AØKA08101U Strategic Management

Volume 2022/2023
Education

MSc programme in Economics – elective course

Bacheloruddannelsen i økonomi – valgfag fra 2. år

The Danish BSc programme in Economics - elective from the 2nd year

 

From autumn 2022 the course is also offered to students at the

- Bachelor and Master Programmes in Anthropology. The bachelor students should be at least at the second year of their bachelor.

- Master Programme in Social Data Science

Enrolled students register the course through the Selfservice. Please contact the study administration at each programme for questions regarding registration.

Content

The aim of the course is to provide students with an analytical qualitative foundation for developing a business strategy for an organization based on tools within the area of strategic management, and drawing on different theories of economic value creation.

 

The course start by explaining some central terms, concept, and definition in the area of strategy as for instance the mission, vision and strategy of an organization, and we will look into some different ways in which a strategy can be developed. In connection to this we will discuss behaviouralisme and the idea of bounded rationality.  

 

Next we will focus on how we can map and analyze the environment of a company and on how Porters Five Forces framework build on the neoclassical theory and the structure of conduct performance paradigm. Further we well determine competitive advantages and how economic value is created through the internal resources, activities, and competencies of the firm. Here we draw on the resource based view and evolutionary economic theory. Furthermore tools for mapping and analyzing the political and cultural context of the company will be presented and in connection to this we will focus on principal/agent theory and neo-institutional theory.  

 

After this we will discuss how corporate strategies, business/competitive strategies, international strategies, growth strategies and strategies on innovation can be developed. We will look into the different roles for the patterning company and the size of the corporation drawing on transaction cost theory. When looking at the competitive strategies of the company we will discuss the importance of long-term commitment and game theory. Furthermore, we will be concerned with strategies for entrepreneurship, innovation and for internationalization. Finally, in this section we will look at how we can evaluate different strategies concerning their suitability, acceptability, and feasibility.    

 

In the last section of the course we will look at how companies can implement their strategies through organizational and management design. Furthermore, we will look at how we can manage strategic change. Again we will return to the ideas of bounded rationality and the management of stakeholders introduced within behavioural theory.

Learning Outcome

After completing the course the student is expected to be able to:

 

Knowledge

  • Define concepts, models, processes and perspectives within the field of strategic management and in relevant terms.
  • Identify the terms, models and processes of strategic management.
  • Identify strategic problems within organizations and industries.

 

Skills

  • Asses strategic problems within organizations and industries.
  • Analyze strategic problems and argue for relevant strategic solutions
  • Analyze organizations and their environments. 
  • Develop strategies and create a strategy implementation plan.
  • Debate about organizations and their environment within a clear and accurate language that makes use of relevant terms and concepts from the field of strategic management and relevant economic theories.
  • Argue for and evaluate the strength and weakness of the applied terms, concepts, models, processes and perspectives within the field of strategic management in relation to the behind economic theories.

 

Competences

  • Manage and implement different strategy models and processes drawn on different types of economic theory.
  • Johnson, Whittington, Scholes, Angwin & Regnér: ”Exploring Strategy Twelfth  Edition”, Financial Time/Prentice Hall 2020. (530 pages) ISBN 978-1-292-28251-0
  • Joseph T. Maghoney: “Economic Foundations of Strategy”, Saga Publications 2005. (200 pages)
  • Mehmet Barca: “Economic Foundations of Strategic Management”, Ashgate 2003 (selected parts).

     

In order to follow this course a basic understanding of micro and macroeconomics is necessary as from "Principle of Economics A" (Økonomiske Principper A) and "Principle of Economics B" (Økonomiske Principper B) at the first year of the Bachelor in Economics, University of Copenhagen or similar courses.
Within the classes a combination of lectures, group work, student speeches and plenum discussion are applied. As a consequence students must prepare the text and cases in advanced. Further students must be willing to engage in presentation and discussion of text and cases.

