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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Business Strategy by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

4.8
stars
1,867 ratings

About the Course

In this course you will learn how organizations create, capture, and maintain value. In doing so, you’ll develop an understanding of how and why this process is fundamental for sustainable competitive advantage. You will be able to better understand value creation, and capture and learn the tools to analyze both competition and cooperation from a variety of perspectives, including the industry-level (e.g., five forces analysis) and the firm-level (e.g., business models and strategic positioning). You will be able to: - Understand how managers coordinate different functional areas, resources, and systems inside a company and align them with the external environment to enhance overall performance - Recognize strategic management tools and frameworks and apply them to real business contexts - Process diverse business and industry information to diagnose strategic issues, evaluate strategic alternatives, and formulate a coherent and actionable strategic plan This course is part of Gies College of Business’ suite of online programs, including the iMBA and iMSM. Learn more about admission into these programs and explore how your Coursera work can be leveraged if accepted into a degree program at https://degrees.giesbusiness.illinois.edu/idegrees/....

Top reviews

NM

Jul 29, 2021

I count myself priviledge to have taken the course and l enjoyed every bit of the lectures, executive opinions, and case studies. The course is very insightful, educative and practical.

Thank you.

HL

Aug 25, 2018

I am really honored to review this course. The course and the Professor was really having a high practical approach. 4th Module was little bit confusion although it was a great time doing the course.

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1 - 25 of 445 Reviews for Business Strategy

By MUHAMMAD A S

•

Aug 31, 2019

After taking this course, I have learnt following,

Solutions to the business challenges under the study of 1st course, that we can have better results after setting and communicating cleared mission and vision according to the business model to the whole organization so that individual’s efforts can convert in to one FORCE towards the accomplishment of common objectives & sustainability of business model. And how to get internal coherence towards the business module and overall strategic fit within the organization and outside challenges under the definition of V A R S framework. A new thing to me that strategic intent for team can also play a vital role in high achievements.

Solutions to the business challenges under the study of 2nd course, for sustainably of business model and profitability the analysis of industry are most important to take corrective actions and future decisions. Study and understanding of PESTEL framework and Five Forces made more clarity to take relevant and correct decisions. There was lot of material and support to understand that how we can make a successful strategic fit between internal strength, activities and capabilities with external environment or requirements.

Solutions to the business challenges under the study of 3rd course, here in course it is an ample study, material, lecture and case study to understand that how we can keep sustainable competitive advantages to reduce or minimize the challenges of five forces which always keep the company’s profitability low or high cost of business. There is learning over best strategic fit of activities, resources and capabilities along best use of value chain and network chain to develop best economic value added.

Solution to the business challenges under the study of 4th course, there is the best-case study to understand the best application of generic strategies, after the study of this course we can make best use to determine the generic strategy but here we will apply the study of 2nd and 3rd courses as well. Cost leadership and differentiations both are back bone of current ear businesses, this study will support us a lot of over generic strategies and will lead towards strategy renewal as well while evaluating internally activities, resources and capabilities with external challenges. Now we are much confident after this study that we can identify stuck positioning of company, then can recommend over strategy renewal so accordingly to the industry to keep strategic positioning.

Summary,

Business strategy demonstrates the FIT among different activities, functions and capabilities within the company, enables the manager to add value and to capitalize business opportunities and helps to ALIGN internal strengths with the external environment for business sustainability. It briefs and guides over business strategic TOOLs that how a manger can use such well described frameworks and can ANALYSE environment & industry to DEVELOP competitive edges for sustainability and strategic positioning and leads towards strategy renewal in case of stuck in middle.

By Deleted A

•

Aug 21, 2019

Great to waste time due to idiots that give you low marks on purpose, in spite of the quality of your assignments. Thanks, Coursera.

By Emmanouil K

•

Apr 24, 2017

Excellent class! Highly recommended to anyone who wants to learn the basics of business strategy. Professor Somay is a subject matter expert and his lectures are wonderful. Many thanks!

By Deleted A

•

Sep 25, 2019

The lectures are way too political. The constant push for climate change initiatives is the instructors political viewpoint, it is not business strategy. It’ would be one thing to mention climate change once or twice in reflection of some business customers views. A business has to take many customers views into consideration, even when you don’t necessarily agree. But most customers have political views far less extreme than academia. Harping on and nagging the instructors political views distracts from the on subject content and seriously degrades the value of the course.

I wanted to learn more about formal business strategy. As a small business owner, I don’t always know the formal names of the concepts. It is good to learn the lingo.

Instead, I am realizing why so many college graduates need to be deprogrammed, like they were in a cult, before real world businesses can bring those graduates to client meetings, Alienating half of one’s customer base with extreme politics is a stupid business strategy.

Keep the politics out. Focus on business strategy like the course advertises.

By Tom W

•

Aug 11, 2016

I really enjoyed the case studies in this course and the education on various frameworks felt like I could immediately use the material in real world scenarios. Highly recommended course materials.

By Ndudi M M

•

Jul 30, 2021

I count myself priviledge to have taken the course and l enjoyed every bit of the lectures, executive opinions, and case studies. The course is very insightful, educative and practical.

