シラバス Syllabus

授業名 Driving Competitive Advantage
Course Title Driving Competitive Advantage
担当教員 Instructor Name Ralf Boscheck
コード Couse Code GLP227_G25N
授業形態 Class Type 講義 Regular course
授業形式 Class Format On Campus
単位 Credits 2
言語 Language EN
科目区分 Course Category 応用科目200系 / Applied
学位 Degree MBA
開講情報 Terms / Location 2025 GSM Nagoya Fall

授業の概要 Course Overview

Mission Statementとの関係性 / Connection to our Mission Statement

This intensive MBA/EMBA course provides an integrated set of analytical tools to assess the cogency and sustainability of business-unit strategies and their fit within the overall corporate context. Participants are guided in applying the method to an important project or one of their home-company businesses. This is followed by a discussion of key implementation challenges and,
related to these principal leadership concerns.

The course contributes to the development of the “frontier spirit” required for ethical and effective leadership in Asia today and tomorrow.

授業の目的(意義) / Importance of this course

The course offers students an opportunity deepen their understanding of analytical tools to assess business-unit and corporate strategies and apply these to home-company context.

学修到達目標 / Achievement Goal


Upon completing the course, students will be able assess business unit and corporate strategies and make cogent recommendations to improve performance.

本授業の該当ラーニングゴール Learning Goals

*本学の教育ミッションを具現化する形で設定されています。

LG1 Critical Thinking
LG2 Diversity Awareness
LG3 Ethical Decision Making
LG4 Effective Communication
LG5 Executive Leadership (EMBA)
LG7 Global Perspective (GLP)

受講後得られる具体的スキルや知識 Learning Outcomes


The course offers students an opportunity deepen their understanding of analytical tools to assess business-unit and corporate strategies and apply these to home-company context.

SDGsとの関連性 Relevance to Sustainable Development Goals

Goal 4 質の高い教育をみんなに(Quality Education)

教育手法 Teaching Method

教育手法 Teaching Method % of Course Time
インプット型 Traditional 30 %
参加者中心型 Participant-Centered Learning ケースメソッド Case Method 50 %
フィールドメソッド Field Method 20 %
合計 Total 100 %

事前学修と事後学修の内容、レポート、課題に対するフィードバック方法 Pre- and Post-Course Learning, Report, Feedback methods

The course comprises a mix of class discussions, lectures, as well as brief individual and group assignments.
No prior knowledge of strategy tools is needed. Oral participation contributes 70%; an individual project accounts
for the remaining 30% of the final grade. Sessions require upfront case preparation; a timely review of session handouts
and review questions after class is necessary.

授業スケジュール Course Schedule

第1日(Day1)

From Strategy Audit to Defining the Business Model

a.m.: Mintzberg’s “Strategy Safari” gives an overview of different approaches to strategic thinking; it provides us with a quick entry into a role play to examine three fundamental questions common to all of them. Summarizing the discussion results in a presentation of the Strategy Audit methodology and some observations about moving from analysis to effecting change. Participants apply the method to their chosen project/home company business.

p.m.: The second session explores the complications of integrated production in terms of segmentation, geographic competition and strategic flexibility for the sole reason of presenting an approach that helps to cut through complexities and synthesize one’s business model. Obviously, strategies can only work if the essence is understood and well communicated. Based on more than 30 years of industry and competition analysis work at IMD, the method also allows us to discuss options for developing and exporting a given strategy, its fit within the corporate context as well as its sustainability vis-à-vis external challenges. Again, participants are asked to apply the method to their chosen project/home company business.


●使用するケース
Role Play – “Competing in the Power Tool Industry”
Strategy Audit – Author: Ralf Boscheck, IMD

第2日(Day2)

Sustaining Competitive Advantage in the face of Challenges

a.m.: The old HBS case of “Walmart Discount Store Operations” presents some “hidden” clues about how the company grew to become the largest employer in the US but also why it struggled to enter other geographic markets as well as other retail formats. Generalizing our discussion, we then explore the economics of price and non-price strategies to limit or pre-empt competition well as the logic of diversification and growth.

a.m.: During the second part of the morning, we role play two cases: “growing an automation business” and “growing professional services.” What makes selling services so attractive, what are inherent risks involved and how could they be mitigated? In the process we examine appropriate and inappropriate organizational structures and incentives as well as the failure of many organizations to support their business units with adequate “parenting advantages.”

p.m.: The business model logic points to three fundamental external factors that need to be considered when sustaining or growing one’s business: socio-economic change, public policy reforms & technology shifts. Based on participants’ inputs, the discussion is led to derive methods for identifying key change drivers – from changes in the macroeconomic context, regulatory reforms to technological advance – and for deciding on whether and how to mitigate their impact. The session concludes by offering a perspective on the regulatory turmoil currently affecting market leaders in the agrobusiness & agrochemical sector. Could key players have avoided the destruction of their science-based business model at the hand of popular tribunals? What general lessons can be taken from this? Again, participants are asked to apply the sessions’ insights to their chosen project/home company business.


●使用するケース
HBS “Walmart Discount Store Operations”
Role Play “Growing an Automation Business”; Growing Professional Services”

第3日(Day3)

Taking a Step Back, Managing Cooperation & Leading Change

a.m.: Participants present a non-confidential synthesis of their projects in subgroups.

a.m.: How will your industry, markets or businesses change in the foreseeable future? Will you have to reconsider the core of your business? What will be done internally, what will have to be outsourced and who should decide this? Our discussion leads to an economics-based approach to answering these questions and how to attain and sustain a competitive advantage by effectively cooperating with others – inside and outside the firm.

p.m.: The final session returns to our initial role play of day one. There are three messages that can be derived from studying successful change management processes; but there are also many lessons that we can take from failures. We will consider four classical contributions to the general management literature before we ask the question “how to achieve effective delegation without shifting ultimate responsibility?” Which moves the discussion to four principal challenges that any leader must meet.


