Strategy and de­cision mak­ing

Course content

The objective of this course is to provide systematic insights on the relevant strategic decisions that modern firms need to ponder, with special emphasis on recent trends in industrial and strategic dynamics as they relate to digitization of firm processes and digital transformation at the sector and market level. Focusing on the strategic decision making, different theoretical perspectives will be considered, at the micro (individuals/firm processes) and macro (inter-firm/industry strategic dynamics) level. We will review the different perspectives of the theory of the firm, including transaction cost theory, agency theory, resource-based view, and the different strategy “schools”, from the early industry-based perspectives to more recent customer-centered frameworks on value creation and value capture. The theoretical perspectives are considered complementary rather than mutually exclusive in analyzing the strategic issues covered in the course; they will be used to assess the issue at stand from multiple aspects and ponder the different possible range of strategic decisions for strategy formulation. Case studies of companies and strategic problem simulations form an important input into class discussions. The strategy themes that we discuss include both traditional aspects of any firm strategy (such as “make-or-buy” decisions) as well as more disruptive innovation strategies, such as platform market strategy, ecosystem strategy, and more generally digital transformation strategies.