GRA 6830 Economic and Organisational Foundations of Strategic Management

APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2016/2017

GRA 6830 Economic and Organisational Foundations of Strategic Management


Responsible for the course
Amir Sasson

Department
Department of Strategy

Term
According to study plan

ECTS Credits
6

Language of instruction
English

Introduction
This is a theoretical course giving insight into the theoretical approaches mostly applied in strategic management

Learning outcome
The course focuses on a broad representation of differing, and often conflicting, perspectives and theories related to strategy content and strategy context and extend the previous knowledge the students have on strategy and strategy analysis from their undergraduate program. The main objective is to develop critical reflections on strategy and strategy analysis among the students participating in the course. The course builds on the knowledge in strategy analysis achieved in the foundation course of strategy analysis in the 3rd year of the Bachelor in Business and Economics programme, but extends the perspectives presented in the introductory course and also introduces new perspectives on strategy content and context.
By the end of this course a student should be able to

  • Understand the underlying theories/perspectives that have shaped the development of the field of strategic management.
  • Understand how those theories/perspectives contradict or complement one another,
  • Appreciate the value as well as the limitations of various theories/perspectives.

Prerequisites

All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have spesific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.

Compulsory reading

Collection of articles:
Compendium consisting of selected articles from journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly, Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, The Economic Journal, The Journal of Finance, American Journal of Sociology, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal

Other:
During the course there may be hand-outs and other material on additional topics relevant for the course and the examination.


Recommended reading

Course outline
The course will introduce, analyze, and evaluate a variety of theories and their application within the strategic management field. These may include the following:
- Industrial Organization Theory
- Strategic Groups theory
- Learning theory
- Resource Dependent theory
- Network Theory
- Resource Based View
- Activity Based View
- Transaction Cost Economics
- Institutional Theory
Theories and their implied strategies will be discussed.

Computer-based tools


Learning process and workload
A course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of 160-180 hours. The course is structured as a combination of lectures, discussions, in-class activities, case analysis, and student presentations. It requires a substantial amount of preparation by the students and active involvement during class. .

Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in all courses, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on the course homepage or in the required readings.


Examination
The course grade will be based on the following activities and weights:
In-class components (class contribution and group presentation) count for 20 % , term paper counts for 20 %, and the final individual written examination (3 hours) counts for 60%.



Form of assessment Weight Group size
Class participation 20% Individual
Written examination 3 hours 60% Individual
Term paper 20% Group of max 3 students

Specific information regarding student assessment will be provided in class. This information may be relevant to requirements for term papers or other hand-ins, and/or where class participation can be one of several components of the overall assessment. This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component is graded using points on a scale from 0-100. The final grade for the course is based on the aggregated mark of the course components. Each component is weighted as detailed in the course description. Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam components will get a lower grade or may fail the course. You will find detailed information about the points system and the mapping scale in the student portal @bi. Candidates may be called in for an oral hearing as a verification/control of written assignments.

Examination code(s)
GRA 68301 continuous assessment accounts for 100 % of the final grade in the course GRA 6830

Examination support materials
Bilingual dictionary
Permitted examination support materials for written examinations are detailed under examination information in the student portal @bi. The section on support materials and the use of calculators and dictionaries should be paid special attention to.

Re-sit examination
It is only possible to retake an examination when the course is next taught. The assessment in some courses is based on more than one exam code. Where this is the case, you may retake only the assessed components of one of these exam codes. All retaken examinations will incur an additional fee. Please note that you need to retake the latest version of the course with updated course literature and assessment. Please make sure that you have familiarised yourself with the latest course description.

Additional information
Honour code. Academic honesty and trust are important to all of us as individuals, and are values that are integral to BI's honour code system. Students are responsible for familiarising themselves with the honour code system, to which the faculty is deeply committed. Any violation of the honour code will be dealt with in accordance with BI’s procedures for academic misconduct. Issues of academic integrity are taken seriously by everyone associated with the programmes at BI and are at the heart of the honour code. If you have any questions about your responsibilities under the honour code, please ask. The learning platform itslearning is used in the teaching of all courses at BI. All students are expected to make use of itslearning.

Semesters

Translations