International Business Strategy Notes
MAN3090
Module Leader
Professor Andy Adcroft
Office 22MS03
Email:
Teaching Team
Reza Aboutalebi
Filipe Worsdell
Razak Alhassan
Abderaouf Bouguerra
Jill Juergensen
Robbie Cairns
Assessment Information
Assessment 1:
• Assessment Name:
o Critical Review
• Type:
o Individual Assignment.
• Weighting:
o 50%.
• Submission Date:
o Week 8.
• Consists of:
o Choose a seminal article in the field of strategy (from 4) and write a critical
review of that article.
o This review needs to consider the debate in strategy that the article is making
a contribution to as well as identifying the main strength and weakness of the
article. Reviews should be no more than 1,000 words in length.
• Review Articles:
o Blue Ocean Strategy:
▪ https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/25250
84
o Lean Strategy:
▪ https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/25250
85
o Shaping Strategy:
▪ https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/25250
86
o Strategy as a Wicket Problem:
▪ https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/25250
87
o Strategy as Simple Rules:
, ▪ https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/25250
88
o Strategy Under Certainty:
▪ https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/25250
89
o Your Strategy Needs a Strategy:
▪ https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/25250
90
Assessment 2:
• Assessment Name:
o Pre-Release Open Book On-Line Exam.
o In Person Exam.
• Assessment Type:
o Individual.
• Weighting:
o 50%.
• Submission Time and Date:
o Semester 1 Exam Period (TBC).
• Consists of:
o Students will have a 24-hour window in which to complete the exam and the
paper will be released to students 24 hours before the exam takes place.
o In the exam, you will have to answer two main questions. There will be a
theory question based on the main themes of the module and a case study
question based on a case study that will be distributed in advance.
o In Person Exam.
Introductory Reading
Porter What is Strategy:
https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/2524995
Notes:
Porter Strategy and the Internet:
https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/2525060
Notes:
Mintzberg- Crafting Strategy
https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/2524993
Notes:
Hamel and Prahalad- The Core Competence of the Corporation
https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/2524992
Notes:
Hamel- Strategy as Revolution:
https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/2524990
Notes:
,Hamel and Prahalad- Strategic Intent:
https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/2524991
Notes:
Week 1
What is Strategy?
SBS on Demand
Week 1 Reading
A Snapshot of Strategy Research 2002-2006 (Andy Adcroft)
https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/2542354
Notes:
• Abstract:
o Purpose:
▪ The aim of this paper is to assess both the philosophical
underpinnings and contributions to knowledge made by research in
the field of strategy in the five years between 2002 and 2006.
o Design/ Methodology/ Approach:
▪ The paper begins with a review of the literature on the philosophy,
purpose, process and outcome of management research which leads
to the development of a conceptual model. Following this, almost
4,000 articles and 23 journals are assessed on the basis of their
philosophical underpinnings and contribution to knowledge. Findings
are reported and implications are discussed.
o Findings:
▪ Most strategy research, especially in higher ranked journals, comes
from a positivist perspective. Across all journals, most contributions to
knowledge are in the form of stretching theory. There is a limited
amount of reflective work in the strategy literature.
o Practical Implication:
▪ Given the form and content of strategy research, it is increasingly
unlikely that research will make the crossover from the academic to
the practitioner world.
o Originality/ Value:
▪ This paper provides a better understanding of the process through
which academic management research can be carried out and the
barriers to this process. The paper provides a number of important
insights into the nature of strategy research.
• Philosophies, Purposes, Processes and Outcomes of Management Research:
o Trophic Cascade:
▪ A concept, which explains their impact when there is domination by
one species. The first effect is that lesser species diminish in number
as the dominant species kills them off and this is then followed by
, degeneracy within the dominant species as it becomes introverted
before eventually wasting away.
o Unsunier (1998):
▪ Identified two general philosophies of research:
• Positivist and,
o ‘Seek cause and effect laws that are sufficiently
generalisable to ensure that a knowledge of prior
events enables a reasonable prediction of subsequent
events’. (Hare 1988, p.12)
o Quinton and Smallbone (2005, p.301) suggest that
positivist management research is based on empirical
social science methods with an emphasis on validity,
reliability and generalisation.
• Phenomenological.
o The world being socially constructed whereby the
researcher is necessarily a apart of that which is being
observed.
o Fawcett and Hearn (2004, pp.205-206) sum up the
position by arguing that phenomenological approaches
are often associated with qualitative orientations and
positivist positionings with quantitative techniques’.
▪ He argued that whichever philosophy most closely reflects the
predilections of the researcher will have the biggest influence on the
choice of methodology.
o Freidrich von Schiller said there are two types of academic:
▪ Those with ‘philosophical minds’.
• Ayer (1968) ‘humanists’.
▪ ‘Bread learned’.
o Collins (1993) knowledge generated by social scientific research is really
transformed knowledge rather than created knowledge, involving the
transformation of ‘symbol type knowledge’ (individual and context specific)
and the aim is to create ‘encultured knowledge’ (which moves knowledge
from specific to the general.
o Franklin (2004) suggested six reasons why theory is important, It helps to;
▪ Classify, Clarify and define phenomena,
▪ Simplifies the world into variables in order to establish causes and
effects,
▪ It offers predictions about the future,
▪ It aids and develops understanding of complex phenomena,
▪ It creates a common and universal language and means of
communication,
▪ It reveals errors in the way the world is viewed.
o Aram and Salipante’s (2003, p.190) knowledge must combine elements of
both rigour and relevance.