第4日(Day4)



第5日(Day5)



第6日(Day6)



第7日(Day7)



●使用するケース
Above mentioned

成績評価方法 Evaluation Criteria

*成績は下記該当項目を基に決定されます。
*クラス貢献度合計はコールドコールと授業内での挙手発言の合算値です。
講師用内規準拠 Method of Assessment Weights
コールドコール Cold Call 10 %
授業内での挙手発言 Class Contribution 60 %
クラス貢献度合計 Class Contribution Total 70 %
予習レポート Preparation Report 30 %
小テスト Quizzes / Tests 0 %
シミュレーション成績 Simulation 0 %
ケース試験 Case Exam 0 %
最終レポート Final Report 0 %
期末試験 Final Exam 0 %
参加者による相互評価 Peer Assessment 0 %
合計 Total 100 %

評価の留意事項 Notes on Evaluation Criteria

使用ケース一覧 List of Cases

    ケースは使用しません。

教科書 Textbook

  • 配布資料

参考文献・資料 Additional Readings and Resource

Suggested background reading may be identified during the sessions.

授業調査に対するコメント Comment on Course Evaluation

N/A

担当教員のプロフィール About the Instructor 


Ralf Boscheck, B.A., CC Iowa, U. Marburg; M.A. Publ.Pol., Georgetown U.; MBA (Fin./OR/Econ.), KU Leven; PhD Economics, HSG St. Gallen; Postdoc Harvard University (Economics Department); Habilitation Law & Econ., HSG St. Gallen; Senior Consultant, Monitor Company, Cambridge, Mass. USA & London, UK.: Business Unit & Corporate Strategy & M&A; Country Competitiveness.

Since 1991, core faculty for strategy and economics in IMD’s public programs (MBA, EMBA, PED, MCR, MTE, BSPE, OWP) besides designing and facilitating in-company and strategy workshops for senior executives of corporate clients & public authorities. These include ABB, Allianz, Atkins, Aventis, Bayer*, Bayer Crop Science*, Bertelsmann, Boehringer Ingelheim*, Bonnier*, China Light & Power*, Chopard, Cisco, Clariant, Constantina*, de Mello*, Danisco*, Dupont, E.on*, Grundfos, Henkel*, Hoechst*, Holcim, Lactalis, Lundin*, Metso, Nestlé, Nestlé Health Science, Norske Shell*, Novartis Pharmaceuticals*, Novartis Emerging Markets*, Novo Nordisk*, Oracle*, Oman Electricity Authority, PwC*, Roche, Santander, Siemens*, Thames Water*, TXU Europe, Wilhelmsen*, Worley-Parsons. (*means responsibility for client acquisition or key account management). Faculty Advisor for IMD’s International Consulting Projects supporting Emerging Market NGOs.

2004-20 Lundin Family Chair of Strategy & Economics, IMD; 2014-18 Dean of IMD’s fulltime MBA program & Director of IMD’s International Consulting Projects; prior to that director of IMD’s two most senior open enrolment programs (MCR & BPSE); 2018-21 Full Professor and Decano Escuela de Negocios, Universidad Adolfo Ibañez, Santiago de Chile with continued limited teaching commitment at IMD, Lausanne. Editorial Boards.

(実務経験 Work experience)


Publications:

Books with Cambridge University Press, Palgrave Macmillan, Routledge Publishers, Difo Druck,

50+ cases & notes

50+ single-authored peer-reviewed academic journal articles
Non-refereed articles in Capital, Diario Financiero, Financial Times, Handelsblatt, Les Echos, L’Impresa, Management & Competitividad, MK-Commercio-Exterior, Neue Züricher Zeitung, Puls Bisnesu, PYMES, Der Standard, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Die Welt.

Some Examples:
2024 Reviewing State-Ownership, Bejing Law Review, Vol.15, No.2 June Issue, pp. 878-898.
2024 The EU’s Digital Market Act: Regulatory Reform, Relapse or Reversal? Intereconomics, 59(3), pp.154-9. A modified version was
published as Europe’s Digital Market Act: Bold Reform or Stifling Regulation, in IbyIMD,
https://www.imd.org/ibyimd/geopolitics/europes-digital-markets-act-bold-reform-or-stifling-regulation/
2021 Covid-19 and the Political Economy of Shared Adjustment, Intereconomics, Vol. 56, No.5,
September/October 2021, pp.278-283. A modified version was published as Economía política y ajuste conjunto en perspectiva
europea, in Osorio, H., Soto G.Y. (eds.) Negocios en América Latina después del COVID-19, Rubicona;
2017 Pharmacy Benefit Managers: Fixing Healthcare Market Failures or Straining Regulatory Logics? World Competition: Law &
Economics Review, Vol.40, No.3, pp. 459-470. Syntheses entitled Pharmacy Benefit Managers: Fixing Healthcare Market Failures or
Straining Regulatory Control and Enforcement and Regulatory Responses to the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Debate were
reproduced a.o. by biosimilardevelopment.com;
2016 Patent Trolls: In Search of Efficient Regulatory Standards, World Competition: Law & Economics Review, Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 67-84. A
synthesis entitled Keeping an eye on patent trolls was reproduced a.o. by IPWatchdog.com; IPCircuit.com and Global IP News.com;
2015 Intellectual Property Rights and the Evergreening of Pharmaceuticals, Intereconomics, Vol. 50, No.4, July/August 2015, pp. 221-
226.








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