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LB5113 - Corporate Strategy

Credit points: 3
Year: 2023
Student Contribution Band: Band 4
Administered by: College of Business, Law & Governance

This subject covers the fundamentals of corporate-level strategy as opposed to business-level strategy. "Business-level" (business) strategy deals with achieving and sustaining a competitive advantage in a discrete and identifiable business. "Corporate-level" (corporate) strategy deals with the way a company creates value through the selection of a portfolio of businesses and the configuration and coordination of these businesses. The primary way in which corporate strategy ultimately creates value is through increasing the ability of businesses in the portfolio to create and sustain a competitive advantage. For example, sharing manufacturing activities may reduce costs. Alternatively, sharing a strong brand may increase differentiation while reducing overall marketing costs. Hence there is a very close relationship between business and corporate strategy. The major topics we will cover are diversification (related and unrelated), vertical integration, restructuring, synergy, alliance strategy, and global strategy. We will be introducing a variety of tools to help us analyse these topics. The primary objective of the subject is to introduce you to the primary decisions, tools, and concepts of corporate strategy. By the end of the course you should be able to understand how multi-business firms can create and destroy value; be able to engage in a thoughtful discussion of corporate strategy with senior executives; be able to identify opportunities to improve corporate strategy; understand and be able to analyse the major benefits and risks of various diversification strategies; understand the economic and organizational realities behind the term "synergy" and be able to identify and analyse synergy opportunities; understand the role alliances play in corporate strategy and be able to analyse the major trade-offs between alliances and acquisitions; understand the role a particular business plays in a corporate strategy; and understand the nature and strategic implications of both regional/global rationalization and local responsiveness in global strategy.

Learning Outcomes

  • analyse and evaluate decision-making strategies by applying the tools and using the concepts of corporate strategy;
  • critically analyse strategic approaches and sustainable practices as a means of creating resilient, inclusive and innovative businesses and communities;
  • employ a range of methods, techniques and tools to plan and conduct business to generate solutions to complex problems in global contexts.

Subject Assessment

  • Written > Case study analysis - (35%) - Group
  • Written > Critical incident analysis - (50%) - Individual
  • Written > Critical Analysis - (15%) - Group.

Availabilities

JCU Brisbane, Trimester 1, Internal
Census Date 09-Mar-2023
Coordinator: Dr Reza Akbari
Lecturer: Mr Robert Godby.
Workload expectations:

The student workload for this 3 credit point subject is approximately 130 hours.

  • 20 hours lectures
  • 10 hours tutorials - Synthesising session
  • 10 hours online activity - Recordings, online activities & self-directed learning
  • assessment and self-directed study

JCU Brisbane, Trimester 2, Internal
Census Date 22-Jun-2023
Workload expectations:

The student workload for this 3 credit point subject is approximately 130 hours.

  • 20 hours lectures
  • 10 hours tutorials - Synthesising session
  • 10 hours online activity - Recordings, online activities & self-directed learning
  • assessment and self-directed study

JCU Brisbane, Trimester 3, Internal
Census Date 05-Oct-2023
Workload expectations:

The student workload for this 3 credit point subject is approximately 130 hours.

  • 20 hours lectures
  • 10 hours tutorials - Synthesising session
  • 10 hours online activity - Recordings, online activities & self-directed learning
  • assessment and self-directed study

JCU Singapore, Study Period 51, Internal
Census Date 06-Apr-2023
Coord/Lect: Assoc. Professor Adrian Kuah.
Workload expectations:

The student workload for this 3 credit point subject is approximately 130 hours.

  • 20 hours lectures - may include recorded presentations, online activities & self-learning activities inclusive of lectures, via LearnJCU
  • 20 hours tutorials - may include recorded presentations, online activities & self-learning activities inclusive of synthesising sessions, via LearnJCU
  • assessment and self-directed study

JCU Singapore, Study Period 52, Internal
Census Date 03-Aug-2023
Workload expectations:

The student workload for this 3 credit point subject is approximately 130 hours.

  • 20 hours lectures - may include recorded presentations, online activities & self-learning activities inclusive of lectures, via LearnJCU
  • 20 hours tutorials - may include recorded presentations, online activities & self-learning activities inclusive of synthesising sessions, via LearnJCU
  • assessment and self-directed study

Townsville, Trimester 2, Internal
Census Date 22-Jun-2023
Lecturer: Dr Reza Akbari.
Workload expectations:

The student workload for this 3 credit point subject is approximately 130 hours.

  • 30 hours seminars
  • 10 hours online activity - Recordings, online activities and self-directed learning
  • assessment and self-directed study

Trimester 2, External
Census Date 22-Jun-2023
Coord/Lect: Dr Reza Akbari.
Workload expectations:

The student workload for this 3 credit point subject is approximately 130 hours.

  • 30 hours online activity - Recordings, online activities and self-directed learning
  • 10 hours online Tutorials - Online Collaborate session
  • assessment and self-directed study

Note: Minor variations might occur due to the continuous Subject quality improvement process, and in case of minor variation(s) in assessment details, the Subject Outline represents the latest official information.