Strategic Management From A Practice Perspective: A Day in the Life of a CEO

COURSE OBJECTIVE
At the end of the course, students should be able to:
• Get insight into the tasks and challenges that CEOs of multinational firms are facing in their day-to-day work as a strategy maker;
• Bridge theory and practice by being able to relate popular management frameworks to strategic challenges that company leaders experience;
• Critically reflect on the interrelationships between the various strategic tasks of CEOs and how they can be successfully orchestrated. These objectives will further develop various skills students had to master in the first two years of the program:
• Linking theory and concepts to practice;
• Gaining in-depth knowledge of the field of strategy. The course focuses primarily on the following overall learning objectives in line with the IBA bachelor programme: • Academic skills in analysis, abstraction, argumentation, and application.
• Bridging theory and practice with ability to translate and apply theoretical knowledge into business situations.
• Broadening students horizons by having a good understanding of current events on a global scale.

COURSE CONTENT
The course aims to familiarize the student with three important themes relevant for the strategic management of a firm from a behavioral perspective. It discusses protocols for strategy (scenario planning), for investing and for performance management. It aims to put students into the position of a CEO and expose them to those issues a CEO needs to deal with in a strategic manner. The session making up this course will each deal with a particular strategic question that addresses a broader theme, such as: How to gain an sustain a competitive advantage? (strategic positioning); In which markets to compete? (internationalization strategy); How to grow and expand our business? (M&A strategy); How to be successful and sustainable? (sustainability strategy); How to meet the challenges of the digital age? (digitalization strategy); How to manage relations with the board of directors? (corporate governance strategy); How to be a good leader? (leadership strategy). Students will learn to take a birds-eye point of view and discuss how these strategic issues are interrelated and together comprise the building blocks of corporate strategy. Three practical tools help accomplish this goal: Scenarioplanning, value based investing and Organizational Behavior Management (OBM). Invited guest speakers (CEOs) will allow students to be further exposed to real-life challenges of strategic management. Students will further be asked to examine critically the work (and strategy making) of one famous CEO of their choice (such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, etc.) based on publicly available data such as speeches and videos, and relate the CEOs behaviour to the strategic management approaches discussed in class. Findings will be presented during classes in teams.

METHOD OF TEACHING
Lectures, Tutorials

TYPE OF ASSESSMENT
Individual and team assessment

RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE
Organization Theory; Strategy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Foundations of Strategic Management