Time Schedule:
Corey C Phelps
MGMT 590
Seattle Campus
Reviews the economic theories that support strategies pursued by firms and explores the links between market processes, firm strategy, and firm performance. Topics include agency theory, transaction cost economics, resource dependence, population ecology, and neo-Austrian economics.
Class description
This is a doctoral-level seminar in which we will examine various economic theories and their empirical application to research in strategic management. The focus of this course is on contributions of the field of economics (broadly defined) to strategic management. The field of strategic management is fundamentally concerned with understanding why some firms perform better than others. While we will examine different economic-based answers to this question, we will also review economic applications to other fundamental questions in strategy research including: Why do firms exist? What are the appropriate boundaries of the firm? Why do firms behave differently? In answering these questions, we will begin at the organizational level, and work our way up by embedding firms in interorganizational arrangements, industries and broader institutional environments.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
This seminar will serve as a forum for your on-going development as a member of the community of strategic management scholars. Your learning will be situated in the context of this broader community will include more than the content of the articles you will read. It will involve your learning of the shared language, beliefs, research practices and traditions of this community and its members. In doing so, you will also learn to identify with and develop a sense of belonging to this community and its practices. In sum, you will learn to become a competent member of the community of strategy scholars. To facilitate this learning as becoming process, you will take a highly active role in your own and your fellow students learning. Not only will you be asked to read and critically evaluate the course material on your own and in small groups, you will often present this material to the class and lead, facilitate and participate in its discussion. My role will be to serve as a guide, inquisitor, teacher and fellow student. Thus, you are largely responsible for both the content and the process of the course and its ultimate success in meeting the course objectives.
Recommended preparation
We will be studying journal articles and chapters from texts. Most of the materials are available on-line from either JSTOR (www.jstor.org) or ScienceDirect (www.sciencedirect.com) or other web sites. These articles are identified below in the reading list. Those readings that are not available on-line are available from me. Each week a volunteer will be solicited to make copies of the upcoming weeks materials (not available on-line) for all seminar participants.
Class assignments and grading
