APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2016/2017

GRA 8205 Global Strategies in Ocean industries (2016/2017)

Responsible for the course
Torger Reve

Department
Department of Strategy

Term
According to study plan

ECTS Credits
4

Language of instruction
English

Introduction
The course deals with how firms, industries and regions can be competitive in highly demanding global markets, using the Ocean Industries as empirical context. The Ocean Industries include the maritime industry, the offshore energy industry, the seafood industry and some new and emerging ocean industries. The focus is on advanced knowledge and technology, combined with close customer relations and efficient business models. The role of industrial clusters and knowledge dynamics is highlighted throughout the course. By offering the course in the industrial setting of the Ocean Industries clusters at Sunnmøre, we provide a living learning lab with substantial inputs from the industrial actors involved.

Learning outcome
At the end of this course, candidates are expected to achieve the following:
1. An understanding of industrial competitiveness and the major drivers in knowledge based industrial development.
2. An understanding of industrial clusters and global knowledge hubs with particular application to the Ocean Industries (maritime, offshore energy and seafood industries).
3. An ability to perform strategic analyses of firms, industries and regions as basis for investment or location decisions.

Prerequisites
Granted admission to the EMBA programme.

Compulsory reading
Books:
Porter, Michael. 2008. On Competition. avard Business Review Books. Required readings; Ch 6-8 ( Recommended readings, Ch 1-5 )

Articles:
Reve, Torger. 2011. “From industrial cclusters to global knowledge hubs". Journal of Competitiveness, Vol. 1. 63-76

Other:
Atle Blomgren & Amir Sasson. 2011. Knowledge based Oil and Gas Industry.. BI Reseach rapport - No 3


Recommended reading
Books:
Reve, Torger & Amir Sasson. 2012. Et kunnskapsbasert Norge. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

Other:
2016. OECD Report of Emerging Ocean Industries, Paris


Course outline
The students are introduced to the theory of industrial clusters and global knowledge hubs, and empirical examples will be given from the maritime and offshore energy industries, as well as from seafood and new and emerging ocean industries, focusing on competitiveness at firm and industry level. The learning approach taken is to analyze Harvard Business School cases from microeconomics of competitiveness, supplemented by empirical studies of industrial clusters in nations such as Norway and Singapore, as well as guest lecturers from central actors in the maritime, offshore energy and seafood industries, including finance and commercial services. The students are expected to understand the complex interaction of technological, economic and political variables that determine industrial competitiveness, both as seen from an industrial and government policy point of view, and as seen from a corporate point of view.

Course schedule (Topics are subject to change)

Day 1
The role of clusters:
Video lecture: Professor Michael Porter (Harvard Business School)
“From industrial clusters to global knowledge hubs”:
Lecture: Professor Torger Reve (BI Norwegian Business School)

Sunnmore Ocean Industries Cluster:
Per Erik Dalen, CEO, GCE BLUE Maritime

HBS Case 9-711-507: The Dutch Flower Cluster:
Case discussion

Day 2
A complete maritime offshore cluster: Field trip to Ulsteinvik and Fosnavåg

Specialized ship yards:
Ulstein Group/Kleven Group/ VARD Group

The role of ship design:
Marine Teknik

Advanced ship equipment:
Rolls-Royce Marine

Global ship owners:
Olympic Ship/Havila/Farstad

Day 3
The cluster enhancers

Maritime technology:
NTNU/AMOS and Marintek

Maritime training
Rolls-Royce Training Centre

Maritime education:
NTNU Aalesund

Professor Hans Petter Hildre

BI Case: Developing NODE (Offshore Drilling Technology) into a Global Knowledge Hub
Case discussion

Day 4
Global reconfiguration of value chains

How global companies integrate into global clusters

MIT-REAP South West Norway
Innovation and entrepreneurship in transition from an oil dependent economy

Guest lecture:
NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster

Computer-based tools
It's Learning

Learning process and workload
1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours.

Attendance to all sessions in the course is compulsory. If you have to miss part(s) of the course you must ask in advance for leave of absence. More than 20% absence in a course will require retaking the entire course. It's the student's own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on the course homepage/ It's learning or other course materials

This course uses a combination of lectures, guest lectures and discussion of cases, and the students are expected to draw extensively on their own industrial experience. Two approaches to case analysis and case presentations are used: 1. The Harvard approach where there is an extensive open discussion where all students participate. The students have to be very well prepared in advance to get full value of the HBS approach. 2. The Kellogg approach where students work in pre assigned groups to prepare a case analysis in a consulting report format, using Power Point or other presentation techniques.


Examination
EMBA candidates in the course will be assessed as follows:
Class Participation 20%
Group case analysis 30%
Individual assignment 50%


This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam elements) and one final exam code. Each exam element will be graded using points on a scale (e.g. 0-100). The elements will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the course.

Specific information regarding student evaluation beyond the information given in the course description will be provided in class. This information may be relevant for requirements for term papers or other hand-ins, and/or where class participation can be one of several elements of the overall evaluation

Examination code(s)
GRA 82051- Continuous assessment; counts for 100 % to pass the program GRA 8205, 4 ECTS credits.

The course is a part of a full Executive MBA and all evaluations must be passed to obtain a certificate for the degree.

Examination support materials


Re-sit examination
Re-takes are only possible at the next time a course will be held. When course evaluation consists of class participation or continuous assessment, the whole course must be re-evaluated when a student wants to retake a exam. Retake examinations entail an extra examination fee.

Additional information
Cases

1. The Dutch Flower Cluster, HBS Case (No711-509), Boston, 2013 (by Fred van Eenennaan, Michael Porter and Jorge Ramirez Vallejo)
2. “Developing NODE”, BI Case, Oslo,Revised version2015 (by Amir Sasson and Torger Reve)
3. Hyflux Limited and Water Sustainability – Treading Blue Oceans, NTU Case, Singapore, 2012 (by Wee Beng Geok and Ivy Backe)