Rak-63.3320 Strategies in International Construction Business
Course description for spring 2016
Credits: 6
Responsible teacher: Assistant Professor Antti Peltokorpi
Period: 3
Learning outcomes:
-
Introduce to strategic management thinking and concepts and to their application in
construction business
After the course, student







knows the development of strategic management thinking, schools, and debates,
knows the development of strategic, corporate, and business planning and a variety of
management tools
knows the essentials of each of the eight schools of thought on generic business
management
knows a population of contextual, applied, international construction business management
concepts
is competent to prepare an international construction business plan (or strategy) for a case
company,
is competent to apply a generic and/or contextual business management concept to a focal
context of a case business and company
is competent to analyze targeted markets, clients, competitors, and suppliers across eight
competitive arenas in capital investment markets
Main content:
a) An introduction to the field of business (strategic) management as well as the eight competing
and/or complementary schools of thought on generic business management, concepts for, and
their applications to managing a firm’s business(es) in various focal contexts:
 Porterian (competitive), resource-based, competence-based, knowledge-based,
organization-based, process-based, dynamism-based, and evolutionary schools.
 Homework: 1-page reflection about the video of Prof. Rumelt’s lecture:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZrTl16hZdk
b) An introduction to alternative businesses include engineering, design & consulting,
construction & contracting, building products and systems deliveries, property ownership,
development, and management, or lifecycle services for the fixed capital stocks (e.g. buildings,
infrastructure, plants, networks, or utilities).
c) A set of students’ own applications (of the selected concepts or approaches) to managing the
case firms and their businesses in the focal contexts and competitive arenas within international
capital investment markets.
Schedule:
Lectures (16 hours):
Time / Room
Fri 8.1 8-12 /
R4
Content
 Introduction to the course
 Introduction to strategic and business management
 Introduction to global capital investment markets
Material
Slides

Fri 22.1 8-12 /
R4
Fri 29.1 8-12 /
R4
Fri 19.2 8-12 /
R4
Kick-off of student-specific pre-examination processes with
the instructions and a form
 Guidelines for team-specific or student-specific applied ICB
management concept design tasks
 Introduction to four business management schools
 Porterian school
 Resource-based school
 Competence-based school
 Knowledge-based school
 Introduction to four business management schools
 Organization-based school
 Process-based school
 Dynamism-based school
 Evolutionary school
 Teams present their ICB management concept designs (15
min per team)
Slides + articles
Slides + articles
Assessment methods and criteria:
The grading is based on a pre-examination and an applied ICB concept management design as follows:
1. A PRE-EXAMINATION (60 %)
based on the literature, with a weight of 0.6 as part of a final grade. Each student will reply and be
sub-graded to the questions individually.
2. AN APPLIED ICB MANAGEMENT CONCEPT (40 %)
Either a team of 2-4 students or an individual student will make the following choices:
a) To choose the school of thought on business management, the particular generic concept(s)
and its (their) existing applied BM concepts from among the eight schools (1-8).
b) To choose a focal international business context, i.e. one business that is based on capital
investment markets (see alternative businesses, listed on p. 1) and an existing or imagined
case firm for the preparation of an application of the selected school and its concept(s)
The team designs such a concept and presents it as a set of Powerpoint dias. Instructor subgrades each team as one entity, i.e. each member gets a same sub-grade (unless different
weights are being agreed upon between Instructor and the members of the team in
question). Teams present their concept designs in the last session (19.2.2015).
Student-specific pre-examination processes
Each student is allowed to use the required pre-examination literature freely, i.e. to read, quote, and
synthesize the references when replying the questions. The deadline to answer the questions is
19.2.2016. The process includes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Registrate for this course.
Attend a kick-off session on Friday, 8 January 2016.
Read the references and write your replies.
Send your replies to Instructor attached to an e-mail.
Wait for the sub-grading, i.e. Instructor sends it via e-mail, too.
