Course syllabus
Course-PM
TEK280 Strategy creation and change lp1 HT19 (7.5 hp)
Course is offered by the department of Technology Management and Economics
Welcome to the course Strategy Creation and Change!
The course is challenging but rewarding. It demands of you that you study in a slightly different way than for other courses. It is to a large extent build around case studies that we analyze together in class –Standard Chartered Bank, Systembolaget and more. You can make good use of knowledge that you acquired in other courses as well as your personal experiences. Students that have taken this class before have enjoyed the intense discussions in the room and the fact that they tie together many of the pieces of knowledge that they have gained in other courses. For some of the cases, representatives of the companies in the cases are present in class to discuss the cases with you.
A reading list (which may be updated as we progress through the course) is provided here, with reference to the different sessions in the schedule/outlay. The articles are accessible through the Chalmers library, but you will have to buy some of the cases through Harvard Business Publishing (see the course PM). NB! We have no course book but rely on papers instead (not to forget the many cases you will read).
Course purpose
Decisions of scale, scope and direction – strategic decisions - are among the most important decisions made in an organisation. This course focuses on the process by which they are made, and the subsequent process of changing the organisation. We want to provide an opportunity for students to create an understanding of the whole chain of strategic actions and decisions. In the course, students should learn to:
- Draw conclusions on the effects of strategy analysis for implementation.
- Describe/analyze connections between organization design and strategic effectiveness
- Make casual analysis of the effects of differentiation strategy for organizing
- Make a congruence diagnosis of an organization as the basis for strategy implementation
- Describe and prescribe the process of creating strategic change and implementation
- Describe the conditions for and the effects of strategic decision making
Course design
The course can analytically be divided into two parts.
(a) Strategy in the making
Here, the strategy making process is in focus. Among topics to be brought up are:
- decision making
- tools for strategy making
- market strategy issues
(b) Strategy implementation
After decisions are made, change is normally initiated in the organisation. It is widely recognized that creating durable change is very difficult question, and that different change strategies create quite different results. We therefore intend to introduce students to theories of strategic change and invite a guest lecturer from industry to speak on this topic.
Contact details
Main lecturer and examiner is Tobias Fredberg from the division of Entrepreneurship and Strategy, Chalmers. Together with Johanna Pregmark and Rita Berggren, he will handle the majority of lectures and seminars. Please pose any administrative questions on Canvas. Jenny Taghvai (jenny.taghvai@chalmers.se) is course administrator. In addition, guest lectures from industry will be engaged in the process.
Learning objectives and syllabus
The course actively promotes a view of strategy work in organization as a process and a practice unfolding as a market analysis, an organization review, and the implementation of formulated strategies. The course is structured around case discussions and connected theoretical lectures and team based work.
In the course student should learn to:
- Draw conclusions on the effects of strategy analysis for implementation
- Describe and analyze the connections between organization design and strategic effectiveness
- Make casual analysis of the effects of differentiation strategy on how the organization must work
- Make a congruence diagnosis of an organization as the basis for strategy implementation
- Describe and prescribe the process of creating strategic change and implementation
- Describe the conditions for and the effects of strategic decision making
See below for outlay
Instructors
TF Tobias Fredberg, PhD, Prof., Chalmers
JP Johanna Pregmark, PhD candidate, Chalmers
RB Rita Berggren, PhD candidate, Chalmers
JT Jenny Taghvai, Chalmers
MH Mikael Hansson, leg psych, lic. psych, ledarcoach
HHR Hulda Haugen Rosinski, f.d. Schibsted & transformation office of the City of Oslo
JW Jane Webb, PhD candidate, Chalmers
Other guest lecturers will be added later.
Schedule
Course literature
We have no course book but rely on papers and cases instead. A reading list (which may be updated as we progress through the course) is provided here, with reference to the different schedule/outlay. The articles are accessible through the Chalmers library or via Canvas (noted below).
Four of the cases: Merck Sharp & Dohme Argentina, Inc. (session 2), Pitney Bowes (session 9), as well as the cases for session 7 and 13 (both will be decided shortly) can be bought as a course pack at the Harvard Business School Publishing homepage through this link
https://hbsp.harvard.edu/import/654509
Three of the cases: Standard Chartered Bank (session 3), Systembolaget (session 5), and SurgiTech (session 11), will be available through Canvas.
The assignment questions for the different sessions will also be posted on Canvas.
NB!! There may be reading added to this list. Additions will be posted online (and we will talk about it in class) and this document will be updated.
Reading for the different sessions:
Session 2:
Merck Sharp & Dohme Argentina, Inc. (HBS Course Pack)
Fredberg & Kalling (2013) Strategic Management (Canvas)
Session 3:
Case: Standard Chartered Bank (Canvas)
Session 4:
Galbraith, J (2012) The Evolution of Enterprise Organization Designs, Journal of Organization Design, 1(2): 1-13
Galbraith, J (2012) The Future of Organization Designs, Journal of Organization Design, 1(1): 3-6
Beer (2009) High Commitment, High Performance, Jossey Bass – Chapter 4 (Canvas)
Osterwalder, A & Pigneur, Y (2011) Business Model Generation (scan around on the site and in the preview of the book)
Porter (1996) What is strategy?
