• Master relevant terminology and theoretical models for the topics covered in the class
• Analyze complex managerial issues using models learned in this course
• Identify, evaluate and assess the benefits and drawbacks of managerial decisions on how to manage new organizational challenges

Managers face issues that were not imaginable a few decades ago, from cyberthreats to social media reputation. While courses in business schools teach systematic ways to analyze the world, new issues such as cyber security, organizational stigma, and failure learning are oftentimes only cursorily touched upon.

In this course, students will learn more about a set of contemporary issues and how to analyze their impact on organizations and assess how managers design response strategies to address them. By emphasizing how to seek information and think around action options, students will develop a method they can apply to address future such challenges and other related ones as future managers. 

The course will be taught using a combination of (theoretical) material presentation and discussion of practical cases and issues. Each session is structured to allow as much interaction as possible between the students and the instructor(s). Questions are welcomed at any point in time in the class as they offer students the opportunity to learn from each other's curiosity and insights that complement the topics and the insights from the course. In-class exercises and activities will be used to allow students to directly apply, analyze, evaluate, and create content. We will use a structure combining lectures and tutorials. The idea of the tutorials is for students to conduct  research about the topic and be prepared to discuss the outcomes of their research in the class. The research for the student-led class should be seen as a lead-in to and might be used in the final written assignment for the course.

The class covers contemporary concerns for organizations such as the use of blockchain technologies -- what they are and realistic expectations on their use. Cryptocurrencies are a special application of blockchains, and we discuss the different varieties and the effects of firms allowing them or not as payment methods. Forecasting is also a relevant topic when analyzing the use of new technologies such as blockchain, and you will learn about different forecasting options as well as perform forecasts in class. 

We explore algorithms, what they are and why they can lead to biases when it comes to selection processes in organizations, a hotly debated topic. You will design a set of algoritms in the classroom to help demystify them.

We address individual-level issues such as leadership, emotional intelligence and motivation; some sessions on negotiations, involving exercises and basic principles of negotiations all addressing your own behavior that has an impact on your organizational life. 

Organizational learing and failure learning both drive organizational performance and we discuss some of the rich lessons from the literature. 

We also address strategic issues that have reconfigured how we think about firm positioning: the role of platforms and eco systems as well as the increasingly central role intellectual property plays fornew firm entry. In one tutorial you will learn to perform patent searches to access data for entry decisions and/or for competitor analyses.

Additional course categories: Managerial decision-making, Tools to solve novel managerial issues

The expected literature will be mostly based on peer-reviewed academic articles, practitioners-oriented journals, and news outlet articles.

Examples of readings associated with some of the hot topics include:

For failure learning:

• Dahlin, K., Chuang, Y. & T. Roulet. 2018. “Opportunity, motivation and ability to learn from failures and errors: Review, synthesis and ways to move forward.” Academy of Management Annals. 12(1): 252-277. https:/​/​doi.org/​10.5465/​annals.2016.0049
• Haunschild, P. R., Polidoro, F., Jr., & Chandler, D. 2015. Organizational oscillation between learning and forgetting: The dual role of serious errors. Organization Science, 26(6): 1682–1701.
• Kim, J., & Miner, A. S. 2007. Vicarious learning from the failures and near-failures of others: Evidence from the U.S. commercial banking industry. Academy of Management Journal, 50(3): 687–714.
• Stan, M., & Vermeulen, F. 2013. Selection at the gate: Difficult cases, spillovers, and organizational learning. Organization Science, 24(3): 796–812.

For Intellectual property tools and small firm entry strategies:

• Gans, J. S., & Stern, S. (2003). The product market and the market for “ideas”: commercialization strategies for technology entrepreneurs. Research Policy, 32(2), 333-350.
• Teece, David J. (1986). Profiting from technological innovation: Implications for         integration, collaboration. Licensing and public policy. Research Policy, 15: 285-            305.
• Dahlin, K. (2022) Instructions for patent searches and technology assesment

For organizational stigma:

• Devers, C. E., Dewett, T., Mishina, Y., & Belsito, C. A. 2009. A general theory of organizational stigma. Organization Science, 20(1), 154-171.
• Groysberg, B., Lin, E., Serafeim, G., & Abrahams, R., 2016. Working for a Scandal-Tainted Company Hurts Your Future Earnings. Harvard Business Review.
• Phung, K., Buchanan, S., Toubiana, M., Ruebottom, T., & Turchick‐Hakak, L. 2021. When stigma doesn’t transfer: Stigma deflection and occupational stratification in the sharing economy. Journal of Management Studies, 58(4), 1107-1139.
• Pollock, T. G., Lashley, K., Rindova, V. P., & Han, J. H. 2019. Which of these things are not like the others? Comparing the rational, emotional, and moral aspects of reputation, status, celebrity, and stigma. Academy of Management Annals, 13(2), 444-478.