BUS401E Strategic Profitability Analysis

• Topics

  What is a firm's profit potential, and how can we assess whether it is reaching its potential?

  This course equips you with the essential knowledge and skills to address these core questions. The course will provide an understanding of why the competitive environment is essential for assessing the profit potential of both industries and individual firms, alongside the skills to measure and evaluate firm profitability using a combination of strategic, costing, and pricing analyses, with a particular focus on accounting techniques such as Activity-Based Costing (ABC).

  Despite its focus on profitability, this course also considers sustainability and ethics. Managing businesses today requires an understanding of how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors influence profitability. You will learn tools to analyze how firms prioritize sustainability issues and explore the extent to which businesses can achieve financial success while contributing to societal good.

  This course also blends theory with practice. Industry partners will provide case studies, and students will visit company premises, work on real-life business challenges, and present their solutions. By applying your knowledge to practical business problems, you will develop the ability to assess and balance multiple considerations in decision-making, including financial, ethical, and sustainability factors.

• Learning outcome

  Knowledge

  Upon completion of the course, the student will

  • Understand why the competitive environment is crucial in assessing the profit potential of both industries and individual firms.
  • Understand which frameworks and analyses are appropriate for providing decision-makers with an accurate representation of profitability.
  • Understand how accounting and pricing analyses can be used to facilitate better managerial decision-making.
  • Know how ethical considerations influence a firm's profit potential.

  Skills

  Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to

  • Analyze the competitive environment to assess the profit potential of both industries and individual firms.
  • Apply theories for measuring and evaluating firms' profitability in light of their strategic positioning.
  • Identify and analyze relevant information to solve business problems
  • Integrate insights from behavioral research into the decision-making process in a business setting.
  • Assess the impact of ethical and sustainability considerations on managerial decision-making and profitability, and apply this understanding to real-world business scenarios.

  General competence

  Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to

  • Apply an interdisciplinary approach to decision-making, incorporating knowledge from multiple fields such as accounting, economics, and psychology.
  • Assess and weigh multiple considerations in decision-making situations, including financial, ethical, and sustainability factors.
  • Give a professional presentation and communicate with the audience

• Teaching

  The course is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of managerial decision-making through a combination of lectures, case-based discussions, and practical skill development sessions.

  To facilitate such a learning environment, the lectures will generally not be recorded. However, students will have access to pre-recorded videos covering the more technical material of the course to ensure that students can fully engage with the course content.

• Credit reduction due to overlap

  The course cannot be combined with the course BUS401N.

• Compulsory Activity

  Two approved course assignments:

  • One individual assignment (written report)
  • One group assignment with groups of 3-5 members (oral presentation)

  Course approvals previously obtained for either BUS401E or BUS401N are valid in this course.

• Assessment

  5-hour individual digital school exam (English or Norwegian), with access to Excel for data analyses.

• Grading Scale

  A-F

• Computer tools

  Some use of standard computer tools (Excel).

• Literature

  To be announced on Canvas

• Permitted Support Material

  All written support material permitted (category III), including course curriculum, other books, notes etc.

  Calculator.

  All in accordance with Supplementary provisions to the Regulations for Full-time Study Programmes at the Norwegian School of Economics Ch.4 Permitted support materialhttps://www.nhh.no/en/for-students/regulations/https://www.nhh.no/en/for-students/regulations/and https://www.nhh.no/en/for-students/examinations/examination-support-materials/https://www.nhh.no/en/for-students/examinations/examination-support-materials/