Advanced Competitive Strategy

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Advanced Competitive Strategy

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Description

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About this course: Advanced Competitive Strategy will introduce new topics and modules with even more real world examples and opportunities for student interaction than in the previous course Competitive Strategy (https://www.coursera.org/learn/competitivestrategy). In Advanced Competitive Strategy, we will look at how companies can build up and maintain their customer base by increasing switching costs and facilitating strategic customer lock-ins. We will find out how firms can increase their profits by pursuing suitable price discrimination and product differentiation strategies. We will look at examples of what is acceptable behavior under the premises of EU competition and US antitr…

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When you enroll for courses through Coursera you get to choose for a paid plan or for a free plan

  • Free plan: No certicification and/or audit only. You will have access to all course materials except graded items.
  • Paid plan: Commit to earning a Certificate—it's a trusted, shareable way to showcase your new skills.

About this course: Advanced Competitive Strategy will introduce new topics and modules with even more real world examples and opportunities for student interaction than in the previous course Competitive Strategy (https://www.coursera.org/learn/competitivestrategy). In Advanced Competitive Strategy, we will look at how companies can build up and maintain their customer base by increasing switching costs and facilitating strategic customer lock-ins. We will find out how firms can increase their profits by pursuing suitable price discrimination and product differentiation strategies. We will look at examples of what is acceptable behavior under the premises of EU competition and US antitrust policies and discover exciting ways of how companies can increase their returns by strategically making use of network effects and economies of size. We will further intensify our newly acquired knowledge about network effects and discuss strategies that are explicitly tailored to network markets. We will analyze the workings of mergers and acquisitions and, moreover, support you in considering alternative strategies that can help companies grow organically.

Created by:  Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU)
  • Taught by:  Tobias Kretschmer, Professor

    Institute for Strategy, Technology and Organization
Basic Info Course 2 of 4 in the Competitive Strategy and Organization Design Specialization Commitment 7.5 hours videos and quizzes Language English, Subtitles: Spanish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Chinese (Simplified) How To Pass Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. User Ratings 4.7 stars Average User Rating 4.7See what learners said Coursework

Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.

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Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) As one of Europe's leading research universities, LMU Munich is committed to the highest international standards of excellence in research and teaching. Building on its 500-year-tradition of scholarship, LMU covers a broad spectrum of disciplines, ranging from the humanities and cultural studies through law, economics and social studies to medicine and the sciences.

Syllabus


WEEK 1


Maintaining your Customer Base



In this module we will look at strategies that can help us maintain our customer base. For this, we will take an analytical approach that helps us understand the point at which our customers will switch to a competitors and the amount of money a competitor is willing to spend to acquire our customers. Based on this understanding, we will derive applicable strategies that can help us lock in our customers strategically. We will do this by keeping in mind that also customers may apply their own strategies to avoid lock in and further, that our competitors will seek to apply strategies in the pursuit of making our customers theirs.


8 videos, 5 readings expand


  1. Reading: Course Overview
  2. Video: Introduction
  3. Reading: How to Use Discussion Forums
  4. Reading: Resource: Lecture Slides
  5. Reading: Get to Know Your Classmates
  6. Reading: Complete Slide Deck Week 1
  7. Video: Importance of Customer Loyalty
  8. Video: Types of Switching Costs
  9. Video: Customer Value and Switching
  10. Video: Old Suppliers
  11. Video: Customers
  12. Video: New Suppliers
  13. Video: Wrap Up

Graded: Maintaining your Customer Base

WEEK 2


Determine your Prices Wisely



We will look at the benefits of price discrimination as a strategic tool that can help us to skim off our customer’s willingness to pay and increase our utility accordingly. We are then going to learn the different ways of aligning a price discrimination strategy with successful product design and the three different ways in which a price discrimination strategy can be formulated.


8 videos, 2 readings expand


  1. Video: Introduction
  2. Reading: Resource: Lecture Slides
  3. Reading: Complete Slide Deck Week 2
  4. Video: Price Discrimination I: Reasons to Discriminate
  5. Video: Price Discrimination II: Synchronization with Product Differentiation
  6. Video: First Degree Price Discrimination
  7. Video: Second Degree Price Discrimination
  8. Video: Third Degree Price Discrimination
  9. Video: Intertemporal Pricing
  10. Video: Wrap Up

Graded: Determine your Prices Wisely

WEEK 3


Keep Your Business Clean



In this module we will demonstrate that if you want to operate a business you have to keep in mind that there are some powerful external entities, so-called competition authorities, that highly value and safeguard competition. While this supports and opens up opportunities for your business if it is new or relatively small and would otherwise simply be crushed by larger incumbent firms – it can also put you in danger if you have already achieved a certain size, have acquired more market power are already in a rather powerful position.


