1. Objectives

As the business environment in China and in the world is becoming ever more complex, more turbulent, more global and more competitive, thinking strategically about how a firm should position itself in order to compete successfully is becoming increasingly critical. Those firms that will survive, grow and create value for their shareholders and stakeholders are firms with a clear vision of what their competitive advantage is and of how to maintain and enhance it. Senior managers not only need to understand and share that vision, they are also required to participate in shaping it.

In this context, the objective of this course is to review the main concepts, methods and tools which are used in the strategy formulation and implementation process, identify the business situations in which they can be applied most effectively, as well as understand the limitations of the various approaches.

2. Description of the Module Contents

This module focuses on what is traditionally known as Business Strategy, i.e. strategic management for the single business firm. It concentrates primarily on how to analyze competition and successfully deal with it. It thus covers both the analysis of a firm’s external environment (i.e. its competitors, suppliers, customers, etc.) and approaches to assess the firm’s internal capabilities and resources. The frameworks presented and discussed in this module are aimed at helping managers define the appropriate course of action for their specific company. The main topics covered in this module are:

• Industry analysis
• Competitive dynamics
• Sources of competitive advantage
• Cost leadership
• Differentiation
• Firm-specific resources
• Competitor analysis
• Competitive interaction

3. Faculty Biographies

Pierre Dussauge is a Professor of Strategic Management at HEC.-School of Management, one of the leading business schools in Europe. He is a graduate of HEC and earned a PhD. in management science from the Paris-Dauphine University. He was a visiting professor of Corporate Strategy at the Ross Business School of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor from 1991 to 2003 and a visiting professor of Strategy at INSEAD in 2005-2006. He has also had visiting positions and teaching assignments at the Indian School of Business (Hyderabad), at Tsinghua Universty (Beijing), at INCAE (Costa Rica), at the Stockholm School of Economics, at IESE (Barcelona, Spain), at the Warsaw Politechnic Institute (Poland), at the CFVG (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam), etc. Pierre Dussauge was a finalist for the best teacher award in the Michigan MBA program in 1996, 1998 and 1999, and received the best teacher award at HEC in 2002.

Pierre Dussauge is the author or co-author of several books in the field of strategic management (Technologie et stratégie d’entreprise, McGraw-Hill, 1987; State-Owned Multinationals, J. Wiley & Sons, 1987; Strategic Technology Management, J. Wiley & Sons, 1992; Stratégie d’entreprise : études de cas, InterEditions, 1993; Les Stratégies d’Alliance, Editions d’Organisation, 1995; Cooperative Strategy, J. Wiley & Sons, 1999) ; Les Stratégies d’Alliance received the 1995 McKinsey award for best management book published in France. Pierre Dussauge is also the author of many articles published in academic or practitioner-oriented journals, notably Strategic Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, Group Decision and Negotiation, International Studies in Management and Organization, Long Range Planning, European Management Journal, Defense Economics, the Financial Times, etc. Pierre Dussauge was the Editor of the European Management Review from 2002 to 2005. For the last few years, his research has focused on the topic of global strategic alliances formed by competing firms.

In addition to his academic work, Pierre Dussauge has been a consultant or a management educator with a number of firms in Europe and in the US.
 
Jean-Paul Larçon is professor of International Strategy at HEC, Paris. He holds a Doctorate from the University of Paris and a MSc in Management from HEC.

Dean of HEC (Paris, France) from 1982 to 1989, he was one of the founders of the Community of European Management School (CEMS) in 1989. He was a visiting professor at CEIBS (China-Europe International Business School), Shanghai (China), ESADE, Barcelona (Spain), IAG, Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium). Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Paris (France), Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Bergen (Norway). He is the Chairman of the Academic Council of Warsaw University of Technology Business School.

He published in the fields of strategic management, corporate culture, international strategy and entrepreneurship in economies in transition. He contributed to many publications and books, including: Globalization and Human Capital (Madrid, 2004), Strategic and International Management in China (Xi’an, 2003), After the iron curtain, golden opportunities (1999), Entrepreneurship and Economic Transition in Central Europe (1998), The Light and the Shadow – How Breakthrough Innovation is Shaping European Business (1997), Stratégie d’Entreprise dans les pays Emergents (1997).

Jean-Paul Larçon has also been a consultant, educator and project manager for leading multinational corporations, public agencies and international institutions in Europe, Middle East and Africa, Russia and Central Asia, and China.

His main research interests are in business strategy in large emerging markets. He works currently on a research project on Chinese multinational corporations conducted with the strategy department of the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University.