• demonstrate evidence of comprehensive knowledge of the business historical cases
• demonstrate comprehension of the theories and concepts from the syllabus
• apply theories and concepts thoroughly to the case studies
• analyze a case or problem from different theoretical perspectives
• discuss the case or problem in a comprehensible, structured and precise manner

The overall objectives of the course are, firstly, to develop a general knowledge and understanding of the development of capitalism with particular emphasis on large companies of four major economies and Denmark, secondly, to demonstrate how institutional arrangements, culture and history have influenced the companies’ development over time and have shaped a variety of capitalisms, and thirdly, to deepen their understanding of economic theories.

The course will develop these topics on two interrelated levels: On the one hand, the students will discuss theoretical texts of leading scholars on entrepreneurship and economic change including entrepreneurial theory, New Institutional Economics, cluster and network theories, and the varieties of capitalism approach. On the other hand, the students will relate the theories to empirical cases. The focus point of the comparative analysis is the micro level of the entrepreneur and the company in its respective institutional environment. By means of case study discussion the students deepen their understanding of economic change and strategic decision making in changing environments and evaluate the explanatory qualities of the theories in question.

Thomas McCraw (ed.), Creating Modern Capitalism. How Entrepreneurs, Companies, and Countries Triumphed in Three Industrial Revolutions, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA 1997

Chap.: T.K. McCraw: "Introduction", pp. 1-16, and notes.

N.F. Koehn: "Josiah Wedgwood and the First Industrial Revolution", pp. 17-48 + notes.

T.K. McCraw/R.S. Tedlow: "Henry Ford, Alfred Sloan, and the Three Phases of Marketing", pp. 266-300 + notes.

J. Fear: "August Thyssen and German Steel", pp. 185-226 + notes.

D.A. Moss: "The Deutsche Bank", pp. 229-63 + notes.

P. Botticelli: "Rolls-Royce and the High-Technology Industry", pp. 94-132 + notes.

J.R. Bernstein: "Toyota Automatic Looms and Toyota Automobiles", pp. 398-438 + notes.

J.R. Bernstein: "7-Eleven in America and Japan", pp. 492-530 + notes.

R. Olegario: "IBM and the Two Thomas J. Watsons", pp. 351-95 + notes.

A.D. Chandler, jr. (1988): "Scale, Scope and Organizational Capabilities", in: T.K. McCraw (ed.), The Essential Alfred D. Chandler. Essays toward a Historical Theory of Big Business, Boston 1988, pp. 472-504.

M. Granovetter (1985): "Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness", in: American Journal of Sociology, vol. 91, 1985, no. 3, pp. 481-510.

P.A. Hall/D. Soskice (2001): "An Introduction to Varieties of Capitalism", in: Hall, P.A./Soskice, D. (ed.), Varieties of Capitalism. The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2001, pp. 1-35.

D.C. North (2005): "Institutions and the Performance of Economies over time", in: Menard, C./Shirley, M.M., Handbook of New Institutional Economics, Dordrecht 2005, pp. 21-30.

M.E. Porter (2000): "Locations, Cluster and Company Strategy", in: Clark, G.L. / Feldman, M.P. / Gertler, M.S., Oxford Handbook of Economic Geography, Oxford 2000, pp. 255-274.

J.A. Schumpeter (1944): "The Process of Creative Destruction" (Chapter), in: Schumpeter, J.A., Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, London 1944, pp. 81-6.

J.A. Schumpeter (1947): "The Creative Response in Economic History", in: Journal of Economic History vol. VII (1947), no. 2, pp. 149-159.

O.E. Williamson: "The Economics of Organization: The Transaction Cost Approach", in: The American Journal of Sociology 87 (1981), no. 3, pp. 548-577

M.J. Iversen / A. Arnold: "Carlsberg. Regulation of the home market and international expansion", in: S. Fellman et al. (eds.), Creating Nordic Capitalism. The Development of a Competitive Periphery, London 2000, pp. 365-391.