“Fundamentals of Strategic Management and Leadership” is a foundation course on strategy and the strategic management process with implications for leadership. The format combines lectures covering theoretical input and contemporary examples, interactive in-class exercises, group work and discussions and coaching sessions with the instructor. The course guides the students through two core parts: strategic analysis and strategy formulation. Students will learn about tools and concepts of external and internal strategic analysis and the underlying features of business and global strategies. Case examples, videos, interactive exercises, and the strategy term project complement the learning in this course.

Students who have passed this course successfully are able to:

• explain the role of strategy, strategic management and strategic leadership in an organization;
• conduct a thorough analysis of external and internal factors that affect firm performance;
• apply various tools to evaluate a firm’s competitive advantage;
• describe the two generic business strategies, understand their differences and their implications for strategic leaders;
• assess the drivers that shape global strategies and their implications for strategic leaders;
• understand how top executives can influence organizational processes and firm performance;

In addition, students practice collaboration and presentation skills through interactive group assignments. By the end of the course, students will be able to systematically apply concepts and theories of strategic management through in-depth analysis of case studies and relate them to leadership. By working hands-on on real case scenarios, students will be able to understand the application of theory to practice.

Attendance in all sessions is mandatory. This is because the course is offered in a format with less contact hours and more time for self-study (for preparation, group work and reading assignments). Absence can be granted for medical reasons with advanced notice (a medical certificate needs to be provided).

The course involves a variety of teaching methods, including:

• Lectures and discussion of key concepts
• Case studies and interactive group exercises
• Strategy term project and coaching
• Individual reflections

Lectures

Key concepts are presented in class and discussed with students. All participants are expected to have read the relevant chapters beforehand in order to contribute to a meaningful discussion. The theoretical input will be complemented with interactive exercises to solidify the knowledge gained.

Case studies and exercises

Case studies are used to exemplify the key concepts. Students will complete these individually or in groups to discuss and prepare input. Interactive exercises include guided discussions, analyses of cases, and pitch presentations.

Strategy term project and coaching

Students will have the opportunity to apply systematically the concepts learned to a practical case. As part of the strategy term project, students will work in groups on a given project, will submit weekly progress slides and will deliver a pitch, a final presentation and a final report on their projects. Feedback and coaching by the instructor will be provided throughout. 

Reflection

Students are expected to reflect on strategic management and leadership throughout the course. In addition to writing down key learnings, students are expected to reflect on the course format, assessment, the feedback provided, the performance of the group, and the individual contribution to the group project.

Textbook

Two textbooks are used in this course: “Strategic Management”, by Frank T. Rothaermel (5th edition), and “Leadership in Organizations”, by Gary Yukl and William Gardner (9th edition). These textbooks and the respective chapters are relevant for the exam. They are available at the WU library (as a hard copy or an electronic copy). Be prepared to read the relevant chapters ahead of each class unit.

1. “Strategic Management”, by Frank T. Rothaermel (5th edition), chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/wuww/detail.action?docID=6216453

2. “Leadership in Organizations”, by Gary Yukl and William Gardner (9th edition) chapters 12, 13

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/wuww/detail.action?docID=5892731

Note: To access the books online, you need to be connected to WU’s VPN network GlobalProtect. Instructions on how to do so can be found here - https://www.wu.ac.at/en/it/services/network/vpn/

The course grade is based on the following assessment elements:

• Individual assignments: 56 pts
  • In-class participation 5 pts (5-3-1-0)
  • Reflection paper: 5 pts
  • Peer grading: 6 pts
  • Final exam: 40 pts
• Group assignments: 44 pts
  • Progress slides: 10 pts ((pitch presentation (5pts) + slides for coaching session (5pts))
  • Final case presentation: 17 pts
  • Final case report: 17 pts

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.

Ana Godonoga, Research and Teaching Associate, Institute for Higher Education Management, ana.godonoga-kopalko@wu.ac.at

Institute for Higher Education Management
www.wu.ac.at/ihm

Use of AI in assignments

Your assignments should be your original work and you should declare the use of AI. Misusing text generated by AI tools, such as ChatGPT, Grammarly, Bard, or others, is not considered original work. It is considered academic misconduct under our policy, leading to serious disciplinary actions.  The automated plagiarism check of your assignments will return a probability score for AI generated text.

While the core should be your own creation, you are allowed to use AI-based tools for grammar checks and writing revisions. However, you are not allowed to use AI-based software to generate new text for your assignments, for example, by using prompts like "write a paragraph about my topic" or "make this section longer." If you choose to use AI-based tools, please ensure that you provide a detailed overview in the appendix, including your prompts and the responses from the text generation software that you used to generate your paper. To assist you with this, we provided a reporting text template below.

Text Template for Reporting the Use of AI Tools:

Acknowledgment of Artificial Intelligence Tools Used:

For purposes of writing revision and grammar checks, I used the following tools:

Gramarly (https://www.grammarly.com)

Chat-GPT v.3.5 (https://chat.openai.com/)

Bing (https://www.bing.com)

I used the following prompts:

"Check for errors in my writing"

"Correct for grammar, spelling and comma mistakes."

I used the output to help revise my writing in the following segments of my thesis:

1.1. Introduction

2.3. Sampling

3.4.2. Results Study 1

4. Discussion