Key Information
About the content
In this six-module course, you will learn how businesses and organizations behave in situations in which strategic decisions are interdependent, i.e. where my actions affect my competitors' profits and vice versa. Using the basic tools of game theory, we will analyse how businesses choose strategies to attain competitive advantage. This course is also available in Chinese. Please go to our course catalog to access the Chinese version of Competitive Strategy.
Syllabus
- Week 1 - Take Care of Your Competitors
In this module, we introduce the basic concepts of game theory and use strategic games to learn competitor analysis. We answer “what is a strategy?” and look at the different ways to determine a best or dominant strategy. We also discuss the concepts of Nash E... - Week 2 - Why Firms Work Together
According to economic theory, companies compete with each other in the marketplace. In reality, they are often friendly and cooperate with each other. In this module, we attempt to understand this strategy, and why it is good for the organizations involved. Wi... - Week 3 - Complementary Products and Strategic Partnerships
In this module, we introduce complements and discuss what they mean to us in economic terms. We study why companies like to sell their products in a bundle - and how complementarity creates switching costs. We also discuss the importance of that coordination a... - Week 4 - Entering a New Market
This module is about market entry. We first look at different tools to assess the attractiveness of a market – and then discuss strategies that have proven to be helpful for entering a new market, such as positioning and marketing strategies. We also look from... - Week 5 - Why Worry About Research and Development
In the context of R&D, a number of important strategic questions arise consistently; in this module, we take a closer look at these questions. Though many innovations are created by a stroke of luck, it seems that the majority of innovations are created becaus... - Week 6 - Designing Products Wisely
In this module, we focus on strategic aspects of product design and pricing strategy. We analyse how companies can adjust their products in a way that lowers the competitive pressure in the market. Later on, we look at some generic strategies for product desig...
Instructors
Tobias Kretschmer
Professor
Institute for Strategy, Technology and Organization
Content Designer
Platform
Coursera is a digital company offering massive open online course founded by computer teachers Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller Stanford University, located in Mountain View, California.
Coursera works with top universities and organizations to make some of their courses available online, and offers courses in many subjects, including: physics, engineering, humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, mathematics, business, computer science, digital marketing, data science, and other subjects.
Excelente. Curso de um tema dífícil mas explicado de uma forma muito didática e o professor sabe passar o conhecimento com maestria.
Excelente. Curso de um tema dífícil mas explicado de uma forma muito didática e o professor sabe passar o conhecimento com maestria.
Very interesting and useful course to have a general understanding about the role of strategy in the companies. It provides some applicable knowledge in case you are planning or working to develop your own company
Very well structured course with good examples/cases. Definitely a great foundation to dive deeper into the topic. I enjoyed doing this course and I'm sure I am going to check out other ones in the future.
A good introduction to competitive strategy through "games". Warning, it can be very theoritical sometimes, so prepare yourself.
Brilliant course! Professor Kretschmer is very clear and precise in his explanations. The course's light-hearted approach makes even challenging concepts easy to understand, the slides are very helpful and the in-video quizzes are great to keep track of what one has learned.
