Corporate Strategy Module Handbook Semester 01 | LBU

Contents

What this Module is About

1.1 Introduction from the Module Leader

1.2 Module Aims

1.3 Module Learning Outcomes

1.4 Module Learning Activities

1.5 The Team & Communication

Contact Hours

Weekly Schedule

Key Resources to Support Learning

Assessment

5.1 Corporate Strategy Module Assessments Overview

5.2 Corporate Strategy Portfolio Assessment

5.3 How to Construct the Portfolio

5.3.1 The Five Case Studies and their Analysis (2,000 words)

5.3.2 Strategic Options Analysis, Evaluation, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Reflective Statement (1,500 words)

5.3.3 Your Critique of the Limitations of the AI Authored Reflective Statement (500 words)

5.4 Structure of Portfolio

5.5 Marking Scheme: Corporate Strategy Portfolio

5.6 RESIT Section (Relevant Only if You Have Failed the Module)

5.7 Feedback on Your Assessments

6. Understanding Your Assessment Responsibilities

7. Your Feedback on the Module

What this Module is About

Introduction from the Module Leader

On behalf of the team, we would like to welcome you to the Corporate Strategy module. This module is offered across a range of programs, both on campus and overseas. As students, you come from diverse undergraduate backgrounds, courses, and professional experiences, which will enrich our learning environment.

This module serves as an introduction to Corporate Strategy and assumes no prior knowledge of the subject. Strategic Management, particularly Corporate Strategy, is an exciting field. You may initially feel you lack knowledge in this area, but you’ll soon discover that the key concepts are easy to understand and, in many ways, you’ve already been practising strategy in your own life.

Corporate Strategy will give you insight into the large organisations you are familiar with, explaining the decisions they make to achieve and sustain success, as well as the reasons behind their failures. More importantly, this is a formative subject that will support your development beyond organisational thinking, helping you enhance your leadership and strategic thinking skills.

The academic team will guide and support you throughout this module, including seminar tasks, readings, and assessments. Like other postgraduate programs, you will be expected to engage with the material both inside and outside the classroom. This means taking responsibility for your reading, attendance, weekly preparation, and bi-weekly submission of assessed tasks. Developing academic independence is one of the key differences between undergraduate and postgraduate study. You must take responsibility for your learning, be curious, and regularly reflect on how Corporate Strategy concepts apply to organisations—and life in general. If you are asking questions and actively participating, you are what we call an "active learner."

The module has been designed to build on each unit week by week, with each unit forming the foundation for the next. The pace of the module can be fast, so you must engage with the planned learning activities every week. On average, you will need to read between 40-60 pages per week. Planning and managing your learning efficiently will help you make the most out of this module.

On behalf of the team, thank you for joining us. We look forward to working with you throughout this module!

Corporate Strategy Module Aims

This capstone module aims to employ knowledge gained in earlier modules in the context of a strategic perspective of business management and leadership for Corporate bodies.

It explores the evaluation of decisions that managers face in complex and dynamic environments, combining multiple perspectives of business and management (leadership, creativity and human capital, finance and environmental analytics, and strategic thinking approaches).

The Module Aims are to:

• Achieve an introduction to Corporate Strategy for Postgraduate students;
• Develops understanding of corporate decision making through the application of critical thinking on academic concepts and analytical models (tools/ frameworks);
• Evaluate the importance of key issues, such as stakeholder management, culture, Social Responsibility, etc., for organisations and their formulation of strategy;
• Explore contemporary Corporate Strategy issues ;
• Grasp real-world processes and practices of strategic management in corporate settings.

Corporate Strategy Module Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• LO1: Critically evaluate and correctly apply concepts, tools and techniques of strategic management and corporate strategic management.
• LO2: Critically analyse and evaluate the relationship between strategic
  objectives/intent and operational/resource planning in terms of successful corporate strategic assessment and decision making.
• LO3: Evaluate the impact of organisation culture, politics, stakeholder influence, social responsibility and ethical issues on corporate strategy assessment and corporate strategy formulation.

Module Learning Activities

Teaching delivery consists of a one-hour lecture and a two-hour seminar. The lectures are designed to introduce and explain the relevant theoretical and applied concepts and are divided into three parts: Business Strategy Foundations, Fundamentals of Corporate Strategy, and Further Applications in Corporate Strategy. In total, the module is comprised of 11 ‘units’ or weeks of distinct thematic content, and a twelfth revision and assessment support unit.

Lectures

Lectures are the roadmap to guide students' reading. Hence, the lecture slides provided are only a skeleton version of the materials you need to learn. This is to help you engage as much as possible with the content so that, when you are reading it, it is familiar and understandable. The lecturer does 90% of the work during lectures, with the remaining 10% being your questions and reflections.

Seminars

Seminars are where you do 80% of the work. You come to these prepared, having read the corresponding chapter(s) that you were directed to do. These readings will include a case study. For the case study, you must prepare some written work. Eventually, all your work will be collated into one document: the Portfolio Assessment.

In class, we engage in discussions about your assigned work. You are then encouraged to finalise it as an essential component of your portfolio assessment. Please submit your draft case study in PRINTED PAPER format on the day of your seminar. We will make every effort to provide brief feedback with some supportive notes within two weeks. Note that submissions via email or after the deadline will not be accepted. In most instances, we will only see ONE or TWO such drafts.

Case studies must be prepared in advance of the seminar corresponding to the topic. After receiving formative feedback, you are welcome to incorporate final changes for the refinement of your portfolio. THIS ONLY applies to the case studies you need to review. For the latter part of the Portfolio Assessment 2, we will run Q&A drop-in sessions.