Modulbeschreibung

Strategizing today differs largely from strategic planning of the past. Today, organizations are
confronted with continuous change and with many uncertainties that require to question and
evaluate their situation and often new technologies play a crucial role in this process. The goal of
the module Strategic Thinking and Acting (STTA) is to deepen the participant’s knowledge on
different situations to cope with strategically challenging situations and change in organizations’
environment. Students learn to “read” and interpret various patterns of strategic thinking and acting.
They will learn to interpret the broad variety, complexity, and ambiguity of strategizing. Against this
background the goal of strategizing is to create, maintain and protect sustainable competitive
advantages.

The module’s building blocks are, on the one hand, to classify strategic solutions and tools in the
context of specific temporal challenges. The course takes in the perspective of a phase-model of
strategic management that puts strategic tools and approaches in relation to specific challenges in
the environment.

On the other hand, the module aims at discussing and analyzing case studies and examples of real
life company situations and challenges that firms have to cope with in different contexts. Students
will analyze firm’s challenges and discuss possible solutions to that help coping with these. In doing
so students will apply various tools and reflect upon the limitations of these tools. The course is
grounded in a workshop design.

Topics to be discussed include, for instance, sustainable competitive advantage, digital platforms,
business ecosystems, Artificial Intelligence / data science and data sharing, disruption,
sustainability, open organization and open strategy, hybrid working models, knowledge
management and innovation, business model innovation, strategy under extreme uncertainty,
internal & external growth of firms, etc. These topics my be subject to modification.

• As per model syllabus
• Good written and oral skills of English language
• Basic knowledge on Strategic Management is recommended

• Präsentation in Gruppen
• Schriftliche Gruppenarbeit
• andere...

• Presentation (45min), teamwise: 40%
• Written assignments, (Term Paper) teamwise: 40%
• Discussion: 20%

Professional competences:

Participants:

• are familiar with the idea of sustainable competitive advantages in different company
  contexts, and how they are created, protected, maintained;
• are familiar with strategic thinking and acting, as well as with the changing strategic
  challenges over time;
• are able to critically discuss and reflect upon various strategic tools and theories on
  different levels of analysis (including individual, organization, industry, ecosystem);
• are able to identify certain patterns of strategic challenges that firms are confronted with in
  their real-life context.
  
  

Methodological competences:

Participants:

• can identify and apply distinct strategic tools to selected firms in a broad variety of typical
  contexts;
• are capable to develop concepts and activities for these contexts;
• can interpret complex sources of information (scientific / theoretical, empirical) and
  distinguish between opinions and facts;
• are able to transform these pieces of information into a scientific term paper that analyzes
  the situation of a real firm that is confronted with challenges in strategic thinking and acting;
• are able to design a presentation that is rich in content and exciting from a dramaturgical
  point of view.

Self-competences:

Participants:

• gain awareness of the great variety and complexity of strategies and challenges that
  companies are confronted with;
• approach and practice strategic thinking and acting as well as strategic decision-making in
  a national or international context;
• are capable to deal with situations of uncertainty and ambiguity in which they have to make
  think strategically and to make strategic decisions (case studies).

Social competences:

Participants:

• learn to work in diverse teams (partly international and intercultural);
• know how to approach creative problem-solving by using strategic tools and scientific texts
  through team discussion;
• constructively present and critically discuss ambiguous strategic challenges in their team
  and in class.

Topic area I: Fundamentals of Strategic Thinking and Acting

• Introduction of a phase model of as a fundament of strategic thinking and acting (strategic
  tools in the context of environmental challenges of their time)
• Various types of competitive advantages and how they are created
• Unique resources, competences and strategies that cannot be imitated
• Case studies and examples

Topic area II: Theories and Practical Challenges of Current Issues in Strategic Thinking and Acting

• The second topic area follows a phase model of strategic thinking and acting in the context
  of time, it shows how strategic approaches and solutions that organizations apply relate to
  the environmental challenges of their specific time
• Conceptualizing selected recent and traditional strategic tools in typical challenging
  situations that require strategic thinking and acting (concepts).
• Topics covered include, for instance: Digital platforms, business ecosystems, Artificial
  intelligence / data science and data sharing, disruption, sustainability, open organization
  and open strategy, hybrid working models, knowledge management and innovation,
  business model innovation, strategy under extreme uncertainty, internal and external
  growth of companies, etc. These topics my be subject to modification.
• Case studies/examples; Application, discussion, limitation of strategic tools
• Guest lecture

Topic area III: Strategic Thinking and Acting Solutions

• Applying selected strategic tools to real and current situations of (national or international)
  firms in typical situations context (practical application), topics covered include:
• Case studies and team presentations
• Backup and summary

Lectures, class discussion, teamwork assignments for class discussion, multimedia case studies
and examples, guided self study, guest lecture, workshop design.

Mandatory:

The module is grounded in a collection of Strategic Management cases and articles / book
chapters, to be found on Moodle (learning platform, PDF), as well as on powerpoint slides and
lecture notes. Cases illustrate typical company situations and they cover all types of organizations
including young and established companies, various industries, Swiss and international companies,
etc. Articles and book excerpts give theoretical / general background information for the analysis of
these specific firm situations.

Books (teamwise presentation, graded):

For every presenting team one book will be mandatory (the allocation of books will take
place in the first week of the course). All other books are voluntary for the teams. All teams
are asked to provide themselves with the respective book individually (e.g. book retailers
like Orell Füssli or Amazon, etc.). Presented books cover recent topics of Strategic Thinking
and Acting, examples for relevant books are (may be subject to modification):

• Altman, E.; D. Kiron: J. Schwartz: R. Jones (2023). Workforce ecosystems: Reaching
  strategic goals with people, partners, and technologies. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
• Gassmann, O.; R. Boemelburg (2024). Collaborative advantage: How open organizations
  thrive in volatility. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Iansiti, M.; K.R. Lakhani (2020). Competing in the age of AI: Strategy and leadership when
  algorithms and networks run the world. Harvard Business Review Press: Boston, MA.
• Oberholzer-Gee, F. (2021). Better, simpler strategy. A value-based guide to
  exceptional performance. Harvard Business Review Press: Boston, MA.
• Leonardi, P.; T. Neely (2022). The digital mindset. What it really takes to thrive in the age of
  data, algorithms, and AI. Harvard Business Review Press: Boston, MA.
• Sorensen, J.B; G.C. Carroll (2021). Making great strategy: Arguing for organizational
  advantage. Columbia Business School Publishing.
• Stadler, C., J. Hautz, K. Matzler, von den Eichen, S.F. (2021). Open strategy: Mastering
  disruption from outside the C-suite. The MIT Press. Oberholzer-Gee, F. (2021). Better, simpler
  strategy. A value-based guide to exceptional performance. Harvard Business Review
  Press: Boston, MA.
• Subramaniam, M. (2022). The Future of competitive strategy: Unleashing the power of data
  and digital ecosystems. The MIT Press.

Voluntary:

• Various additional sources of information.