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PGBM 156
Week 1
 Strategic Management in
International Context

Delivered by:
Alessandro Ferrazza
An Introduction
to the module
PGBM 156  Strategic Management in International Context
‘Topics to be covered during the term’

1. Introduction Strategic
2. Industry and Competitive analysis Position

3. Resources, Capabilities and Firm Competitiveness

4. Strategy: Strategic Design Options
5. Designing a global strategy
Strategic Options
6. Entrepreneurship & Innovation
7. Mergers and Strategic Alliances
Strategy in Action
8. Leadership and Strategic Change
9. Strategic Foresight – An Introduction
10. Global Trends – challenges and future scenarios
PGBM 156 Strategic
Management in International
Context
-Assessment-

•A written report of 3000 words

•Please see assignment questions

in the ‘Assignment’ Section of
the CANVAS Module shell.
PGBM 156 Strategic Management in
International Context
-Resources-

•moduleresources
Week 1

   
What is
Strategy?
Learning outcomes

1 2 3 4
Understand the Summarise the strategy of Distinguish between Identify key issues for an
characteristics of strategic an organisation in a corporate, business and organisation’s strategy
decisions and what is ‘strategy statement’. functional strategies.
meant by strategy and
strategic management,
distinguishing them from
operational management.

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 The Art of War

"All men can see these tactics whereby I

conquer, but what none can see is the
strategy out of which victory is evolved”.

Chanakya (4th century BCE) - Arthashastra

Sun Tzu (roughly 771 to 476 BC)

Contemporary Strategy Gurus
Johnson et al.,
C.K. Prahalad,
Gary Hamel,
Henry Mintzberg,
Michael Porter
Ikujiro Nonaka,
Alfred Chandler,
Joseph Lampel,
Sumantra
Ghoshal,
James Quinn,
Jay Barney,…..
R. Whittington
What is strategy?

Individual Discussion

Take a minute to think…
you may make a note of 
your definition  of ‘strat
egy’.​
 Your views on
Strategy?

•What is strategy for you

Definitions of
•Sources: A.D. Chandler, Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of
American Enterprise, MIT Press, 1963, p. 13; M.E. Porter, ‘What is strategy?’,
Harvard Business Review, November–December 1996, p. 60; P.F. Drucker, ‘The
theory of business’, Harvard Business Review, September–October 1994, pp.

strategy 95–106; H. Mintzberg, Tracking Strategies: Towards a General Theory, Oxford

University Press, 2007, p. 3.
Definitions of strategy - Cont

• Strategy is not about

doing things better -
this  is the concern of
operational
effectiveness –  strategy
is about doing things
differently;  hence the
essence of strategy is
making  choices.
• Michael Porter
Definitions of strategy - Cont

Strategy is​
the direction and scope of an  organisation over the
long term, which​
achieves advantage in a changing​
environment through its configuration of  resources 
and competences with the aim of  fulfilling stakehol
der expectations 
(Johnson  et al., 2008).​
​
…means by which
individuals or organisations achieve their objectives​
…. making choices
 Strategic decisions

Source: From G. Johnson, K. Scholes and R. Whittington. Exploring Corporate Strategy, 8th edn, Pearson Education 2008.
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 Stakeholders

• What is Strategy for?
• To define and express the purpose of an
organization  to stakeholders.
• Stakeholders are those individuals or
groups that  depend on an
organisation to fulfil their own goals 
and on whom, in turn, the
organisation depends.
• Four ways to define an organisation’s
purpose:
• Mission Statement
• Vision Statement
• Statement of Corporate Values
• Statement of Objectives 16
Mission
statements
•A mission statement aims to
provide employees and
stakeholders with clarity about
what the organisation is
fundamentally there to do.

• ‘What business are we in?’

• ‘What would be lost if the
organisation did not exist?’
• ‘How do we make a
difference?’

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Vision
statements
•A vision statement is
concerned with the future
the organisation seeks to
create.
• ‘What do we want to
achieve?’
• ‘If we were here in
twenty years what do
we want to have
created or achieved?’

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Statement of
values
•Statements of corporate values communicate
the underlying and enduring core ‘principles’
that guide an organisation’s strategy and define
the way that the organisation should operate.

•NB These values do NOT

change with circumstances.

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Statement of
objectives
•Objectives are statements of
specific outcomes that are to
be achieved.
• Often stated in financial
terms (e.g. Profit).
• May also be market-based
objectives (e.g. Market Share).
• May emphasise
basis of competitive
advantage.
• ‘Triple Bottom Line’ – economic,
social and environmental
objectives.

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This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY.
Strategy
statements

•Strategy statements should

have three main  themes:
• Fundamental goals that the
organisation seeks,  which reflect
the stated mission, vision and 
objectives.
• The scope or domain of
the organisation’s 
activities.
• The particular advantages or
capabilities it has  to deliver all of
these.
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 •Di Fiore (2014) argue strategy statements should be
in less than 15 words !

