Global Strategic Management

Introduction

Global Strategic Management takes an integrated perspective on firm level, corporate and inter-organizational strategies. It is designed to provide an economic and organizational theoretical foundation, which is applied to key strategy decisions, such as scale, scope, and localization, as well as inter and intra-organizational governance such as entry modes, JVs and alliances, and the management of multi-unit, multi-local organizations like multinational enterprises. The course aims to equip students with both the theoretical knowledge and the practical skills necessary to identify and address strategic choices for firms in a global context.

Course content

The course will consist of two main parts:

1. The foundations of global strategy. This part will focus on the key decisions firms will need to make to be able to operate locally and internationally, including how to invest and where, to devise an overall strategy.
2. Challenges of operating across borders. This part will focus on identifying the additional challenges associated with global strategic management, including risk, cultural and institutional differences, employment and industrial relations, CSR, knowledge and innovation in multinational enterprises and the role of the changing global landscape.

Topics to be covered may include many of, but are not limited to, the following:

• Value creation
• Resources and capabilities
• Economies of scale and scope
• Market attractiveness
• Cultural and institutional differences
• Liability of foreignness
• Market entry
• Governance modes and choices (transaction cost economics and agency theory)
• Knowledge sharing and protection
• Global integration vs local responsiveness
• The role of technological, geopolitical, and environmental changes in the global strategic landscape
• CSR
• How to leverage theoretical insights and practical applications of global strategy in the domestic context.

Throughout the course, there will be a focus on understanding both the theoretical foundations that drive strategic decision making and firm performance, and the application of these theoretical frameworks in a global context and in practice at large.