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2025/2026  KAN-CGMAO1002U  Strategy and Organization

English Title
Strategy and Organization

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Autumn, First Quarter
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board of Governance, Law, Accounting & Management Analytics
Course coordinator
  • Giacomo Marchesini - Department of Strategy and Innovation (SI)
  • Jane Bjørn Vedel - Department of Organization (IOA)
Main academic disciplines
  • Management
  • Organisation
  • Strategy
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 13-03-2025

Relevant links
Learning objectives
  • Develop well-reasoned strategies, or "corporate theories", for firms by integrating strategy tools to identify competitive advantages and opportunities for new advantages.
  • Identify key sources of organizational complexity in firms’ contexts through systematic, comprehensive analysis across field, organizational, and inter-organizational levels.
  • Discuss how "corporate theories" (strategies) can be improved by integrating organizational complexity, acknowledging the contrasts and synergies between strategy and organization theory.
  • Select and apply academic concepts with precision.
Examination
Strategy and Organization:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Oral exam based on written product

In order to participate in the oral exam, the written product must be handed in before the oral exam; by the set deadline. The grade is based on an overall assessment of the written product and the individual oral performance, see also the rules about examination forms in the programme regulations.
Individual or group exam Individual oral exam based on written group product
Number of people in the group 4-5
Size of written product Max. 20 pages
Assignment type Essay
Release of assignment Subject chosen by students themselves, see guidelines if any
Duration
Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
20 min. per student, including examiners' discussion of grade, and informing plus explaining the grade
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) Internal examiner and second internal examiner
Exam period Autumn
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

Firms and other organizations operate in increasingly unpredictable and turbulent environments. This course aims to enhance the students’ capabilities in value creation, decision-making, and effective management within complex organizational settings defined by multiple stakeholders and competing logics. The goal is to equip students with the skills to develop and integrate well-reasoned strategies, or “corporate theories”, alongside comprehensive analyses of organizational complexity in firms’ environments.

 

The course will introduce the students to key steps in developing corporate theories (strategies) and analyzing organizational complexity. We will explore these steps across various sectors and organizational forms, drawing on both classic and cutting-edge scholarship in strategy and organization. The course emphasizes the students’ critical reflection when applying concepts from strategy and organization, encouraging discussion on the assumptions and relevance of these concepts across contexts.
Research-based teaching
CBS’ programmes and teaching are research-based. The following types of research-based knowledge and research-like activities are included in this course:
Research-based knowledge
  • Classic and basic theory
  • New theory
  • Teacher’s own research
  • Models
Research-like activities
  • Development of research questions
  • Data collection
  • Analysis
  • Discussion, critical reflection, modelling
  • Peer review including Peer-to-peer
Description of the teaching methods
The course will be delivered through lectures, exercise classes, and feedback sessions. Lectures will cover key concepts in strategy and organization, while exercise classes provide students with opportunity to work in groups on their chosen cases under the guidance of their instructors.
Feedback during the teaching period
Ongoing feedback will be provided during both lectures and exercise classes. At the end of the course, students will participate in a feedback module, where they will submit a synopsis of their exam essay to a peer review tool for feedback from peers, followed by the opportunity to pitch their work to a faculty panel for further feedback.
Student workload
Preparation 96 hours
Teaching 33 hours
Exam 77 hours
Expected literature

Preliminary literature

Barney, J. (1991). Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage. Journal of Management, 17(1), 99–120.

Felin, T., & Zenger, T. R. (2017). The Theory-Based View: Economic Actors as Theorists. Strategy Science, 2(4), 258–271.

Grant, R. M. (2021). Contemporary Strategy Analysis. John Wiley & Sons.

Gray, B., & Purdy, J. (2018). Collaborating for Our Future: Multistakeholder Partnerships for Solving Complex Problems. Oxford University Press.

Jancsary, D., Meyer, R. E., Höllerer, M. A., & Barberio, V. (2017). Toward a Structural Model of Organizational-Level Institutional Pluralism and Logic Interconnectedness. Organization Science, 28(6), 1150–1167.

Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G. (1978). The External Control of Organizations. A Resource Dependence Perspective. Stanford University Press.

Lawrence, P. R., & Lorsch, J. W. (1967). Differentiation and Integration in Complex Organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 12(1), 1–47.

Navis, C., & Glynn, M. A. (2010). How New Market Categories Emerge: Temporal Dynamics of Legitimacy, Identity, and Entrepreneurship in Satellite Radio, 1990–2005. Administrative Science Quarterly, 55(3), 439–471.

Porter, M. E. (2008). The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy: Harvard Business Review. Harvard Business Review, 86(1), 78–93.

Powell, W. W., White, D. R., Koput, K. W., & Owen‐Smith, J. (2005). Network Dynamics and Field Evolution: The Growth of Interorganizational Collaboration in the Life Sciences. American Journal of Sociology, 110(4), 1132–1205.

Thornton, P. H., Ocasio, W., & Lounsbury, M. (2012). The Institutional Logics Perspective: A New Approach to Culture, Structure and Process. OUP Oxford.

Todd Zenger. (2013). What Is the Theory of Your Firm?: Focus less on competitive advantage and more on growth that creates value. Harvard Business Review, 91(6), 72–78.
Last updated on 13-03-2025