• Understand and describe the particular challenges and opportunities that relates to business strategy
• and management in emerging markets and developing countries,inter alia in relation to competitive strategy,internationalization strategy,human resource management,and CSR strategy.
• Describe, compare and critically discuss theories and approaches that address the particular challenges and opportunities of business strategy and management in developing countries and emerging markets
• Apply these theories and approaches to concrete cases of business strategy and management in developing countries and emerging markets and assess their respective relevance and applicability.

Strategy formulation and management in developing countries and emerging markets take place in a context and regulatory environment that is significant different from that of developed countries. Institutional failures, cultural differences, economic and political volatility etc. render strategy and management qualitatively different in such locations. The business literature has traditionally devoted little attention to this aspect of business strategy and management and only recently has a literature focusing specifically on the interface between business strategy and developing countries emerged. The course “Business strategy in developing countries and emerging markets” is specifically designed to introduce students to this literature on the business activities in developing countries and emerging markets.

The course will consist of five modules. Module I (Introduction) will provide a general introduction to the business and development studies literature. The point will be first, that the business literature until recently has failed to take into account the particular conditions of doing business in developing countries and emerging markets, and second, that the development literature has devoted too little attention to the role of firm strategy and management in economic development. Module II, introduces theories of business strategy and management in developing countries and emerging markets. The module will position the institutional perspective on business strategy vis-à-vis more conventional theories of business strategy (e.g. the resource based perspective, transaction cost economics, network theory, principal agency theory, etc.). Furthermore, it will discuss the applicability of different theoretical frameworks depending on factors such as the scale of firms (SMEs, conglomerates, clusters), governance and ownership, nationality, or degree of internationalisation. The module contains a special session that focus on cultural aspects of management and strategy in developing countries and emerging markets. Finally, the module will introduce a theoretical tradition that has won prominence in the business literature in recent years – the bottom of the pyramid perspective - to critically assess firm strategies aimed at alleviating poverty. Module III presents an economic organisation perspective on firm strategy in developing countries. The Module examines the role of clusters in the strategies of developing country firm. Furthermore it introduces a global value chain perspective on firms and industries in developing countries and discusses the governance structures of global value chains, as well as the options for local firms in developing countries to upgrade through chain participation. Furthermore, the module includes two theme days on respectively (i) entry barriers into regional and global value chains and markets for developing country firms; and (ii) on corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies in clusters and value chains. Module IV applies regional practical perspectives on business strategy and management in developing countries, offering Latin American, African and Middle Eastern perspectives on the issue. Module V is the conclusion of the course summing up on the content, evaluating the course and preparing for exam.

To be announced on Learn