DRE 2009 Interorganisational Relationships

APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2016/2017

DRE 2009 Interorganisational Relationships


Responsible for the course
Kenneth H. Wathne

Department
Department of Marketing

Term
According to study plan

ECTS Credits
6

Language of instruction
English

Introduction
Please note that this course will be revised before it is offered again
This course is designed to provide an introduction to the area of interorganisational relationship research in marketing. As such, it will identify, review, evaluate and critique a variety of topics in the area of interorganisational relationship research.

The area of interorganisational relationships is rapidly becoming a broad field of study, and it is impossible to cover every topic and perspective in a single course. An attempt will be made to provide an understanding of some of the main theoretical paradigms in the area. Considerable emphasis will also be placed on strategies for conducting empirical research on interorganisational relationships.

Learning outcome
Learning outcomes: The major objectives are to help students (1) understand the methods and perspectives employed in the area, (2) become a more sophisticated consumer of interorganisational research, (3) identify areas for future research activity.

This course is not intended to be a comprehensive review of the literature. The required reading list is purposely restricted to a limited number of papers in order to dig deeply into each paper.

On successful completion of the course all the students should be able to develop and communicate a theory that contributes to the theoretical knowledge in the area of interorganisational research and demonstrate how the theory can be tested empirically.

Prerequisites
It is assumed that every student is familiar with the general principles of research design, measurement, and multivariate statistical analysis.

Admission to a PhD Programme is a general requirement for participation in PhD courses at BI Norwegian Business School.

External candidates are kindly asked to attach confirmation of admission to a PhD programme when signing up for a course with the doctoral administration. Other candidates may be allowed to sit in on courses by approval of the courseleader. Sitting in on courses does not permit registration for courses, handing in exams or gaining credits for the course. Course certificates or conformation letters will not be issued for sitting in on courses


Compulsory reading

Other:
A complete list of articles and book chapters will be distributed during the first meeting. Articles will be selected from Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Marketing Science, Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Management Science, American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Financial Economics, Bell Journal of Economics, Managerial and Decision Economics.


Recommended reading

Other:
An extensive list of recommended readings will be provided during the first meeting.
For students who are pursuing the interorganizational relationships area as an avenue for research, and for future reference, an extensive list of recommended readings will be provided.



Course outline
- Introduction to interorganisational relationships
- Methodological issues
- Theoretical paradigms
- Applications to marketing

A detailed schedule with specific course topics will be distributed during the first meeting.

Computer-based tools
None

Learning process and workload
Lectures, including class participation and presentation: 30 hours
Preperation: 80 hours
Term paper: 70 hours

The class will meet five times. A set of required readings will be assigned for each meeting. Students are expected to thoroughly read and analyze all of the required readings prior to each meeting. Articles may be added during the semester. My own style is to combine some lecture time with discussion time. For each meeting, I will ask one or more students to prepare discussion questions for specific readings. Depending on the number of course participants students may be asked to prepare discussion questions for more than one meeting.

A maximum of five questions should be developed to address key issues discussed in each of the assigned readings and could seek to integrate the assigned readings with other topics covered in prior meetings.

A copy of the questions should be distributed to each of the course participants prior to the meeting (TBD). The discussion leader(s) will have the responsibilities of leading the discussion and summarizing and synthesizing the articles with some brief closing remarks.

To a large extent, the value of this course will depend on the students’ level of preparation and participation in the discussion. Course credit will be given based on quality of class participation and a term paper (see Evaluation below). Sheer quantity of comments, with little depth or relevance to the focal issues, will not be rewarded (although presumably not punished).

If students have to miss class on a particular day, it is the students’ responsibility to get notes from a classmate. Let me know as soon as possible if you have to miss a class.

If students experience any problem(s) with the class or any of the classmates I expect the students to report any problem(s) that they are not able to resolve themselves to me as soon as possible.

Unexcused absence will result in a lower participation grade.




Examination
Form of assessment and weighting:
10% Presentation
10% Presentation discussion
20% Class participation
60% Individual term paper

The paper should be original work, and be written specifically for this course. The students will be asked to present their paper idea in an extended abstract (max 3 pages) (due date TBD). The abstract should focus on what the students are proposing to do (versus what others have done or literature review).

Each participant will be assigned at least one abstract for written comments (due date TBD). The comments are confidential and will only be shared with the author. The objective of the reviews is to be helpful to the author - not to be judgmental (i.e., this should not be a review listing pages of inadequacies). Please follow the tradition of JCR’s first editor (Bob Ferber), who felt that the “outside” reviewers’ role is to see if the basic idea makes sense and whether it can be understood by an intelligent reader not in the author’s immediate circle of friends, co-authors, etc. The purpose of this is to improve the translation and dissemination of knowledge.

The course will be graded A - F.

No incompletes will be given on the paper. The specific format for this paper will be provided in class.

Examination code(s)
DRE 20091 continuous assessment which accounts for 100 % of the final grade in the course DRE 2009

Examination support materials
Not applicable

Re-sit examination
Re-takes are only possible at the next time a course will be held. When the course evaluation has a separate exam code for each part of the evaluation it is possible to retake parts of the evaluation. Otherwise, the whole course must be re-evaluated when a student wants to retake an exam.

Additional information

Honor Code
Academic honesty and trust are important to all of us as individuals, and they are encouraged and promoted by the honor system. This is a most significant university tradition. The honor system is the responsibility of students. As faculty, we share the commitment to the ideals of the honor system.

At no time should notes or papers or personal consultations based on previous semesters of this course be used. As part of the honor code papers handed in as part of the course is, at the discretion of the professor, scanned for plagiarism. We are using Safe Assignment init's learning for this purpose. Any violation of the honor code will be dealt with in accordance with BI’s procedures on cheating.

These issues are a serious matter to everyone associated with the program. They are at the heart of the Honor Code and academy integrity. If you have any questions about your responsibilities under the honor code, please ask.