This module will be delivered via:

  • Ten weekly lectures
  • 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.

Bibliography

The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.

Assessment items, weightings and deadlines

Coursework / exam Description Deadline Coursework weighting
Coursework   Essay 2    70% 
Coursework   Essay 1    30% 

Exam format definitions

  • Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
  • In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary, for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.

Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.

Overall assessment

Coursework Exam
100% 0%

Reassessment

Coursework Exam
100% 0%
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Malte Jauch, email: m.jauch@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Malte Jauch & Dr Simon Carmel
m.jauch@essex.ac.uk

 

Availability
Yes
Yes
No

External examiner

No external examiner information available for this module.
Resources
Available via Moodle
Of 1 hours, 1 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.

 

Further information
Essex Business School

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