Thank you.

By Gabriel D O

•

Aug 11, 2020

Quite engaging and resourceful .The lectures are so simplified to enable you have a good grasp of the subject matter, and e.g's given, for case studies resonate with your day to day activities.

The lecturer and CEO's brought in,are such a wonderful lot and i do owe them a lot to getting though this stage.

excellent.

By Izabela K

•

Jun 8, 2020

Business Strategy is an exceptionally well designed online course. The knowledge and skills learned in each Module can be immediately applied in daily work. It also provides great resources to broaden the knowledge. The case studies are both informative and extremely engaging. Thank you.

By Rahul M

•

May 3, 2020

Too much video editing. Repetitive videos in the beginning. Doesn't seem like a course from a reputed university. Theoretically okay, but also applicability to one's own team/function/division is a question mark. Was looking for something more actionable

By Ivana P

•

Mar 19, 2020

It is really awesome experience to learn about Business Strategy with such clear explanation and clear connection between theory and application. I really enjoying myself to learn and also to do assignments because it pushes me to research the case. Thank you so much, Professor Deepak Somaya and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign!

By Anant S

•

Jun 24, 2020

Course is worth taking time. Deepak somaya has well explained the concepts. Peer review assignments were worth to take, without that course has no value. One must do all peer review assignments with effort, without copying or writing from somewhere else. you will definitely learn a lot from this course.

By Jen B

•

Jun 10, 2018

Wonderful course. I got out of it exactly what was promised. The professor is very good at communicating the concepts and providing details. I found that I often disagreed with his analysis of the case wrap-ups... but appreciated the views. Overall, wonderful professor and great class.

By Corina H

•

Nov 18, 2019

Mr. Deepak Somaya has been the best lecturer I've encountered thus far, his method of teaching is commendable and always explains himself well with lots of examples. I found the course interactive, with examples easy to understand yet challenging. I highly recommend this course.

By Ekene M

•

Aug 23, 2017

Highly recommended course for anyone looking for foundational and advanced knowledge of strategy. Prof. Somaya did an excellent job. I really enjoyed the peer review assignments as it helped to grasp and deepen knowledge gained after each module.

By Hamza L

•

Aug 26, 2018

I am really honored to review this course. The course and the Professor was really having a high practical approach. 4th Module was little bit confusion although it was a great time doing the course.

By Romain V

•

Jun 6, 2016

Great insight on business strategy which will enable me to conduct better analysis in my daily work. I highly recommend this course and this specializat

By Siri

•

Jul 20, 2017

Although the professor did a good job of bringing in examples and real-world business strategists, it would have been great to encourage more women into business by including female entrepreneurs or bosses in his interviews and examples. I understand that there are far more men than women in the highest levels of corporate leadership, but professors have a unique opportunity to change that by amplifying their voices and encouraging the next generation of business students to include women in leadership.

By Zaw Z O

•

Sep 18, 2018

This research based specialization has provided the fundamental knowledge and essential skills in from daily strategic leadership to Managing organization effectively; you will see how the course is precise and concise that leads the potential leverage for achieving your organization’s goals and sustaining its long-term success.

By Rizka I R

•

Jul 17, 2019

The course was interesting at the beginning and quite challenging because of its case study and quiz but the next modules is getting more boring because of out dated case studies and no quizzes in the middle of module

By Leslie P

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Jun 18, 2019

The lectures were great, but the assignments didn't offer much in the way of learning. I think the rubrics need to be revised.

By Filippo M

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Oct 24, 2021

I had studied industry strategy at the university but this course has been excellent at refreshing and updating my previous knowledge according to current times and main companies competing in the marketplace. I have expecially appreciated VARS framework to evaluate any business model, the necessity to keep internal analysis in line with external one and the knowledge about how to write a memorandum professionally. This course was very time-intensive because a pile of assignments guiding you to improve your knowledge seriously. Last but not least Professor D. Somaya has prepared an excellent course and his passion about this topic helps you to get involved.

By Dr. R M

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Jul 14, 2020

I found the course to be very useful with lot of value addition and learning. The content and videos were very well designed with updated inputs, precise and knowledgeable. Contemporary case studies were given that enhanced our enthusiasm and contributed to learning. Peer review was a very effective way of learning as I could understand the view point of others. Overall it was a wonderful experience. Thanks a lot Coursera and Prof. Deepak Somaya.

By Luis A E

•

Mar 7, 2021

Professor Somaya shows a well developped understanding of strategy and mastership in the way of teaching it. He is a wonderful professor who mixes utile dulci as the classic poet said. Thanks to Professor Somaya, to the University of Illinois and to Coursera. I had a wonderful experience

By Elena L

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May 7, 2019

Great course and especially professor Somaya is a brilliant teacher, always coming up with interesting cases, metaphors and constant willing to share as much as possible with students. Deepest appreciation and gratitude to the whole course Team!

By SUBHABRATA D

•

Nov 29, 2020

Highly recommended course material. Really enjoyed solving the case studies. The learning from the course on different frameworks was immense. Also the feedback from the peers provided more insights.