Zott & Amit (2010) Business Model Design: An Activity Perspective, LRP,
Liedtka & Rosenblum (1996) Shaping Conversations: Making Strategy, Managing Change, California Management Review, 39(1)
Session 5:
Roche Pakistan case (HBSP coursepack)
Session 6:
Amabile, T., Fisher, C M., Pillemer, J. (2014) IDEO’s Culture of Helping, Harvard Business Review, Vol 92, Jan-Feb, pp. 54-61
Detert, J. (2018) Cultivating Everyday Courage, Harvard Business Review, Vol 96, Nov-Dec, pp. 128-135
Lee, T. & Duckworth, A. (2018) Organizational Grit, Harvard Business Review, Vol 96, Sept Oct, pp. 98-105
Ravasi, D., Schultz, M., (2006). Responding to organizational identity threats: Exploring the role of organizational culture. Academy of Management Journal 49, 433-458.
Quinn, R E. & Thakor, A V. (2018) Creating a purpose driven organization, Harvard Business Review, Vol 96, Jul-Aug, pp. 78-85
Session 7:
Schibsted Case
Session 8:
Smith, W. K., Binns, A., & Tushman, M. L. (2010). Complex Business Models: Managing Strategic Paradoxes Simultaneously. Long Range Planning, 43, 448-461.
O'Reilly, C. A., & Tushman, M. L. (2011). Organizational Ambidexterity in Action: How managers explore and exploit. California Management Review, 53(4), 5-+.
McGrath & MacMillan (1997) Discovering new points of differentiation, Harvard Business Review, July-August, 1997
Session 9:
Pitney Bowes case (HBSP Course pack)
Session 10:
Chesbrough, H. W. (2003). The Era of Open Innovation. MIT Sloan Management Review, 44(3), 34-41.
Eisenhardt, K. M., & Sull, D. N. (2001). Strategy as Simple Rules. Harvard Business Review, 79(1), 106-119.
Fredberg, T, & Envall Pregmark, J. (2018) Organizational Renewal: When the seed changes the soil, Research on Organization Change and Development, vol 26, pp.99-126 (on Canvas)
Lackeus, M., Lundqvist, M. Williams Middleton, K. & Inden, J. (2019) The Entrepreneurial Employee: What, Where, How, report to the European Commission (Canvas)
Session 11:
SurgiTech Case (Canvas)
Session 12:
Graeff C. The Situational Leadership Theory: A Critical View. Academy Of Management Review [serial online]. April 1983;8(2):285. Available from: Complementary Index, Ipswich, MA. Accessed August 31, 2018.
Blanchard K, Hersey P. Great ideas revisited. Training & Development [serial online]. 1996:42. Available from: Business Insights: Essentials, Ipswich, MA. Accessed August 31, 2018.
Flynn, S. I. (2013). Transformational and Transactional Leadership. Research Starters: Sociology (Online Edition),
Beer, M, Finnström, M. & Schrader, D. (2016) Why Leadership Training Fails, and what to do about it, Harvard Business Review, Oct 2016 http://proxy.lib.chalmers.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsbl&AN=RN607821055&lang=sv&site=eds-live&scope=site)
Session 13:
Systembolaget case (Canvas)
Session 14:
Beer, M., Eisenstat, R. A., Foote, N., Fredberg, T., & Norrgren, F. 2011. Higher Ambition: How Great Leaders Create Economic and Social Value. Cambridge: Harvard Business Press., Chapter 1 (Canvas)
Friedman (1970) The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits (Canvas)
Gartenberg, Pratt & Serafeim (2019) Corporate Purpose and Financial Performance, Organization Science, https://doi-org.proxy.lib.chalmers.se/10.1287/orsc.2018.1230
Ghoshal, S (2005) Bad management theories are destroying good management practice, Academy of Management Learning and Education, 4(1), 75-91
Jensen & Meckling (1976) Theory of the firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs and Ownership Structure
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=94043
Porter & Kramer (2011) Creating Shared Value, Harvard Business Review, 89(1-2)
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=56698455&site=ehost-live
Session 15:
Beer et al (1990) Why change programs don’t produce change, Harvard Business Review, 68(6)
Beer & Eisenstat (2000) The Silent killers of Strategy Implementation and Learning, Sloan Management Review, 41(4)
Beer & Eisenstat (2004) How to Have an Honest Conversation about Your Business Strategy, Harvard Business Review, 82(2)
Hagel et al (2008) Shaping Strategy in a World of Constant Disruption
Kotter (1995) Leading Change: Why transformation efforts fail, Harvard Business Review 73(2)
Changes made since the last occasion
We have removed the market strategy module, and instead created a new module on cultural transformation. We are also doing a digital exam for the first time.
Examination form
- The following learning objectives are formulated:
- An awareness of elementary concepts and the vocabulary of strategic management theory
- An understanding of the strategy process and insights regarding the practice of strategy work.
- The ability to identify, examine, and report actual cases from industry on basis of a strategic management theory perspective.
- A training and insight into real strategic practices.
- Examination – a total of 100 points
You will in teams choose one company to analyze
- 42p Team Paper– Strategic making and strategic change (Nov 4)
- 18p Performance in case discussions (in class)
- 40p Individual Case Analysis (Exam), Oct 26 - digital exam
Course summary:
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