88189 - STRATEGY AND BUSINESS GAMES (7 CFU)

Academic Year 2021/2022

  • Moduli: Marcello M. Mariani (Modulo 1) Morten Lund (Modulo 2)
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures (Modulo 1) Traditional lectures (Modulo 2)
  • Campus: Forli
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Economics and business (cod. 9202)

Learning outcomes

The goal of this course is to implement the main marketing strategies using a business game to simulate a real market scenario. Making decisions and allocating resources among different marketing variables will improve students’ knowledge of both operational and marketing strategies. Students use marketing techniques to analyze data and improve their decisions. By the end of the course students are able to (a) implement effective marketing strategies and (b) evaluate the level of effectiveness of their decisions.

Course contents

This course consists of two modules. In Module 1 the core concepts revolving around strategy in business are introduced and discussed. In module 2, business games are deployed to simulate a real market scenario.

 

Module 1 (Prof. M. Mariani)

Lesson 1 – Introducing strategy

Lesson 2 – Macro-environment analysis

Lesson 3 – Industry and sector analysis

Lesson 4 – Resources and capabilities

Lesson 5 – Stakeholders and governance

Lesson 6 – History and culture

Lesson 7 – Case Study

Lesson 8 – Business strategy

Lesson 9 – Corporate strategy

 

Module 2 (Prof. M. Lund)

Lesson 1 – Business Models VS. Strategy

Lesson 2 – Business Models VS. Strategy continued

Lesson 3 – Business Design, Games, and methods

Lesson 4 – Hands-on Business Design / Game (Business models and IOT)

Lesson 5 – Business Design Game (Business models and IOT)

Lesson 6 – Business Models VS. Strategy & Data-driven strategy and business

Lesson 7 – Business Narratives

Lesson 8 – Group presentations

Lesson 9 – Group presentations

Readings/Bibliography

Osterwalder, Alexander, and Yves Pigneur. Business model generation: a handbook for visionaries, game-changers, and challengers. John Wiley & Sons, 2013.

Whittington, R., Regnér, P., Angwin, D., Johnson, G., and Scholes, K. (2020) Exploring strategy. 12th ed., Harlow: Pearson.

Teaching methods

Lectures. Presentations. Small-group activities. Case studies. Project work. Game-based activities. Q&A sessions.

Assessment methods

Module 1: The final mark is based on an online written exam to be taken in the classroom.

Module 2: The final mark is based on EITHER students' group presentations during lecture 8 & 9 OR an online written exam to be taken in the classroom.

The final mark for the course will be an average of the mark for Module 1 and the mark for Module 2.

The range of grades for every component (written exam, group presentations) are as follows:

  • <18 not sufficient;
  • 18-23 sufficient;
  • 24-27 good;
  • 28-30 very good;
  • 30 Lode excellent.

Teaching tools

All materials can be found on https://virtuale.unibo.it/

Module 1: Online and by appointment only by emailing: marcello.mariani@unibo.it [mailto:marcello.mariani@unibo.it]

Module 2: Online and by appointment only by emailing: ml@business.aau.dk [mailto:ml@business.aau.dk]

 

Office hours

See the website of Marcello M. Mariani

See the website of Morten Lund