Strategy - Classic and Contemporary Views

Aim

The aim of the course is to enhance students' capabilities to act and work in contemporary and future organizations. A course ambition is to educate discerning consumers of strategic thought, i.e. students able to reflect upon fads and fashions and achievements of management research and writings. After completion of the course the students will be expected to

• reproduce central strategic concepts and ideas as well as the development of the field of strategic management
• illustrate and explain differences and similarities between major ways of strategic thinking
• be able to compare and relate thoughts and elements from different schools of strategic thinking
• make use of models and concepts
• differentiate between and select appropriate theories and models for different situations

In addition to this the students will have gained experience of working in culturally/ethnically/nationally diverse teams.

Content

The course contains both classic and contemporary thoughts on strategy. The classic views represent the canon of the field of strategy, i.e. models and concepts that students of strategy are expected to know. In the course, this inevitable heritage of theories and models is complemented with more contemporary ideas on strategy which also serve as a vehicle for challenging some of the classic ideas. The course thus deals with aspects of competitive advantage spanning from companies' internal resources, through the marketplace, to the attention of the final consumer an his/her role in the value creating process. In the course, the following aspects will be dealt with:

• competition and competitive advantage
• industry analysis
• value creation
• innovation
• resource-based strategy analysis
• dynamic capabilities
• aesthetic and symbolic dimensions of strategy