Recent trends of de-/globalization, the seemingly more frequent occurence of severe exogenous shocks, and an increasing pace of advancements in technological development not only present a set of novel threats for organizations and the societies they are embedded in, but also open up new avenues to compete and to pursue sustainable business practices in the global marketplace. This course deals with the strategic challenges and opportunities business firms face in such environments and provides students with an understanding of Strategy and Strategic Management in a global context. Besides discussing general principles of strategy-making from different viewpoints, the course puts a special emphasize on the following issues that I perceive as paramount for contemporary Strategic Management in the globally operating business firm:

• Diversification strategies
• Cooperative strategies
• Global strategic technology and innovation managament
• Global corporate responsibility and sustainability
• Managing multinational subsidiary networks

The course is specifically tailored to enable students to:

• …understand the content of strategic and international management theories;
• …apply different concepts of strategy, including the way strategy is formulated;
• …analyze data about a company and how to build a strategic argument;
• …balance local adaptation versus global integration imperatives;
• …understand the preconditions and challenges linked to managing innovation in a global context;
• …reflect basic principles and mechanisms of global strategy against corporate responsibility and sustainability imperatives
• …identify and assess the costs and benefits of building and maintaining operational flexibility in multinational networks; and
• …exploit operational flexibility potentials in order to profit from environmental uncertainty in international markets.

Due to changing regulations to fight the spread of Covid-19, the course will be taught in a flexible hybrid mode. Sessions will take place in the class room if possible but be held online if necessary. For online sessions, students are required to be available during course hours (i.e., have a proper internet connection and participate actively in class discussions and group works).

Minimum attendance is 80% of course hours, giving presentations is compulsory for every participant.

The course will combine synchronous (i.e., live in-person or, if necessary, online) and asynchronous (offline) lecture parts with groupwork and self-study components.

In addition, we will invite leading consulting firms and guest speakers to provide first-hand insights into their daily business of strategy building as a means to illustrate the practical applicability of the presented theories, tools, and frameworks in real-life business settings.

A reading list with core (mandatory) and supplementary readings will be provided to students prior to the course. These readings provide a comprehensive picture of what global strategy is all about and are meant to encourage students to develop a deeper and more contextualized understanding of those topics or concepts they consider particularly interesting and valuable.

Overall, students will be assessed on:

• Their knowledge of the content domain of Global Strategic Management discusses in the (a-)synchronous teaching sessions;
• Their ability to understand the strategic issues in the cases discussed, to use appropriate analytical techniques, and to marshal relevant data in their individual and groupwork assignments.

The final grade consists of individual and group components and will be based on the following elements:

• Participation and responsiveness in synchronous (in-person or, if necessary, online) teaching sessions (10%)
• Individual assignment (40%)
• Groupwork assignment (semester project) (40%)
• Peer evaluation (10%)

Note: Due to the impact changing regulations to fight the spread of Covid-19 (unfortunately, but necesarily) have on the final teaching mode, grading components, includinging their weighting, may be subject to changes.