Prof Rocco Macchiavello MAR. 6.24

This course is available on the Global MSc in Management, Global MSc in Management (CEMS MIM), MSc in Economic Policy for International Development, MSc in Economics and Management, MSc in Management (1 Year Programme), MSc in Management and Strategy and MSc in Marketing. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course applies tools from microeconomics, industrial organisation and organisational economics to the analysis of strategy. The emphasis is on the application of these concepts to business situations, and as such the course relies heavily on the analysis of case studies.

The course is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the external context of strategy. It first reviews basic tools for understanding industry economics and the determinants of industry-wide profitability, focusing on positional aspects. It then applies basic game theory to analyse competitive interactions when the number of players is small and the industry profitability is largely determined by these players’ interactions. This tool is used to analyse issues such as bargaining power, price competition and entry and exit decisions.

The second part studies the internal content of strategy. Topics vary from year to year and include, among others, strategy in the presence of standard setting and network effects, the scope of the firm, outsourcing and supply chain organizations, corporate governance in adding value and capturing synergies, internal management practices. This part relies on the application of both game theory, principal-agent problems and the analysis of empirical academic papers.

The course is heavily based on case discussions. For each class meeting, study questions will be assigned concerning a case study. We will discuss these questions and the material in the case during the class discussions. Students will need to prepare for class discussions by reading the assigned case and analysing it in view of the assignment questions. For each case, students are expected to prepare short slide deck discussing the case and be ready, if asked, to present their slides in the classroom to lead the discussion. Required cases and supplementary readings will be available on Moodle. The textbook, together with the lectures, contains the concepts necessary to analyse the cases.

20 hours of lectures and 12 hours of seminars in the WT.

Students on this course will have a reading week in Week 6, in line with departmental policy

Students are expected to prepare for classes and actively participate in case discussions. Students will receive feedback on their class participation. Students might be asked to present during the class discussion to practice in view of the assessment. They will also be given the opportunity to discuss their preparation for the individual and group cases that count toward assessment during office hours devoted to this.

A primary text will be: Saloner, G., Shepard, A. and Podolny, J. Strategic Management. New York, NY: John Wiley, 2001.

As mentioned above, cases and additional readings will be made available online.

Group assignment (80%) in the ST.
Class participation (20%) in the WT.

(Class participation will be evaluated based on the quality and quantity of the student's participation in class.)