•This statement must identify the target customer,

the value proposition, and how the latter fits two
requirements:
Constructing
a strategy • Focus: What you want to offer to the target
customer and what you don’t

statement •Difference: Why your value proposition is

divergent from competitive alternatives.
Unilever Strategy

•Let’s explore to understand how Unilever looks at its Strategy

and the cognate terminologies

•Strategy | Unilever
Concerned with
the overall
Levels of strategy (1 of 2)
purpose and
scope of an
organisation
and how value Diversifying from the
will be added to
the different
organisation’s original
parts of the Corporate- activities into other
organisation
level activities (e.g. Tesla
strategy selling batteries for home
use.)
How to Marketing and product
compete improvement strategies
successfully
in
Business-level (e.g. Developing a lower
particular strategy cost, volume car for
markets
Tesla.)
Tesla’s functional
strategies are geared
Functional strategies to meeting its
investment needs
Operational strategies are concerned with how the component parts of an organisation and raising finance.
deliver effectively the corporate and business level strategies in terms of resources,
processes and people. 24
 Levels of strategy (2 of 2)
Corporate-level strategy is concerned with the overall
scope of an organisation and how value is added to the
constituent business units.

Business-level strategy is concerned with the way a

business seeks to compete successfully in its particular
market.

Functional strategy is concerned with how different

parts of the organisation deliver the strategy effectively
in terms of managing resources, processes and people.

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What is Strategic
Management?
Strategic management
includes  understanding
the strategic position of an
organisation, making
strategic choices  for the
future, and managing
strategy in  action.

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 The
exploring
strategy
framewor
k

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 The
exploring
strategy The Exploring Strategy
Framework includes
framework understanding the strategic
position of an organisation;
assessing strategic choices for
the future; and managing
strategy in action.

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 The strategic position is
concerned with the  impact
on strategy of the macro-
environment,  the industry
environment, the
Strategic organisation’s  strategic
capability (resources and 
position competences), the
(1 of 3) organisation’s stakeholders 
and the organisation’s culture.

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Strategic
position
(2 of 3)

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 31

Strategic Fundamental questions for Strategic

position:
position • What are the macro-
(3 of 3) environmental opportunities 
and threats?
• How can the organisation
manage industry forces?
• How are stakeholders aligned to
the organisational  purpose?
• What resources and capabilities
support the strategy?
• How does culture fit the strategy?
 32

Strategic choices
(1 of 3)
Strategic choices involve the options
for strategy in terms of both the
directions in which strategy might
move and the methods by which
strategy might be pursued.
Strategic
choices
(2 of 3)

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Fundamental questions for Strategic
choice:
• How should individual business
Strategic units compete?
choices • Which businesses to include in the
portfolio?
(3 of 3) • Where should the
organisation compete 
internationally?
• Is the organisation
innovating
appropriately?
• Should the organisation buy
other companies,  form alliances
or go it alone?
 35

Strategy in action
(1 of 3)
Strategy in action is about how
strategies are formed and how
they are implemented.

The emphasis is on the

practicalities of
managing.
Strategy in
action
(2 of 3)

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Strategy in action
(3 of 3)
Fundamental questions for Strategy
in action:

• Which strategies are suitable,

acceptable and feasible?
• What kind of strategy-making
process is needed?
• What are the required
organisation structures
and  systems?
• How should the
organisation manage
necessary  changes?
• Who should do what
in the strategy
process? Which 37
• people and what
The strategy checklist

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 • Strategy is the long-term direction of an
organisation.
• The work of strategy is to define and
express the purpose of an organisation
through its mission, vision, values and
objectives.
• Ideally a strategy statement should

Summary include an organisation’s goals,

scope of activities and the
advantages or capabilities it brings
(1 of 3) to these goals and activities.
• Corporate-level strategy is
concerned with an organisation’s
overall scope; business-level strategy
is
• concerned with how to compete; and
functional strategy is concerned with
how corporate- and business-level
strategies are actually delivered.

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Summary • Strategic Management has three major
elements: understanding the strategic

(2 of 3)
position, making strategic choices for the
future and managing strategy in action.

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 • Although the fundamentals of strategy
may be similar, strategy varies by
organisational context, for example,

Summary small business, multinational or public

sector.

(3 of 3) • Strategic issues can be viewed

critically from a variety of
perspectives, as exemplified by the
four strategy lenses of design,
experience, variety and discourse.

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 Read Week 2 slides

Next Week Using a wide range of resources, read

about the changing nature of the retail
Preparation industry due to COVID-19. How are
these changes impacting the
competition in the industry?

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Any questions?
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Recommending Reading
•First chapter of essential texts, including;
•Strategy: an international perspective, Wit, Bob de, author. 2017 Sixth edition.
•Global strategic management, Lasserre, Philippe, author. 2018 Fourth edition
•Strategic management, Lynch, Richard L., author. 2018 Eighth edition
•Strategy safari: the complete guide through the wilds of strategic management
•Mintzberg, Henry. & Lampel, Joseph. & Ahlstrand, Bruce W. 2nd ed.
•Strategy: an international perspective, Wit, Bob de, author. & Meyer, Ron, 1962- author.
•Fifth edition

•Additional reading:
•H. Mintzberg, “Crafting Strategy,” Harvard Business Review 65, no. 4 (1987): 66–75.
•G. Hamel, “Strategy as Revolution,” Harvard Business Review 74, no. 4 (1996): 69–82;
•B. Huffman, “What Makes a Strategy Brilliant?” Business Horizons 44, no. 4 (2001): 13–20
•https://hbr.org/2013/02/dont-let-strategy-become-plann
•https://hbr.org/2014/02/the-art-of-crafting-a-15-word-strategy-statement

•.

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 Slides 3 & 8 – Google

Image
Credits Slides 4, 7, 11, 18, 21,24,27,30,
32 & 36 - Johnson, G.,
Whittington, R., Scholes, K.,
Angwin, D. and Regner, P.
(2017). Exploring Strategy. 11th
ed. Pearson.
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