Courses Master Strategy and Innovation

An interesting course portfolio is concerned with strategic issues that professionals, in particular managers, are confronted with. Therefore Strategy and Innovation splits its course portfolio into: (1) strategic management, where the focus is on strategic issues that managers are confronted with such as new product and business development. Examples are mergers & acquisitions, alliances, networks and greenfield investments, and (2) innovation, where the focus is on organisations as change agents to further their own interests as well as societal objectives. Societies expect organisations to offer innovative solutions to a wide range of problems, such as demographic aging, environmental degradation, and third world poverty.

The key courses include International Competitive Analysis & Strategy (1063M), Alliances, Mergers & Acquisitions (1062M), Entrepreneurship & Innovation (1059M) and Business Innovation and Sustainable Development (1176M). Students can enter the program in September or in February. Either way, the first course period attended includes the course International Business Research (1113M), which gives all students a common basis  in the research methodologies and mind set applied throughout our program.

A brief description of the four key courses:

International Competitive Analysis & Strategy ( 1063M)

This course provides students with a thorough understanding of the economic principles underlying strategy formulation. Based on an analysis of the factors shaping the industry environment, firms assess their positioning relative to their rivals, and formulate strategies in order to achieve a durable competitive advantage. The course provides students with the tools to analyze the positioning and performance of firms in different industry environments, drawing on economic theories, such as industrial organization theory, basic game theoretical analysis, transaction cost theory, and the resource based theory of the firm. The course covers topics such as product positioning and differentiation, diversification, vertical integration, pricing, strategic commitments and entry deterrence.

Alliances, Mergers & Acquisitions ( 1062M)

The purpose of this course is to give students a better understanding of both structural aspects of alliances and M&As and the process of setting up these specific forms of inter-firm relationships. The course covers topics such as differences between the developed and developing economies, strategic management of the inter-firm relationships, networks, entrepreneurial activities, how-to-do-issues. Students will be tested on both literature and the content of the lectures.

Entrepreneurship & Innovation ( 1059M)

The objective of this course is to study innovative behavior in entrepreneurial firms. First, students should obtain a solid knowledge of the academic literature on entrepreneurship. Topics covered include: the role of entrepreneurship in the economy, psychological and sociological antecedents of entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial strategies and growth and development issues. In the second part of the course, students focus on the role of innovation management in the successful design and implementation of a firm's strategy. More specifically, students analyze how technological innovations create value added for the firm's customers and how it can generate a sustainable competitive advantage for the innovating company. The third part of the course aims to integrate the previous two parts by focusing on innovative behavior in entrepreneurial firms. Topics include: antecedents of innovative behavior, types of innovation and the role of clusters, networks and cooperation.

Business Innovation and Sustainable Development (1176M)

The aim of the course is to study sustainability and business. Inventors, innovators, and businesses influence their environment. They have external effects on the local society, natural environment, on competitors, clients and suppliers. When business chooses to ignore its social, political and natural environment, government needs to step in to correct resulting problems. If the government is to step back from the market process then firms need to increase their social responsibility by working towards sustainable development. A business that undermines its social, economic or natural environment will loose legitimacy and sap the sources of its vitality. Many innovations and enterprises are motivated by the initiators to improve the society as they perceived it. Many entrepreneurs feel a societal responsibility to improve the people who work for them or the societies in which they operate. They live in the world and they act their part. The view of capitalism as solely profit oriented and opportunistic represents an impoverished view of the reality of business. This course aims to correct that. By doing so it provides its students a handle to see their societal awareness and responsibility as a resource that helps them be creative, to think up new products and products, and to make original contributions to the companies they work for.