Competitive Strategy Analysis
This program addresses the practical challenges of implementing structured business thinking in real-world scenarios. You'll work through frameworks that companies actually use to make decisions, allocate resources, and measure outcomes.
Investment and structure
Complete program with case library access
Includes access to 30 detailed case studies, analysis templates, and strategic frameworks toolkit. Alumni network access included.
What you'll cover
The curriculum is built around case studies from companies in Ireland and across Europe. Each module includes exercises that require you to apply concepts to scenarios similar to what you might encounter in your work.
Course outline
- Weeks 1-3: Industry structure analysis
- Five Forces framework, industry life cycles, disruption patterns
- Weeks 4-6: Competitive positioning
- Generic strategies, value curves, positioning maps
- Weeks 7-9: Sources of advantage
- Resources, capabilities, network effects, switching costs
- Weeks 10-12: Strategic decision-making
- Scenario planning, game theory basics, strategic options
Final project involves a comprehensive competitive analysis of an industry and company of your choice.
Companies compete in different ways. Some win on price, others on quality, brand, or network effects. This program teaches you to analyze why certain strategies work in specific contexts and how to identify sustainable competitive advantages.
You will work with frameworks like Porter's Five Forces, value chain analysis, and the resource-based view. More importantly, you will learn when each framework applies and what questions it actually answers. Strategy is about making choices, and these tools help clarify trade-offs.
Industry analysis in practice
Each week focuses on a different industry: streaming services, airlines, retail, software. You will map competitive dynamics, identify barriers to entry, and evaluate strategic moves companies have made. The goal is pattern recognition across different markets.
Assignments involve analyzing real companies facing strategic decisions. What should Netflix do about password sharing? How should traditional retailers respond to Amazon? You will build recommendations supported by rigorous analysis, not just opinions.