APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2014

GRA 8214 Energy Company Strategies

Responsible for the course
Amir Sasson

Department
Department of Strategy and Logistics

Term
According to study plan

ECTS Credits
2

Language of instruction
English

Introduction
The course explores the determinants of industrial competitiveness and successful economic development viewed from a bottom-up, microeconomic perspective. While sound macroeconomic policies and stable legal and political institutions create the potential for industrial competitiveness, wealth is actually created at the microeconomic and firm level. The sophistication and productivity of firms, the vitality of industrial clusters, and the quality of the business environment are the ultimate determinants of the productivity and innovation capacity of nations, regions or industries.

In this course we will present the diamond model, the emerald model and the development of industrial clusters in advanced and emerging and developing economies. The model is extended to include current research on knowledge based competitiveness. The course will draw on recently completed research from the large national research project “A knowledge-based Norway” (www.ekn.no), headed by professor Torger Reve and associate professor Amir Sasson.

The course is offered in cooperation with Professor Michael E. Porter, Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, Harvard Business School, and his highly successful, second year Harvard MBA course, Microeconomics of Competitiveness (MOC). The Harvard MOC Network now consists of more than 100 universities in 70 different countries.

Learning outcome
- To make students acknowledge the symbiotic nature of businesses, legal institutions, culture, history, resources, education, and research – and that the development and prosperity of a region/country is dependent on the interaction between these factors.

- To enable students to use the diamond model of Michael Porter's "On Competition" to assess and influence the potential of industries and economic regions.

- To enable students to use the emerald model to assess and influence the potential for development of knowledge based industries and economic regions.

- To enable students to perform a strategic analysis of an industry, an industrial cluster or a region and drawing policy implications from the analysis.

Hence, the students should have a broad view on value creation in societies, understanding the role of knowledge and innovation, and they should be able to identify areas where collaboration among specific institutions is crucial to gain welfare effects.

Prerequisites
Granted admission to the EMBA programme.

Compulsory reading
Books:
Porter, Michael E. 2008. On Competition. Harvard Business School Pub

Other:
Sasson, Amir and Blomgren Atle. 2011. Knowledge Based Oil and Gas Industry. Research report 3/2011 BI Norwegian Business School
Sasson, Amir. 2011. Developing NODE. Case


Recommended reading

Other:
Cortright J.. 2006. Making sense of clusters: Regional competitiveness and economic development.. The Brookings Institution


Course outline
1. Firms and Industries
Introduction to Competitiveness
The Drivers of Competitiveness
Industry Competition, Strategy and Locations

2. The Microeconomic Business Environment
The Diamond Model
The Emerald Model: Knowledge-based Policies

3. Industrial Cluster Development
Clusters and Competitiveness

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

Coursework requirements
1) Lectures: 12 hours
2) Reading 20 hours
3) Hand in work: 20 hours
4) Case preperation: 3 hours

Examination
The course evaluation will be based on two elements:
- Active class participation in discussion and the NODE case discussions (50%).
- Group project (50%), based on hand-in of a written case analysis.

All parts of the evaluation must be passed in order to obtain a grade in the course.

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 82141 - Continuous assessment; accounts for 100 % to pass the program GRA 8214, 2 ECTS credits

The course is a part of a full Executive Master of Business Administration Program 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