BE431-5-AU-CO:
Business Strategy
2021/22
Essex Business School
Colchester Campus
Autumn
Undergraduate: Level 5
Current
Thursday 07 October 2021
Friday 17 December 2021
15
26 January 2022
Requisites for this module
BE400 or IA711
BE410
(none)
(none)
(none)
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,
BA T7N2 Latin American Studies with Business Management,
BA T7N4 Latin American studies with Business Management (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N2N5 Management and Marketing (Including Foundation Year),
BSC NN25 Management and Marketing,
BSC NN2M Management and Marketing (Including Placement Year),
BSC NNF5 Management and Marketing (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),
BA VV20 Philosophy with Business Management,
BA VV21 Philosophy with Business Management (Including Foundation Year),
BA VV22 Philosophy with Business Management (Including Placement Year),
BA VV23 Philosophy with Business Management (Including Year Abroad),
BA L933 Global Studies with Business Management,
BA L934 Global Studies with Business Management (Including Foundation Year),
BA L935 Global Studies with Business Management (Including Placement Year),
BA L936 Global Studies with Business Management (Including Year Abroad),
MMANNN35 Marketing and Management,
MMANNN36 Marketing and Management (Including Placement Year),
MMANNN37 Marketing and Management (Including Year Abroad),
BA L215 Politics with Business,
BA L216 Politics with Business (Including Placement Year),
BA L217 Politics with Business (including Year Abroad),
BSC LL25 Politics with Business,
BSC LL26 Politics with Business (Including Placement Year),
BSC LL27 Politics with Business (including Year Abroad)
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 main aim of the module is to enable students to have an understanding of the nature of business strategy and to evaluate its meaning and implications in practice, i.e.
1. 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.
2. To enable you to connect business strategy and strategic management issues to business situations.
3. To train you in strategic thinking as well as in analysing and making sense of the complexities of the business world around you.
4. 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.
On successful completion of the module, students will 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.
The module's lectures will be delivered by James Fowler who will be supported by a team of academic colleagues – Martin Harris and Rekha Rao-Nicholson. 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.
Skills for Your Professional Life (Transferable Skills)
By the end of the module, you will have developed your skills in the following areas:
1. Develop your commercial awareness through the study of current strategic issues facing businesses
2. Enhance your understanding of communication in organisations, e.g. through the study of top management teams
3. Develop your understanding of the wider context of business, e.g. through relating business strategy to globalisation
4. Enhance your presentation and communication skills by making active contributions in class case-study work.
5. Develop your analytical and critical reasoning skills through the module's coursework.
The module consists of 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.
This module does not appear to have a published bibliography for this year.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Assignment |
|
100% |
| Exam |
Main exam: 24hr during Summer (Main Period)
|
Additional coursework information
Coursework 30% / Exam 70%
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
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr James Fowler, email: james.fowler@essex.ac.uk.
James Fowler, Rekha Rao-Nicholson, Martin Harris
ebsugcol@essex.ac.uk
Yes
Yes
No
Dr Natalia Slutskaya
University of Sussex
Senior Lecturer
Available via Moodle
Of 154 hours, 147 (95.5%) hours available to students:
4 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
3 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.
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