9 videos, 2 readings expand


  1. Video: Introduction
  2. Reading: Resource: Lecture Slides
  3. Reading: Complete Slide Deck Week 3
  4. Video: Reasons for Competition Policy
  5. Video: Instruments
  6. Video: Cartel Agreements
  7. Video: Factors Favoring Cartels
  8. Video: Examples
  9. Video: Defining Markets and Measuring Market Power
  10. Video: Forms of Market Forclosure
  11. Video: Wrap Up

Graded: Keep Your Business Clean

WEEK 4


Increase your Returns



In this module, we are going to discover two very important new concepts with which you can increase your business’s returns: Network effects and boundaries of the firm. We will find that considering these two concepts in formulating our business strategy can help us improve our strategy’s effectiveness and eventually increase our returns.


11 videos, 2 readings expand


  1. Video: Introduction
  2. Reading: Resource: Lecture Slides
  3. Reading: Complete Slide Deck Week 4
  4. Video: Network Goods
  5. Video: Network Effects I: Direct Network Effects
  6. Video: Network Effects II: Indirect Network Effects
  7. Video: Market Structure in Network Industries
  8. Video: Economies of Scale
  9. Video: Economies of Scope
  10. Video: Diseconomies of Scale & Scope
  11. Video: Reasons to Buy
  12. Video: Reasons to Make
  13. Video: Wrap Up

Graded: Increase your Returns

WEEK 5


Strategies in Network Markets



We will build upon our knowledge from module 4 and look into competition in network markets, adoption rates and the advantage of critical mass. Following from this, we will learn why this is essential for reaching the point of critical mass. We will moreover discuss ways in which companies can raise the attention of potential consumers and reduce their perceived risk.


7 videos, 2 readings expand


  1. Video: Introduction
  2. Reading: Resource: Lecture Slides
  3. Reading: Complete Slide Deck Week 5
  4. Video: Achieving Critical Mass
  5. Video: Raising Attention and Downsizing Perceived Risks
  6. Video: Strategies in Standardization
  7. Video: Knowing the Target Market
  8. Video: Strategic Pricing
  9. Video: Wrap Up

Graded: Strategies in Network Markets

WEEK 6


Achieve Growth with the Help of Partners



We will look at the trends, goals and processes of mergers and acquisitions, differentiate the two terms and examine external and internal factors that can hinder the process. We will also find out about the striking advantages that can make a successful merger or an acquisition worthwhile if you have identified the right match for your company and we will eventually learn about the process that is involved in real world M&A activities.


11 videos, 2 readings expand


  1. Video: Introduction
  2. Reading: Resource: Lecture Slides
  3. Reading: Complete Slide Deck Week 6
  4. Video: Trends
  5. Video: Differences
  6. Video: Goals for Partners and Buyers
  7. Video: Goals for Targets
  8. Video: Overview
  9. Video: Pre Merger Considerations
  10. Video: Merger Control
  11. Video: Post Merger Integration
  12. Video: Success of M&As
  13. Video: Wrap Up

Graded: Achieve Growth with the Help of Partners

WEEK 7


Grow Organically



In this special bonus module, we will discuss the relationship between profitability and growth on the one hand and the limitations that are faced by small companies on the other. We will learn what organic growth is and that it can be achieved by either protecting and building up our existing customer base and product lines, or by developing new products or markets – or, in turn, by diversifying our products portfolio. We will acknowledge and address external and internal limitations to growth and – as a final consideration – will look into the possibilities of international strategies for growth.


7 videos, 2 readings expand


  1. Video: Introduction
  2. Reading: Resource: Lecture Slides
  3. Reading: Complete Slide Deck Week 7
  4. Video: Growth and Profitability
  5. Video: Organic Growth
  6. Video: External Limitations
  7. Video: Internal Limitations
  8. Video: International Strategies
  9. Video: Wrap Up

Graded: Grow Organically

WEEK 8


Final Exam





    Graded: Final Exam
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