Global Strategic Management (247.030)
Department of International Management
Winter Semester 2015/2016
Dr. Stefan Leitl
Course Objectives
This course aims at developing strategic thinking in a global context. The main objectives of
are:
-
To introduce students to the domain of international strategy and global strategic
management;
To understand the processes of strategy formulation at the different stages of
internationalization and their implementation in a global setting;
To be aware of competing arguments behind a number of strategic approaches and to
find criteria for choosing a specific strategy;
To learn to work together, to discuss and to decide as a team.
Upon completion of this course, students should have:
- The ability to conduct a strategic analysis in a global stetting;
- The ability to select and critically apply analytical frameworks and tools;
- The knowhow to obtain and analyze information which will aid decision making;
- The ability to analyze cases which approximates closely to the rapid analysis of global
business situations.
Course Structure
Utilizing a teaching approach that mixes cases and class discussions, students will learn key
concepts and frameworks used in crafting and implementing global strategy. The reading will
give you a broad picture of what global strategy is about. Furthermore, this course will
provide students with the opportunity to sharpen the written and oral presentation
competencies.
The course contains teaching sessions and two competitive case sessions. In the teaching
sessions, students are expected to analyze the case within their working group before coming
to class and to prepare a Power Point presentation summarizing their key findings. The slides
form the basis for the discussion of the cases in the class. Preparatory questions will be
assigned along with teaching cases.
In each of two competitive case sessions, two groups (thus, competing session) will be asked
to present their case analysis and strategic recommendation for the case at hand. Students will
also need to provide a written case report before the presentation, which will be made public
to the group for comments and discussion.
Teaching Case Assignment: Each group is required to discuss and prepare the cases
specified in the course outline for the respective sessions. For each teaching case assignment,
groups may be asked at random to present their findings to the class.
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Competing Case Assignment: Each student group is expected to hold one competitive
presentation in any of the two competing case sessions. Assignment to groups and sessions
will be done in the first lecture. The case assignment consists of two parts: a written case
report, and the actual presentation (.ppt, .key or .pdf format). These documents have to be
handed in to stefan.leitl@jku.at, at least three days before the session and will be made public
to the class. Both the verbal presentation and the submitted overall report will be assessed.
No late assignments will be accepted under any circumstances.
Requirements and Grading
Group Level
- Competing case: case study report and presentation (50%)
Individual Level
- Written Exam (50%)
Students will be assessed on:
- Their knowledge on the content domain of Global Strategic Management;
- Their ability to understand the strategic issues in the cases they present, to use the
appropriate analytical techniques and to marshal the relevant data;
- The quality of the presentations, the written reports and the examination questions; by
quality in this context we mean the clarity and persuasiveness of each bit of work;
- This implies an ability to work in teams;
- Students failing to participate in their teams will lose the marks for that piece of work.
In order to complete the course, students have to reach more than 50% in each category and
more than 60% across all categories.
Entry Requirements for International Students
Students must be enrolled in the Master program “Global Management” and be assigned to
“Phase 2” by university officials. If this is not the case, the teacher might control the
requirements and decide upon participation.
Readings
The reading package can be purchased at the department secretary’s office at the beginning of
each semester (Hochschulfondsgebäude, 2nd floor, room 224).
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Contact
For handing in assignments, questions or problems please contact:
stefan.leitl@jku.at
Courses Dates and Times
Date
Friday
Friday
Friday
Saturday
Friday
09.10.2015
23.10.2015
06.11.2015
07.11.2015
20.11.2015
Time
14:30 - 16:15
14:30 - 18:15
14:30 - 18:15
09:15 - 12:45
15:30 - 17:00
Room
Friday, 09.10.2015, 14:30 - 16:15
Session 1: Introduction to Global Strategic Management
Topics:
Introduction to Global Strategic Management
Group assignments for next sessions
How to write a Case Report
Readings:
1. Contemporary Strategic Analysis (Grant, 8th edition), Chapter 12: Global
Strategy and the Multinational Corporation, 315-331
2. The Forgotten Strategy (Ghemawat)
Friday, 23.10.2015, 14:30 - 18:15
Session 2: Strategic Capabilities & Internationalization process
Topics:
Strategic Resources and Capabilities
The concept of core competencies and competency’s development over time
Internationalization process and the speed of internationalization
Born globals
Teaching Case: Indesit Company: Does Global Matter?
Readings:
1. Core Capabilities and Core Rigidities (Leonard-Barton, 1992)
2. Managing the internationalization process (Mellahi, Frynas, Finlay, 2005)
3. The Uppsala internationalization process model revisited: From liability of
foreignness to liability of outsidership (Johansen & Vahlne, 2009)
4. Managing Global Expansion: A Conceptual Framework (Gupta &
Govindarajan, 2000)
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Friday, 06.11.2015, 14:30 - 18:15
Session 3: Headquarter vs. Subsidiary Level Strategy
Topics:
Headquarter-level vs. Subsidiary-level strategy
Internationalization Decisions
Decentralization vs. coordination & control
Managing local operations and subsidiary initiatives
Competition Case 1
Readings:
1. Making Global Strategy Work (Kim & Mauborgne, 1993)
2. Tap Your Subsidiaries for Global Reach (Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1986)
Saturday, 07.11.2015, 09:15 – 12:45
Session 4: Strategic Alliances
Topics:
Reasons and decision criteria for entering strategic alliances
Success factors for strategic alliances
Competition Case 2
Readings:
1. Strategic Alliances: A Synthesis of Conceptual Foundations (Varadarajan
& Cunningham, 2001)
2. Determinants of inter-organizational relationships: Integration and future
directions (Oliver, 1990)
Friday, 20.11.2015, 15:30 – 17:00
Session 5: Exam
Discipline Rules
As an academic institution, the Department of International Management does not tolerate any
form of plagiarism as this is equivalent to intellectual robbery. Plagiarism encompasses
presenting as one’s own the words, work, opinions or factual information of someone else
without giving that person credit, as well as borrowing the sequence of ideas, the arrangement
of material, or the pattern of thought of someone else without proper acknowledgement. All
discovered instances involve the negative grading of the assignment and result in a failure of
the course. In the case of group work, the entire team will fail the course.
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