Syllabus

Title
1951 Strategic & Organizational Analysis in Practice
Instructors
Katrina Nelson, M.A.
Contact details
katrina.nelson@wu.ac.at
Type
PI
Weekly hours
2
Language of instruction
Englisch
Registration
09/18/26 to 09/20/26
Registration via LPIS
Notes to the course
Subject(s) Bachelor Programs
Specialization in Business Administration Course IV - Strategy and Organization
Course IV - Strategy and Organization
Course IV - Strategy and Organization
Dates
Day Date Time Room
Monday 09/28/26 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM D5.1.001
Tuesday 09/29/26 11:30 AM - 05:30 PM TC.3.03
Wednesday 09/30/26 11:30 AM - 05:30 PM D5.1.001
Thursday 10/01/26 10:00 AM - 03:00 PM TC.5.05
Friday 10/02/26 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM TC.2.03
Monday 10/12/26 01:00 PM - 04:00 PM D5.2.019

On this page:

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Contents

In this course, students will learn to analyze a managerially relevant strategic or organizational research question by conducting an academic literature review as well as an internal and external empirical analysis. They will work in teams and analyze a pre-defined company and relevant topic.

Student teams will learn to conduct an academic literature review by applying readings and templates provided during the course to their specific research question. They will also conduct an organizational and industry analysis by applying tools and frameworks discussed in class.

The course is designed to integrate prior learnings from previous SBWL courses and prepare students to work on real-life business projects.

Typical teaching methods are:

  • Academic literature review of a pre-defined strategic or organizational topic
  • Analysis of archival data and company reports
  • Methods to conduct an internal and external analysis

Students will summarize their findings in a project-specific literature review and a written report. They will receive and learn to integrate feedback into their final presentation. The final results will be delivered in a team presentation.

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Learning outcomes

After completing this course students will have the ability to:

  • Manage a strategic / organizational project (i.e., time, responsibilities and roles)
  • Conduct an academic literature review
  • Collect, analyze, and interpret relevant data to answer strategic or organizational questions
  • Critically evaluate and present the project findings

 

Apart from that, completing this course will contribute to students' ability to:

  • Efficiently work and communicate in a team
  • Translate their knowledge to practical problems
  • Structure and work collaboratively on a project
  • Improve their oral and written communication and presentation skills
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Attendance requirements

The course consists of the following sessions, scheduled ahead of time:

  • the course kick-off
  • the coaching sessions
  • In addition, each group will have one additional session to present their final results.

The course is planned as a mixture of offline and online sessions.

Full attendance at all sessions is expected. We require an attendance of minimum 80% of all sessions (both in-person and online, if applicable) in order to successfully complete the course.

If you are unable to attend a session due to unforeseeable circumstances, you need to inform your lecturer before the session takes place.

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Teaching/learning method(s)
  • Conducting a literature review on a pre-defined topic
  • Internal and external analysis of a company and a relevant strategic or organizational question
  • Writing a report on the findings from the literature review and analyses
  • Feedback from the IOD team
  • Presentation of final results that incorporates feedback

 

All reading materials for the course will be supplied via CANVAS.

 

Course Materials and Use of AI

All course materials provided by the instructor, including slides, handouts, cases, exercises, recordings, and other teaching materials, are protected by copyright and are provided exclusively for the personal study of students enrolled in this course.

Course materials may not be uploaded, transmitted, pasted, or otherwise made available, in whole or in part, to external generative-AI systems or other third-party AI services without the instructor's explicit permission. This includes, for example, large language models, AI-based document-chat, summarisation, note-taking, translation, or question-generation services.

This restriction applies irrespective of whether the material is uploaded for summarisation, analysis, generation of study notes or questions, or any other purpose.

The use of AI tools for other course-related activities is permitted only to the extent specified in this syllabus or explicitly authorised by the instructor for a particular task.

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Assessment

The final course grade is based upon the evaluation of the following assessment assignments:

  • Project-specific Literature Review (35%)
  • External and Internal Analysis (35%)
  • Final Team Presentation (30%)

Please note that students must participate in all grading components in order to pass the course.

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IOD guidelines for AI use:

 

1. Is the use of AI-based software in your course/exam permitted?

The use of AI-based software is permitted for writing support (e.g., Grammarly) as long as its use is referenced correctly. If you use AI-based software (e.g., ChatGPT) for text and content generation in your presentations or written work, it is mandatory to:

a) verify the information generated,

b) reference the generated content and the AI-based software correctly, and

c) be prepared for in-class discussions, where we will challenge your results and insights.

Please note that it is not permitted to upload any data to AI-based software; this concerns both:

a) licensed material accessed through WU (e.g., uploading a paper you accessed through the WU library to ChatGPT) and

b) primary or secondary data that you have or collected during the course (e.g., transcribing and analyzing interviews with ChatGPT).


2. How do you adequately reference AI-based software?

You need to provide a reference in the footnotes AND add a detailed appendix with the specific "prompts" you entered and the “responses” you received from the AI-based software.
Please find more information on how to reference the use of AI-based software here: https://library.wu.ac.at/bib/fit4research/index.php/en/fit4research-english/cite-and-organize-your-literature/citing-correctly/citing-ai/

 

3. What happens in a suspected case of unauthorized use of AI-based software?

We apply software that indicates the use of AI-based software. In the case of suspected unauthorized use of AI-based software, we will initially set up an additional individual oral audit interview with the student and then determine further steps.

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Readings

Please log in with your WU account to use all functionalities of read!t. For off-campus access to our licensed electronic resources, remember to activate your VPN connection connection. In case you encounter any technical problems or have questions regarding read!t, please feel free to contact the library at readinglists@wu.ac.at.

Last edited: 2026-09-21



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