Alessandro Zattoni, Business & Management Department, LUISS University, azattoni@luiss.it. Maria Jell-Ojobor, Business & Management Department, LUISS University, mjellojobor@luiss.it Michele Pinelli, Business & Management Department, LUISS University, mpinelli@luiss.it
Ilaria Supino, Business & Management Department, LUISS University, isupino@luiss.it

Learning goals

The course aims to present and discuss theoretical frameworks and models that may be used to formulate and implement corporate-level strategies. In particular, students will develop the competence to understand and analyze strategic decisions on:

• -  Industry, resources and competitive advantage;

• -  Scope of the firm and growth strategy;

• -  Managing multi-business and international companies.

  Topics

  Corporate Strategy. Industry, resources and competitive advantage. Vertical integration and the scope of the firm. Global strategy and the multinational corporation. Diversification. Implementing corporate strategy. External growth strategy. Organization structure and management systems. Corporate social responsibility. Corporate governance. Current trends in strategic management.

  Schedule

  - Monday, 10:30-12:30, room Polivalente - Wednesday, 15:45-17:45, room A401

  Readings

  The textbook of the course is a collection of readings (chapters) from: Robert Grant, Contemporary Strategy Analysis, Wiley, 2016. Students can buy selected chapters directly from Wiley website or can buy the entire book online or in a bookstore.
  The cases and professor’s presentations will be available on the course website except “The Body Shop international” - Reference no. 9-392-032 - that may be bought and downloaded from the Case Centre (https://www.thecasecentre.org/main/).

  Prerequisites

  Basic knowledge of competitive strategy, accounting, organization and finance.
  Students who did not attend any strategy course before may find useful reading chapters 1-5 and 7- 10 of the book: Robert Grant, Contemporary Strategy Analysis, Wiley, 2016.

  Exam

  Attending students
  The grade will be the result of:
  - a written exam (60%);
  - a work group (40%);
  - individual contribution to case discussion (0-2 additional points).
  The written exam will consist of: i) 4 open questions (with limited space for the answer); ii) 4 multiple choice questions; iii) 1 comment to a short case.
  The work group is developed by team of students. The purpose is to analyze the corporate strategy of an Italian or a foreign company. Each team should develop two different outputs: a research report of about 20 pages; a short presentation of about 7-10 slides, to be presented to the class in about 15 minutes during one of the last sessions of the course. Both outputs will be evaluated.

• Individual contribution to class measures the student’s contribution to case discussion. Each student will send an email to all professors within 24 hours after each class to synthesize the contribution and the value provided to class discussion.

• Not attending students
  Students that cannot attend classes should do an individual project with the same characteristics of the group work explained below.
  The final grade will be the result of the written exam (60%) and the individual project (40%).

  Work group

  The research group is made up of 5 students. Each group is decided by students within the first week of class. Each group has to prepare a report that describes and analyzes the corporate strategy of an Italian or a foreign company assigned by professors.
  Professors are conscious that there may be differences in the analysis of companies – e.g. due to the availability of data – and they will consider also this aspect in their final evaluation.

  Each group will have to prepare two different outputs:

  1. 1)  a short presentation of about 7-10 slides to be presented in about 15 minutes in one of the last

     sessions of the course;

  2. 2)  a research report of about 20 pages that describes and analyzes the corporate strategy and

     performance of a firm, in an evolutionary perspective. The research report should cover the following topics

     1. short introduction of the company: size, industry, vision, mission, performance;

     2. the evolution of corporate strategy. Students can easily collect the company’s annual reports over the last decade. The main purpose is to analyze the evolution of corporate

        strategy: vertical integration, diversification, internationalization, M&A;

     3. firm performance: competitive performance, return on equity and investments, stock price, dividends, employees, liquidity, reputation. It is important to provide tables with

        quantitative analyses of these dimensions in comparison with peers.

     The analysis should help students:

  i) to critically evaluate the evolution of corporate strategy;
  ii) to make proposals aimed at improving corporate performance or reducing corporate

  risks.

  Format of the report

  The research report should be a word file with the following format: 3cm margins, 1.5 spacing, font TNR 12. It is strictly forbidden to “cut and paste” from internet or the company reports. Such behaviours can be sanctioned by the professors both not grading the report and considering the students as not attending. It is instead allowed to include figures or pictures, with a clear indication of the source. The report should include references such as books, articles, websites, and companies’ reports.