▪ Rigour defined as ‘the academic person’s commitment to build
general theory… theory constructed by rigorous methods which has a
better chance of surviving challenges’
MAN3090
Module Leader
Professor Andy Adcroft
Office 22MS03
Email:
Teaching Team
Reza Aboutalebi
Filipe Worsdell
Razak Alhassan
Abderaouf Bouguerra
Jill Juergensen
Robbie Cairns
Assessment Information
Assessment 1:
• Assessment Name:
o Critical Review
• Type:
o Individual Assignment.
• Weighting:
o 50%.
• Submission Date:
o Week 8.
• Consists of:
o Choose a seminal article in the field of strategy (from 4) and write a critical
review of that article.
o This review needs to consider the debate in strategy that the article is making
a contribution to as well as identifying the main strength and weakness of the
article. Reviews should be no more than 1,000 words in length.
• Review Articles:
o Blue Ocean Strategy:
▪ https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/25250
84
o Lean Strategy:
▪ https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/25250
85
o Shaping Strategy:
▪ https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/25250
86
o Strategy as a Wicket Problem:
▪ https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/25250
87
o Strategy as Simple Rules:
, ▪ https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/25250
88
o Strategy Under Certainty:
▪ https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/25250
89
o Your Strategy Needs a Strategy:
▪ https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/25250
90
Assessment 2:
• Assessment Name:
o Pre-Release Open Book On-Line Exam.
o In Person Exam.
• Assessment Type:
o Individual.
• Weighting:
o 50%.
• Submission Time and Date:
o Semester 1 Exam Period (TBC).
• Consists of:
o Students will have a 24-hour window in which to complete the exam and the
paper will be released to students 24 hours before the exam takes place.
o In the exam, you will have to answer two main questions. There will be a
theory question based on the main themes of the module and a case study
question based on a case study that will be distributed in advance.
o In Person Exam.
Introductory Reading
Porter What is Strategy:
https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/2524995
Notes:
Porter Strategy and the Internet:
https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/2525060
Notes:
Mintzberg- Crafting Strategy
https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/2524993
Notes:
Hamel and Prahalad- The Core Competence of the Corporation
https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/2524992
Notes:
Hamel- Strategy as Revolution:
https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/2524990
Notes:
,Hamel and Prahalad- Strategic Intent:
https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/2524991
Notes:
Week 1
What is Strategy?
SBS on Demand
Week 1 Reading
A Snapshot of Strategy Research 2002-2006 (Andy Adcroft)
https://surreylearn.surrey.ac.uk/d2l/le/lessons/241332/topics/2542354
Notes:
• Abstract:
o Purpose:
▪ The aim of this paper is to assess both the philosophical
underpinnings and contributions to knowledge made by research in
the field of strategy in the five years between 2002 and 2006.
o Design/ Methodology/ Approach:
▪ The paper begins with a review of the literature on the philosophy,
purpose, process and outcome of management research which leads
to the development of a conceptual model. Following this, almost
4,000 articles and 23 journals are assessed on the basis of their
philosophical underpinnings and contribution to knowledge. Findings
are reported and implications are discussed.
o Findings:
▪ Most strategy research, especially in higher ranked journals, comes
from a positivist perspective. Across all journals, most contributions to
knowledge are in the form of stretching theory. There is a limited
amount of reflective work in the strategy literature.
o Practical Implication:
▪ Given the form and content of strategy research, it is increasingly
unlikely that research will make the crossover from the academic to
the practitioner world.
o Originality/ Value:
▪ This paper provides a better understanding of the process through
which academic management research can be carried out and the
barriers to this process. The paper provides a number of important
insights into the nature of strategy research.
• Philosophies, Purposes, Processes and Outcomes of Management Research:
o Trophic Cascade:
▪ A concept, which explains their impact when there is domination by
one species. The first effect is that lesser species diminish in number
as the dominant species kills them off and this is then followed by
, degeneracy within the dominant species as it becomes introverted
before eventually wasting away.
o Unsunier (1998):
▪ Identified two general philosophies of research:
• Positivist and,
o ‘Seek cause and effect laws that are sufficiently
generalisable to ensure that a knowledge of prior
events enables a reasonable prediction of subsequent
events’. (Hare 1988, p.12)
o Quinton and Smallbone (2005, p.301) suggest that
positivist management research is based on empirical
social science methods with an emphasis on validity,
reliability and generalisation.
• Phenomenological.
o The world being socially constructed whereby the
researcher is necessarily a apart of that which is being
observed.
o Fawcett and Hearn (2004, pp.205-206) sum up the
position by arguing that phenomenological approaches
are often associated with qualitative orientations and
positivist positionings with quantitative techniques’.
▪ He argued that whichever philosophy most closely reflects the
predilections of the researcher will have the biggest influence on the
choice of methodology.
o Freidrich von Schiller said there are two types of academic:
▪ Those with ‘philosophical minds’.
• Ayer (1968) ‘humanists’.
▪ ‘Bread learned’.
o Collins (1993) knowledge generated by social scientific research is really
transformed knowledge rather than created knowledge, involving the
transformation of ‘symbol type knowledge’ (individual and context specific)
and the aim is to create ‘encultured knowledge’ (which moves knowledge
from specific to the general.
o Franklin (2004) suggested six reasons why theory is important, It helps to;
▪ Classify, Clarify and define phenomena,
▪ Simplifies the world into variables in order to establish causes and
effects,
▪ It offers predictions about the future,
▪ It aids and develops understanding of complex phenomena,
▪ It creates a common and universal language and means of
communication,
▪ It reveals errors in the way the world is viewed.
o Aram and Salipante’s (2003, p.190) knowledge must combine elements of
both rigour and relevance.
▪ Rigour defined as ‘the academic person’s commitment to build
general theory… theory constructed by rigorous methods which has a
better chance of surviving challenges’
