Business Competitiveness Management

The issues of the lecture concern complicated problems of company’s competitiveness management. The lecture focuses mainly on identification and analysis of factors and enterprises’ activities aimed at building and maintaining the competitive advantage on the international market. The lecture presents the essence of firm’s competitiveness together with its main components such as: competitive potential, competitive advantage, tools of competitiveness and company’s competitive position. Moreover, the lecture stresses the importance of processes that occur in the global environment, taking into account firms’ competitiveness.

It is assumed that after mastering the content of the course the student describes a model of managing a company's competitiveness.

Complete description of the subject:

1.Competition – the main process of current social-economic life. Basics and criteria of analyzing competition; W1

2.Competitiveness of economy. Essence and factors of competitiveness; W3, U5

3.Competitiveness of a company. Definition and structure of competitiveness. Model of the company’s competitiveness management; W4, U1

4.Globalization v competitiveness of economy and company. “The new competitive landscape” as a new way of perceiving competition. Internationalization of a company – the way to compete in the global landscape; W1,W2

5.Competitive potential. Definition. Resources as the basics of competitive potential, structure and typology; W4, W5, U2

6.Competitive advantage. Essence, sources of competitive advantage; W4, W5

7.Competitive tools as a visible form of competitive advantage; W4, W6

8.Competitive position – effect of competition. measurement methods and evaluation of competitive position; W4, W5

9.Ways of building and developing competitiveness. U2, U4

10.Competition Law. The basic regulary: Art 81 - agreements between companies(cartels); Art 82 – monopolies; Art 87 – state aid. U3

1. J.B. Barney, W.S. Hesterly, Strategic Mamagement and Competitive Advantage, Pearson Education 2008.

2. J.B. Barney, D.N. Clark, Resource-Based Theory. Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantage, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2007.

3. Bob de Wit, Ron Meyer, Strategy Synthesis. Resolving Strategy. Paradoxes to Create Competitive Advantage. Thomson Learning, London 2005.

4. M.E. Porter, Competitive Advantage. Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, The Free Press, London 1985.

5. J. B. Barney, Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., New York 1997.

6. G. Hamel, C.K. Prahalad, Competing for the Future, Harvard Business School Press 1994.

7. S.M. Oster, Modern Competitive Analysis, second ed., Oxford University Press 1994.

W1Final written exam ++, project presentation ++

W2 Final written exam +++

W3 Final written exam ++, Project presentation ++

W4 Final written exam +++, Project presentation ++

W5 Final written exam +++, Project presentation +

U1 Project presentation +++

U2 Project presentation +++

U3 Final written exam +++

U4 Project presentation +++

U5 Final written exam +++, project presentation +++

Final written exam, - 50 % of final mark

Project presentation - 50% of final mark

- Activity during classes;

- Level of knowledge;

- Ability of problem solving.