Dear students,
welcome to the Strategic Management course. In this course we will consider strategy as a comprehensive set of principles and activities that guide an organization to overcome the challenges standing in the way of its ambitions. A successful strategy is the result of a process that relies on (1) the ordered ambitions (of the members of the organization) giving direction to the effort ("Direction"), (2) a comprehensive analysis of the conditions ("Analysis"), (3) the design and selection of path-strategies to overcome the challenges ("Routes"), (4) the implementation ("Execution") of the chosen strategy, (5) the long-term sustainability and updating of the strategy ("Sustainability").
These five parts of the strategy cycle will divide our subject into five unequally sized parts. This means that we will spend relatively little time on strategic analysis (a topic that is partially familiar to many of you and is the usual focus of other Strategic Management courses). Instead, we will practice strategic thinking, which involves both the information from the analysis and the uncertainty that strategic decisions face.
The course places a strong emphasis on ongoing preparation and work. On the other hand, a thoughtful approach to the course greatly enhances your work and, in particular, what you take away from it.
The core elements of the course include:
- In lectures, an integrative and applied view of the individual topics (providing a framework within which you can place the additional knowledge and skills you acquire through self-study or seminars).
- In seminars, practice of key tools and concepts through a case study.
- Team seminar work in the form of a teaching case study. The best ones will participate in the 23rd annual competition for the best seminar paper of the Strategic Management course.
- Evaluation based on seminar work, team project and oral examination.