The literature and pre-examination questions can be found in MyCourses.
Pre-examination articles:
Core contents
Generic BM
references (300 p.)
8 schools of
thought on
generic BM
(77 p.)
0.1 Huovinen P.
(2008) Platform for
advancing research
in competence based
BM: A population
of 84 concepts
published between
1990-2002. Research in
Competence-Based
Management 4, 175218. 44 p.
1st Porterian
school
(71 p.)
1.1 Porter, M. E.
(1994) Toward a
dynamic theory of
strategy. In: Rumelt,
R.P., Schendel, D. E.
and Teece, D. J.
(Eds.) Fundamental
issues in strategy.
Applied, nonconstructionrelated IB management
references (200 p.)
0.2 Huovinen P. (2013)
Advancing IB ideation:
A review of
competence related
management
concepts published
between 1990-2012. In
Larimo J., et al., eds.,
Proceedings of 12th
Vaasa Conference on
IB.
U. of Vaasa. 21-23
August 2013. 25 p.
1.2 Heracleous, L.
(2013)
Quantum strategy at
Apple Inc.
Organizational
Dynamics, Vol. 42, 9299. 8 p.
Applied ICB
management
references (115 p.)
0.3 Huovinen P. (26
Nov 2014 ) Theoretical
71concept platform for
advancing construction
related
BM. Manuscript for
8th Nordic Conference
on
Construction
Economics
and Management. TUT,
RIL, and CREON.
Tampere.
27-29 May 2015. 8 p.
1.3 Roulac, S. E. (2001)
Corporate property
strategy is integral to
corporate business
strategy.
Journal of Real Estate
research, Vol. 22,
Nos 1/2, 129-152. 24 p.
2nd Resource-based
school
(81 p.)
Harvard Business
School Press, 423461. 39 p.
2.1A Barney, J. B.
and Hesterly W. S.,
eds. (2008) Strategic
management and
competitive adventage
– Concepts and
cases. 2nd ed. Pearson
International
Education/ Prentice
Hall, Ch. 1 (4-5, 1014) and Ch. 3 (74107). 34 p.
2.1B Barney, J. B.,
Ketchen Jr., D. J.,
and Wright, M.
(2011) The future of
resource-based theory:
Revitalization or
decline? Journal of
Management, Vol.
37, No. 5, 1299-1315.
17 p.
3rd Competencebased
school
(47 p.)
3.1 Sanchez, R. and
Heene, A. (2004) The
new strategic
management.
Organization,
competition,
and competence.
Ch. 1 and 3-5 in part.
Wiley. 20 p.
4th Knowledge-based
school
(68 p.)
4.1 Easterby-Smith,
M. and Lyles, M. A.
(2011) The evolving
field of organizational
learning and
knowledge
management.
Chapter 1
in Easterby-Smith,
M. and Lyles, M. A.,
2.2 Möller, K., Rajala,
R.,
and Westerlund, M.
(2008) Service
innovation myopia? A
new recipe for
clientprovider
value creation.
California Management
Review, Vol. 50, Spring,
31-48. 18 p.
3.2 Sanchez, R. (2004)
Understanding
competencebased management:
Identifying and
managing five modes
of
competence. Journal of
Business Research, Vol.
57, 518-532. 15 p.
4.2 Nonaka I., Toyama
R.
and Byosiere P. (2001)
A
theory of
organizational
knowledge creation:
Understanding
the dynamic
process of creating
2.3 Johnsson, H. (2011)
The building system as
a
strategic asset in
industrialized
construction. In:
Haugbolle, K. et al.
(Eds.),
Proceedings of 6th
Nordic
Conference on
Construction
Economics and
Organisation
– Shaping the
Construction/Society
Nexus. Volume 3:
Construction
in Society (pp.
541-552). Aalborg,
Denmark:
Danish Building
Research Institute and
Aalborg University. 12
p.
