GRA 6830 Economic and Organisational Foundations of Strategic Management

GRA 6830 Economic and Organisational Foundations of Strategic Management

Course code: 
GRA 6830
Department: 
Strategy and Entrepreneurship
Credits: 
6
Course coordinator: 
Øystein D. Fjeldstad
Course name in Norwegian: 
Economic and Organisational Foundations of Strategic Management
Product category: 
Master
Portfolio: 
MSc in Business - Strategy
Semester: 
2017 Autumn
Active status: 
Active
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching language: 
English
Course type: 
One semester
Introduction

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

Learning outcomes - Knowledge

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.
Learning outcomes - Skills
  • Be able to compare and contrast contributions from the literature
  • Write an advanced literature review
  • Discuss literature in seminar setting
Learning Outcome - Reflection
  • That the literature contains diverse, often conflicting, explanations of a phenomenon
  • That methods and explanations are linked
  • That strategy analysis tools reflect different theoretical perspectives
Course content

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 Dependency theory
  • Network Theory
  • Resource Based View
  • Activity Based View
  • Transaction Cost Economics
  • Institutional Theory

Theories and their implied strategies will be discussed.

Learning process and requirements to students

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 It's learning or text book.

This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component is graded by using points on a scale from 0-100. The components will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the examination code (course). Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam elements will get a lower grade or may fail the course. You will find detailed information about the point system and the cut off points with reference to the letter grades when the course start.

At resit, all exam components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course.

Software tools
No specified computer-based tools are required.
Qualifications

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.

Assessments
Assessments
Exam category: 
Activity
Form of assessment: 
Class participation
Weight: 
20
Grouping: 
Individual
Exam code: 
GRA68301
Grading scale: 
Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade
Resit: 
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Written submission
Invigilation
Weight: 
60
Grouping: 
Individual
Support materials: 
  • Bilingual dictionary
Duration: 
3 Hour(s)
Comment: 
Written examination with supervision.
Exam code: 
GRA68301
Grading scale: 
Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade
Resit: 
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Written submission
Weight: 
20
Grouping: 
Group (2 - 3)
Duration: 
1 Semester(s)
Comment: 
Term paper
Exam code: 
GRA68301
Grading scale: 
Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade
Resit: 
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Exam organisation: 
Continuous assessment
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Total weight: 
100
Sum workload: 
0

A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.