Fundamentals of Strategic Management
Strategic management is essential for all leaders and managers to accomplish their goals. Fundamentals of Strategic Management is designed to update your understanding of what is important in strategic thinking.
In the course, you’ll focus on the key perspectives: corporate strategy, growth strategy, business model, strategy process perspective, strategy as practice, platform design and strategy, and implementation.
By participating in this program, you will quickly find answers to the following questions and learn essentials that all managers and leaders need to know about strategy.
- Why do we need to adopt a historical perspective on strategic management?
- What are the concepts of corporate strategy, competitive advantage and strategic capabilities?
- How to think strategically about the growth of organization?
- What is business model and business model innovation and how do they differ from corporate strategy and growth strategy?
- What are the key elements of digital technologies that trigger current changes in the economic environment?
- What does the process perspective on strategy helps us to understand?
- Why strategy as practice has become increasingly popular perspective in recent years?
Start

8 video lectures

Online excercises and personal reflections to check your understanding of each theme

Learn on your own schedule and pace
Watch the introduction video of the sample module:

Benefits
The course serves as a cost-effective and flexible way of improving the understanding of strategy of managers and experts. It is also a tool to provide selected teams, groups or departments with a similar level of knowledge.



For
New Learners
This online course is designed for managers and experts willing to learn the fundamentals of strategic management and to understand its implications on decision-making in todays’ organizations.
Learners in Need of Revision
This course is suitable for those who need to revisit the basic concepts and frameworks of strategic management. It also provides excellent preparatory assignment for students prior to enrolling in many of the training programs offered by Aalto EE.
Contents
History of Strategic Management
- Origins of Strategic management
- Schools of Thought in Strategic Management
- History here and now
Corporate Strategy
- Competitive advantage
- Economies of scale and scope
- Competitive advantage through resources and strategic capabilities
- Strategy and company performance
Growth Strategy
- Internal and external growth strategies
- Merges and acquisitions as growth strategy
- Growth through digital
Business Model
- Business model
- Business model innovation
Platform Design and Strategy
- Essence of digital and platforms
- Multi-sided platforms
- Platform Strategies
- Platform strategy
Strategy Process Perspective
- Content vs. process in strategic management
- Intended, deliberate, emergent and realized strategies
- Strategic evolution and path dependency
- Politics of strategic decision making
- Strategic thinking
Strategy as Practice
- Practices, Praxis and Practitioners in Strategy Work
- Practices of Strategy Work
- Orchestration of Strategy Work
- Participation in Strategy Work
- Strategic Communication
Implementation
- Implementation - Translating Strategy into Action
- Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)
- Post-M&A Integration
- Re-cap and Reflective question
Instructors: Eero Vaara, Professor of Organization and Management, Aalto University and Robin Gustafsson, Associate Professor of Strategic Management, Aalto University
Fee and Registration
Program Fee
The fee for the Fundamentals of Strategic Management online course is € 200 (+ VAT).
The fee includes three months of access to the course content for one person.
VAT is applicable to private persons and Finnish companies.
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