The student taking this course will explore how to solve problems that are high on the management agenda. To do this, students will be working with real-life cases, including real McKinsey consulting engagements.

The course aims at helping the student develop structured, analytical problem-solving skills, applied to different business contexts. Also, the student will train such core skills as presentation and group work, while applying both practical and theoretical frameworks to the problem.
 

The course content is structured around three main pillars of content:

1. Methods, tools and skills from the consulting toolbox. This includes an introduction to structured problem solving tools, from defining the problem to making recommendations, e.g., by use of issue trees and hypothesis-driven problem solving, as well as training in core consulting skills, such as interview techniques, feedback, and work planning
2. Theoretical and functional deep-dives within the field of strategy. First, the course draws upon the resource-based view of strategy focusing on dynamic capabilities within a corporation and how management consulting companies add value through capability building. Through a strategic lens, the course will explore how corporations add value to shareholders, and how this can be broken down using the structured problem solving approach from the consulting toolbox. Having established this overview, the course deep dives into different modules on how strategies can create value. We discuss the notion of maximizing returns on investments as well as management decision processes in terms of short and long term value creation trade-offs. Then, the course dives into the concept of granularity of growth and how growth can be decomposed in order to solve corporations’ strategic challenges. The course links back to the resource based view of the corporation in order to examine the concept of creating and sustaining competitive advantage, and how companies can create strategies that enable them to do so. Reflecting upon interdependencies between strategy and performance, the course will discuss the Structure, Conduct and Performance framework. Finally, the course will provide a perspective on which trends and forces will impact future business and the how to solve strategic problems going forward. In connection to the utilization of the above models and concepts we will identify and discuss underlying economic theories and assumptions, including neoclassical theory, game theory, resource based theory, transaction cost theory, behavioral theory etc.
3. Cases, exemplifying the above theoretical content, including real-life McKinsey consulting engagements

The learnings from the course content are broadly applicable across multiple business functions and industries. Hence the learnings apply both to:

1. Students who are interested in consulting and how to serve and help their clients on their strategic challenges
2. Students, not particularly interested in consulting, who want to acquire skills and learnings that enable them to best tackle strategic challenges for their future employer or within their own entrepreneurial business

The course’s development of personal competences:

The student taking this course will:

1. Develop structured problem solving skills, and how to apply these to various real-life business cases
2. Develop analytical skills across multiple functional and industry-areas
3. Learn to navigate among core frameworks, especially within strategy, and choose when these are suitable for different problems and across industries
4. Improve the skills to synthesize analysis into crisp recommendations
5. Learn communication, presentation and influencing skills that are key to delivering impactful recommendations
6. Learn how to engage in teamwork as well as client team setting

The course is limited to 60 students because of the applied pedagogical form and the exam format.

(Indicative; pending final course plan and lecturers)

Selected chapters from books (~450 pages):

1. Greiner, L. E., Poulfelt, F., 2009. Management Consulting Today and Tomorrow
2. Koller, T., Goedhart, M., Wessels, D., 2010. Valuation
3. Viguerie, P., Smit, S., Baghai, M., 2007. Granularity of Growth
4. Johnson, G., Scholes, K., Whittington, R., 2005. Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text only. 9^th edition
5. Minto, B., 2007. The Pyramid principle – Logic in writing and thinking
6. Maister, D. H., Green, C., H., Galford, R. M., 2001. The Trusted Advisor
7. Mahoney, J.T., 2005. Economic Foundations of Strategy,
8. Barcam, M., 2003. Economic Foundations of Strategic Management

Articles (~350 pages):

1. McKinsey Quarterly
   • Clifford, T., Coyne, K., Hall, S., 1997. Is Your "Core Competence" a Mirage? McKinsey Quarterly
   • Stuckey, J., 2008. The SCP Framework. McKinsey Quarterly (article and interactive details)
   • Barton, D., Bisson, P., Smit, S., Stephenson, E., Viguerie, P., 2010. Global Forces Shaping the Future of Business and Society. McKinsey Quarterly
   • McKinsey & Company. McKinsey’s 7 steps of problem solving [excerpts from McKinsey Journal of advanced problem solving (internal paper)]
   • McKinsey & Company Strategy Practice, 2011. 10 Tests: How we do it: Strategic tests from four senior executives. McKinsey Quarterly
   • Viguerie, P., Smit, S., Baghai, M., 2007. Granularity of Growth. McKinsey Quarterly
   • Chen, A., Osofsky, J., Stephenson, E., 2008. Making the Board More Strategic. McKinsey Quarterly
2. Harvard Business Review
   • Rappaport, A., 2006. Ten Ways to Create Shareholder Value. Harvard Business Review
   • Kim, W. C., Mauborgne, R. A. 2004. BlueOceanStrategy. Harvard Business Review
   • Christensen, C. M., Johnson, M. W., Kagermann, H., 2008. Reinventing Your Business Model. Harvard Business Review
   • Collis, D. J., Montgomery, C. A., 1998. Creating Corporate Advantage. Harvard Business Review
   • Martin, K. L., Neilson, G. L., Powers, E., 2008. The Secrets to Successful Strategy Execution. Harvard Business Review
   • Mankins, M. C., Steele, R., 2005. Turning Great Strategy into Great Performance. Harvard Business Review
   • Kim C. W., Mauborgne, R., 2009. How Strategy Shapes Structure. Harvard Business Review
   • Hamel, G., Prahalad, C. K., 1990. Core Competence of the Corporation. Harvard Business Review
3. Journal of Strategic Management
   • Wernerfelt, B., 1984. A resource-based view of the firm. Strategic Management Journal
   • Eisenhardt, K. M., Jeffrey A. Martin, J. A., 2000. Dynamic capabilities: what are they? Strategic Management Journal
   • Margaret A. Peteraf, M. A., 1993. The cornerstones of competitive advantage: A resource-based view. Strategic Management Journal
   • David J. Teece, Gary Pisano, Amy Shuen, 1998. Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal
4. Other relevant articles from contemporary management journals

Cases (~200 pages)

1. Cases prepared by McKinsey, based on real McKinsey engagements
2. Harvard Business cases

Other relevant cases