Strategische Unternehmensführung

The field of strategic management is of equal importance for both practice and business theory. Dealing with the strategic aspects of corporate management seems not only attractive, but also necessary. Long-term survival on the market and the sustainable achievement of competitive advantages are generally not primarily attributable to indicators such as the size or age of a company, but rather to its successful strategies. The development and implementation of strategies are therefore key tasks for the management of companies.

In order to create a broad and comprehensible basis for understanding strategic management, this lecture will first explain important basic terms and the purpose of strategic management. Then, the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on strategy development will be discussed. A process model of strategic management is then presented and its key phases discussed in detail. Important tools and decision-making aids for strategic management (e.g. industry structure analysis and business model analysis) will be presented and illustrated using specific practical examples. The event will also focus on the discussion of viable strategies in global competition, the investigation of the influence of digitalization on strategy development and the associated analysis of digital platform strategies as well as the investigation of the responsibility of internationally active companies for sustainable development.

The lecture "Strategic Corporate Management" covers the following topics in detail:

1. Introduction

1.1 Purpose and Areas of Responsibility of Strategic Management

1.2 Definition of Terms

1.3 Digitalization and the Innovator's Dilemma

1.4 Areas of Research in Strategic Management

2. A Conception of Strategic Management

2.1 Overview of the Concept

2.2 Formulating the Vision and Setting Strategic Goals

2.3 Segmentation of the Business

2.4 Strategic Analysis as a Prerequisite for Formulating Strategies

2.5 Strategy Definition

2.6 Strategy Implementation and Strategic Control

2.7 Strategic Management and Ethical Reflection

3. Outlook

The aim of the lecture is to give students an insight into the research field of strategic management. They should also be able to apply the content they have learned to specific practical problems and independently analyze strategic decisions made by companies. Students will also recognize the need to deal with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and digitalization for strategy development in companies. Through numerous practical examples, students gain a deeper insight into the current strategic problem areas and challenges facing companies.

Lectures

Due to the restrictions in teaching due to the COVID 19 pandemic, lectures and exercises are held completely digitally. Teaching is largely asynchronous. This means that the content of the lecture and tutorial is made available in the form of videos on the Lecture2Go platform and can be accessed by students at a time of their choice. From a methodological point of view, PowerPoint slides are used as a framework for discussing the content to be discussed. These slides will be included in the lecture and tutorial videos. The set of slides can be downloaded by the course participants on STiNE or OpenOLAT. These slides serve more as a visual “stimulus” and not as a substitute for a lecture manuscript. Students are therefore strongly advised to supplement the lecture slides with their own notes.

However, there will also be three dates with synchronous teaching as part of the lecture. Synchronous teaching means that students participate digitally and live in a lecture via Zoom. Important: The three synchronous lecture dates will not cover any of the lecture content. Rather, the synchronous dates are intended to enable lecturers and course participants to get to know each other and exchange ideas. However, the main purpose of these dates is to allow students to ask questions about the content of the lecture. The synchronous dates are at the beginning, middle and end of the semester and can be found in the table below.

The online teaching for the entire course is organized with the help of OpenOLAT. It is therefore important that students register for the course not only in STiNE, but also in OpenOLAT:

https://www.openolat.uni-hamburg.de

In STiNE, a manual for OpenOLAT, specifically for this course, is also stored in the materials to support course participants in registering and using the learning platform.

Tutorials

The lecture is accompanied by a tutorial. The tutorials are carried out completely asynchronously. Students are continuously given tasks which they have to hand in on specific dates (see below) and on which they may receive personal feedback from the instructor. The three tutorial groups offered in STiNE have the same content, so it is sufficient to register for one tutorial.

The exercise for the course “Strategic Management” is administered exclusively via OpenOLAT. Within the course in OpenOLAT, there will be learning groups of up to 6 people in which students can register independently. In the learning groups, students can exchange ideas and work on exercises.

The tutorial begins in the third week of lectures and takes place weekly. There will be ten tutorials in total. There will be a video for asynchronous learning for each tutorial. In addition, there will be a group task for each tutorial date, which should be completed within the learning groups by the next tutorial date (a detailed overview of the tutorial dates can be found in the table below).

The tutorials will be published via the “group assignments” function of OpenOLAT (further details can be found in the OpenOLAT manual for the course), and are to be understood as an offer to deepen the learning content and to prepare for the exam. All learning groups that complete and submit the exercises on time will receive individualized feedback on their proposed solutions. The exercises are not part of the examination, but it is recommended to complete them in order to successfully pass the course

The importance of self-study and literature work

Students have individual responsibility for their learning success, which depends on their personal commitment, attendance of lectures and the time they invest in self-study and literature work for the subject “Strategic Management”. The content discussed in the lectures should be prepared and followed up using the textbook mentioned below and other recommended literature sources.

The content and the structure of the lecture is closely based on the following book:

Kreikebaum, Hartmut/Gilbert, Dirk Ulrich/Behnam, Michael (2018): Strategisches Management, 8. überarbeitete Auflage, Stuttgart.

Print:
ISBN 978-3-17-031111-4

E-Book-Formate:
pdf: ISBN 978-3-17-031112-1
epub: ISBN 978-3-17-031113-8
mobi: ISBN 978-3-17-031114-5

With regard to the basic texts, the 7th edition (2011) of the above-mentioned textbook can also be used as an alternative for in-depth study.

The course is completed in the form of a written exam (90 minutes)! The time and place of the exam will be announced during the lecture and via STINE.