Strategy and Organizations

Catalog description

Why are some organizations more competitive than others? This is the defining question of the interdisciplinary research field known as strategy (or strategic management). We will survey the field of strategy during this PhD seminar. The course takes a broad view, reflecting the diversity of perspectives in this field. While it is possible to identify distinct theoretical approaches (which we will outline during the first sessions), most work in strategic management is organized by topics - the different phenomena being studied such as mergers and acquisitions, innovation, diversification, and the like - rather than by theoretical perspective. I have catalogued the research in strategic management by topic, although I encourage you to think of how the different works we will survey may be influenced by different theoretical perspectives. The main objective of the course is to give you the tools you need to understand research in the field of strategy and contribute to it. Hence, while an insightful critique is always welcome, I will encourage you to take a constructive approach to the work at hand and think of possible extensions of it. The class is meant to be generative: my hope is that, by the end of class, you will have identified areas which you feel are worth contributing to.