Competitive Strategy

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/illinois-tech-competitive-strategy

Introduction

**Course Review: Competitive Strategy on Coursera** In today’s fast-paced business landscape, especially within the tech sector, the question of why some companies consistently outperform others is more relevant than ever. The journey to uncover the factors that contribute to a company's competitive success is brilliantly paved by the course titled “Competitive Strategy,” available on Coursera. This well-structured program delves deep into the intricacies of competitive strategy, providing invaluable insights for anyone looking to thrive in a fiercely competitive environment. ### Overview “Competitive Strategy” asks a fundamental question: "Why do some companies outperform others?" The course challenges participants to think critically about the competitive landscape of the 21st century, a time characterized by rapid technological advances and globalization that complicate the pursuit of a competitive edge. By focusing on external and internal factors impacting business performance, the course prepares you to develop effective strategies that foster a sustainable competitive advantage. ### Course Structure The course is neatly divided into three comprehensive modules plus a summative assessment, each designed to build upon the last: #### **Module 1: What is Competitive Strategy?** Kick-starting the course, this module defines key concepts such as competitive strategy and competitive advantage. It explores the macro-environment, teaching students how to identify both opportunities and threats that impact a company's performance. If you're new to strategic analysis, this module is a gentle yet thorough introduction to understanding a company's external environment. After completing this module, you will feel empowered to examine and elucidate the complex market dynamics at play. #### **Module 2: Competitive Advantage** Diving deeper, this module explains how businesses can create and sustain competitive advantage. Here, you'll learn about Economic Value Created (EVC) and how internal resources can be leveraged effectively to exploit market opportunities. The discussions on valuable, rare, and inimitable resources provide a framework to help you understand what makes a company successful over the long term. Completing this module will enable you to conduct sophisticated internal resource analyses, equipping you with the tools to determine a firm's potential for sustained competitiveness. #### **Module 3: Choosing a Competitive Strategy** This module explores various competitive strategies, such as differentiation, cost leadership, and best-cost approaches. You’ll be guided through conducting SWOT analyses, aligning internal strengths with external opportunities, and ultimately unearthing the optimal competitive strategy for given scenarios. The inclusion of a fictitious mini-case study enhances practical understanding, bridging the gap between theory and real-world application. By the end of this module, you should feel confident in your ability to formulate strategic recommendations for any business scenario. #### **Summative Course Assessment** The course culminates in a comprehensive assessment that tests your understanding of the material and your ability to apply learned concepts in practical ways. This assessment serves as both a review and a benchmark for your newfound knowledge, ensuring you’ve fully grasped the critical elements of competitive strategy. ### Recommendations The “Competitive Strategy” course on Coursera is highly recommended for professionals, students, and anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of how to navigate and excel in competitive markets. Here’s why: 1. **Structured Learning:** The clear module breakdown and logical progression make complex topics digestible. 2. **Practical Application:** The course emphasizes real-world applicability, ensuring that you can translate learning into practice. 3. **Expert Instruction:** Delivered by knowledgeable instructors, the insights provided are both credible and relevant. 4. **Flexible Schedule:** As an online offering, it accommodates learners' varying schedules, enabling you to progress at your own pace. ### Conclusion Whether you are an aspiring entrepreneur, a business leader, or a student aiming to enhance your strategic thinking skills, the “Competitive Strategy” course on Coursera is an excellent investment in your professional development. It not only equips you with vital analytical skills but also empowers you to craft strategies that could lead to long-term business success in any competitive domain. If you're ready to unlock the secrets behind effective competition, this course is a great place to start!

Syllabus

Module 1: What is Competitive Strategy?

Welcome to Competitive Strategy. In this course, we will cover the topics of: What is Competitive Strategy?, Competitive Advantage, and Choosing a Competitive Strategy. The 21st century competitive landscape is characterized by rapid technological change, increasing globalization, and intense competition. To succeed in such a challenging environment, companies need to have an effective competitive strategy to be successful over the long run. We will begin the process of developing such a strategy in this module by analyzing external factors that impact a company's performance. We will learn how to identify opportunities and threats in the macro-environment and to analyze forces that affect an industry's profitability. After completing this module, you will have a clear understanding of what competitive strategy is and how to analyze the external environment.

In this module, you will learn what competitive advantage is and how companies can generate it with a good competitive strategy. Competitive advantage is the firm’s ability to generate greater Economic Value Created (EVC), which is the difference between the maximum price customers are willing to pay for the company’s products or services (WTP) and the firm’s cost of producing and selling the product (COST), than the competitor’s EVC. The company’s internal resources help create competitive advantage when deployed with an effective strategy to exploit opportunities in the external environment. You will learn that certain resources which are valuable, rare, inimitable, and for which the company is well organized to exploit, can lead to sustainable or longer-term competitive advantage – which in turn drives long-term profitability. Finally, you will learn how to analyze the value chain activities and understand how they help generate competitive advantage. At the end of the module, you will learn how to analyze internal resources, how companies generate sustainable competitive advantage, and understand the role of the value chain.

This module describes the different competitive strategies like differentiation, cost leadership, and best-cost strategy. You will understand how companies use these approaches to create a superior EVC and enjoy a sustainable competitive advantage. Differentiation strategies generally focus on increasing the WTP while Cost Leadership strategies stress reducing COST. Best-cost strategy aims to increase WTP and reduce COST simultaneously. You will also learn how to do the SWOT analysis by comparing external opportunities and threats with internal strengths and weaknesses. You will learn how a company can develop an optimal competitive strategy by matching internal strengths with external opportunities. Using a fictitious mini case, you will learn how the external analysis in Module 1 and internal analysis in Module 2 all come together to help companies identify an optimal competitive strategy. At the end of Module 3, you will learn the various competitive strategy alternatives available to companies, how they lead to competitive advantage, and how a company could identify the optimal competitive strategy for a given situation.

This module contains the summative course assessment that has been designed to evaluate your understanding of the course material and assess your ability to apply the knowledge you have acquired throughout the course. Be sure to review the course material thoroughly before taking the assessment.