Changes to teaching methods due to a pandemic crisis:
The teaching in this course might be changed to either fully or partly online due to a pandemic crisis. If changes are implemented please read the study messages at KUnet or the announcements in the virtual course room on Absalon (for enrolled students).
Schedule:
3 hours lectures a week from week 36 to 48 (except week 42).

Schema:
The overall schema for the BA 3rd year and Master can be seen at KUnet:
MSc in Economics => "Courses and teaching" => "Planning and overview" => "Your timetable"
BA i Økonomi/KA i Økonomi => "Kurser og undervisning" => "Planlægning og overblik" => "Dit skema"

Timetable and venue:
To see the time and location of the lectures please press the link under "Timetable"/​"Se skema" at the right side of this page (E means Autumn).

You can find the similar information partly in English at
https:/​/​skema.ku.dk/​ku2223/​dk/​module.htm
-Select Department: “2200-Økonomisk Institut” (and wait for respond)
-Select Module:: “2200-E22; [Name of course]”
-Select Report Type: “List – Weekdays”
-Select Period: “Efterår/Autumn”
Press: “ View Timetable”

Please be aware:
- The schedule of the lectures can change without the participants´ acceptance. If this occures, you can see the new schedule in your personal timetable at KUnet, in the app myUCPH and through the links in the right side of this course description and the link above.
- It is the students´s own responsibility continuously throughout the study to stay informed about their study, their teaching, their schedule, their exams etc. through the curriculum of the study programme, the study pages at KUnet, student messages, the course description, the Digital Exam portal, Absalon, the personal schema at KUnet and myUCPH app etc.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 40
  • Preparation
  • 118
  • Exam
  • 48
  • Total
  • 206
Oral
Individual
Collective

 

The students receive oral feedback on their case presentation and the oral discussions in the class.

Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written assignment, 48 hours
Type of assessment details
Individual take-home exam. The students are not allowed to communicate about the given problem-set or collaborate on the assignment with anyone. If done so, it will be regarded as cheating.
The exam assignment is in English and must be answered in English.
Exam registration requirements

There are no requirements during the course that the student has to fulfill to be able to sit the exam.

Aid

All aids allowed at the written exams.

Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
for the written exam.
Exam period

The regular exam takes place:

10 December 2022 from 9 AM to 12 December at 9 AM

 

Exam information:

More information is available in Digital Exam from the middle of the semester. In special cases decided by the Department, the exam can change to another day and/or time than announced. 

 

More information about examination, rules, aids etc. at Master (UK), Master  (DK) and Bachelor (DK).

Re-exam

The written reexamtakes place:

11 February 2023 from 9 AM to 13 February at 9 AM

 

Reexam information:

More information in Digital Exam in February. In special cases decided by the Department, the re-sit can change to another day, and/or time than announced.

More info: Master(UK), Master(DK), Bachelor(DK).

Criteria for exam assesment

Students are assessed on the extent to which they master the learning outcome for the course.

 

In order to obtain the top grade “12”, the student must with no or only a few minor weaknesses be able to demonstrate an excellent performance displaying a high level of command of all aspects of the relevant material and can make use of the knowledge, skills and competencies listed in the learning outcomes.

Including to demonstrate an ability to:

  • Account for relevant terms, concepts, models, processes and perspectives within the field of strategic management and be able to relate these to different perspectives on economic theory and value creation.
  • Identify and solve strategic problemswithin organizations and industries by applying relevant terms, concepts, models, processes and perspectives from the discipline of strategic managementon either cases or real organizations.
  • Discuss and evaluate the strength and weakness of the applied terms, concepts, models, processes and perspectives within the field of strategic managementin relation to the behind economic theories.
  • Argue for organisations and their environment within a clear and accurate language that make use of relevant terms and concept from the field of strategic managementand economic theory.

 

In order to obtain the passing grade “02”, the student must in a satisfactory way be able to demonstrate a minimal acceptable level of  the knowledge, skills and competencies listed in the learning outcomes.