Growing the Core Business in a Competitive Marketplace

This course explores why growing the core business is now a more viable strategy than unrelated diversification. Learners will understand how shareholder value is created through both cash flow and strategic positioning for growth. Drawing on decades of corporate examples and financial analysis, Professor Jagdish Sheth outlines the limitations of the portfolio model and presents a framework for growing the core through multiple channels, product extensions, and emerging markets. Through case studies of companies like Monsanto, 3M, IBM, and Dinol, learners will discover how to avoid strategic missteps and identify synergistic opportunities that align with their company’s competencies and market access. This course empowers learners to think critically about growth, profitability, and how to leverage core strengths to meet modern shareholder expectations.

This course explores the logic of competitive strategy through the lens of industry structure and evolving business models. Led by renowned scholar Professor Jagdish Sheth, learners will understand how Porter’s Five Forces and the Rule of Three influence industry attractiveness, firm behavior, and customer-centric growth. The course examines both generalist and specialist strategies, shared services, structural transformation, and the role of government in reshaping markets. Through a progression of theoretical concepts and real-world examples, learners will gain tools to assess competitive dynamics and identify paths to sustainable differentiation and profitability. Ideal for strategists, marketers, and policy thinkers alike, this course reveals how competition drives change—and how companies can adapt and thrive.

This course explores what it takes to deliver exceptional service in an increasingly experience-driven economy. Taught by Professor Jagdish Sheth, it challenges traditional assumptions that service quality alone leads to customer loyalty. Instead, learners will examine how reliability, consistency, personalization, and recovery from failure drive long-term trust and satisfaction. The course introduces key concepts such as the service-profit chain, fan loyalty, and the heavy-half customer segment, emphasizing that service excellence is not just about meeting expectations—but exceeding them repeatedly and profitably. Through real-world examples and strategic frameworks, learners will understand how to design and scale service operations, measure performance, and embed excellence as a cultural and competitive advantage. Ideal for professionals in hospitality, healthcare, retail, and beyond, this course provides a roadmap for making service a core business differentiator.