3.3 Helander, A. and
Möller,
K. (2007) System
supplier’s customer
strategy. Industrial
Marketing
Management, Vol.
36, 719-730. 12 p.
4.3 McDermott, R. and
Archibald, D. (2010)
Harnessing your staff’s
informal networks.
Harvard Business
Review, vol. 88, March,
83-89. 7 p.
eds., Handbook of
organizational learning
& knowledge
management. 2nd ed.
Wiley, pp. 1-16
5th Organizationbased
school
(50 p.)
6th Process-based
school
(60 p.)
7th Dynamism-based
school
(50 p.)
5.1 Bartlett, C. A.
and Ghoshal, S.
(1998, 2002)
Managing across
borders The
transnational
solution.
Ch. 4. Century
Business, 57-71. 15
p.
6.1A Johanson, J.
and Vahlne, J.-E.
(1977) The
internationalization
process
of the firm – A model
of knowledge. Journal
of International
Business Studies,
Vol. 8, Spring, 23-32.
12 p.
6.1B Johanson, J.
and Vahlne, J.-E.
(2009) The Uppsala
internationalization
process model
revisited. Journal of
International
Business Studies,
Vol. 40, 1411-1431.
20 p.
7.1A Prahalad, C. K.
and Hamel, G. (1990)
The core
competence of the
corporation. Harvard
Business Review,
Vol. 68, May-June,
79-91. 13 p.
knowledge. Chapter 22
in Dierkes M. et al.,
eds.,
Handbook of
organizational
learning and
knowledge. Oxford
University Press, 491517. 27 p.
5.2 Fourne, S. P. L.,
Jansen, J. J. P. and
Mom, T. J. M. (2014)
Strategic agility in
MNEs. California
Management Review,
Vol. 56, Spring, 13-38.
25
p.
5.3 Wikström, K., Artto,
K., Kujala, J., and
Söderlund,
J. (2010) Business
models in project
business. International
Journal of Project
Management, Vol. 28,
832-841. 10 p.
6.2 Hatten, K. J. and
Rosenthal, S. R. (1999)
Managing the
processcentred
enterprise.
Long Range Planning
32(3), 293-310. 17 p.
6.3 Salonen, A.,
Gabrielsson, M., and
Al-Obaidi, Z. (2006)
Systems sales as a
competitive response
to
the Asian challenge:
Case of a global ship
power supplier.
Industrial
Marketing
Management,
Vol. 35, 740-750. 11 p.
7.2 Storbacka, K. (2011)
A solution business
model: Capabilities and
management practices
for integrated
solutions.
Industrial Marketing
Management, Vol. 40,
7.3 Lampel, J. (2001)
The
core competencies of
effective project
execution: The
challenge
of diversity.
International
8th Evolutionary
school
(101 p.)
7.1B Hamel, G. and
Välikangas, L. (2003)
The quest for
resilience. Harvard
Business Review,
Vol. 82, September,
52-63. 12 p.
8.1 Burgelman, R.
(2014) Built to
become: Corporate
longevity and
strategic leadership.
Stanford University.
Working Paper Series
# 3115. 40 p.
Literature:
-
Lecture presentations
Lecture articles
699-711. 12 p.
Journal of Project
Management, Vol. 19,
471-483. 13 p.
8.2A Teece, D. J.,
Pisano, G. and Shuen,
A.
(1997) Dynamic
capabilities and
strategic management.
Strategic Management
Journal, Vol. 18, No. 7,
509-533. 25 p.
8.2B Harreld, J. B.,
O’Reilly III, C. A. and
Tushman, M. L. (2007)
Dynamic capabilities at
IBM: Driving strategy
into action. California
Management Review,
Vol. 49, No. 4, 21-43.
23
p.
8.3 Gebauer, H. (2011)
Exploring the
contribution of
management
innovation
to the evolution of
dynamic capabilities.
Industrial Marketing
Management, Vol. 40,
1238-1250. 13 p.