Foundations of Business Strategy

Having just completed my latest online course on Foundations of Business Strategy at the Darden School of Business of the University of Virginia, I feel the ongoing experiment of online learning is gaining traction.

While I may not have engaged in the case studies directly due to backpacking through Europe at the time, I feel I reinforced already gained knowledge through strategic management courses previously undertaken. I downloaded and watched all video lectures when offline on planes, buses and trains; I read the downloaded chapters made available from the reference book and reviewed the discussion forums when online.

For the six weeks the course ran a weekly case study from Google Inc, Redhook Beer Company Inc, Apple Computer Inc, Sony Playstation 4, Piaggo and The Walt Disney Company ensured the class applied the learning in a traditional business educational environment. Analysis included SWOT, value chain, competitor, environmental, five forces, competitive life cycle, capability, strategy maps and diversification matrices.

The class had in excess of 90,000 enrolled students across the globe, the discussion forums were lively reinforcing learning with such a diverse backgrounds. I found this course beneficial as much of my personal strategic management learning was done via textbooks, this was reinforcement and I was glad I spent the time to review current business strategy.