Strategic Management is concerned with four major questions:

• Why are we in business?
• What strategies do we choose and implement to obtain our goals?
• How do external factors (market conditions, legal requirements, customer tastes etc.) and internal factors (people, technology, processes etc.) affect this choice?

The course consists of two parts: the lecture and the business simulation.

• The lecture provides the theoretical underpinnings of strategic managements, covering the major schools including the market based view and the resource based view, both from a prescriptive as well as an emergent perspective. The lecture will follow closely the textbook by Lynch (2006).
• In order to gain a better understanding of both practical considerations of the strategy process and the interdependencies between the different areas of a company, the lecture is accompanied by the business simulation TOPSIM General Management II.

Mandatory

• TOPSIM Business Simulation ‚General Management II’ – User Manual
• Ireland, Hoskisson and Hitt (2013), The Management of Strategy: Concepts, 10th International Edition, Cengage

Recommended

• Mintzberg, H.; Ahlstrand, B.; Lampel, J. (1998) The Strategy Safari. London
• Morschett, D. et al.(2010): Strategic International Management. 2nd ed.Gabler
• Johnson, G., Scholes, K. (2011) Strategisches Management Eine Einführung. 9. Aufl. Pearson
• Grant, Robert M. (2010): Contemporary Strategy Analysis. 7th.ed. Wiley
• Barney, J., Hesterly, W. (2012) Strategic Management and Competitive Advantage, 4th ed. Pearson
• Hungenberg, H. (2010) Strategisches Management in Unternehmen. Ziele - Prozesse - Verfahren. 6. Aufl. Gabler

5 ECTS x 30 hours = 150 hours, combined out of the following:

• Course attendance: 60 hours
• Preparation / homework / self-study: 25 hours
• Time for exercises and group work: 25 hours
• Semester project / presentation preparation: 35 hours
• Exam preparation: 25 hours
• Exam time: 90 minutes

• Interactive lectures
• Case studies
• Teamwork
• Computer simulation