Themen der Lehrveranstaltung
The objective of the course Advanced Strategic Management is to provide students with an idea of the concept of strategy and its two major elements, i.e. strategy formulation and strategy implementation. It familiarizes students with contemporary theories, approaches, frameworks, and tools needed to develop and execute strategic decisions. It positions strategy and strategic management as the quest for value creation for relevant stakeholders that reaches beyond financial gains and short-term profits. Supplementing related courses such as ‘Corporate Governance’, ‘Corporate Restructuring and M&A’, or ‘Business Analytics’ ASM will primarily focus on the analysis of the competitive environment including technological megatrends, socio-political developments, and industries as well as on the analysis of internal resources, capabilities, and systems of the corporation. The concepts and elements of competitive advantage as well as of corporate strategies are outlined and applied. The course will additionally respond to a call in strategic management of including more micro-foundation by highlighting the role of individual and team decision-making. The use of accompanying cases, presentations of guest speakers, and in-class discussions will support the learning process. The main subject areas covered in the course are: the concept of strategy, the tools of strategy analysis, business strategy and the quest for competitive advantage, basics of corporate strategy, change management. In the academic year 2025/2026 the focus will be on strategic challenges arising from geopolitical tensions and information technology developments.

Unterrichtsform
The course will use a combination of lectures, guest lectures and individual as well as group discussions. Class participation and active discussion is both expected and encouraged. Students are further expected to have thoroughly read all the assigned course material / readings in advance of the class to ensure better understanding of the issues involved and to have meaningful class participation. Students should carefully read and be prepared to discuss topical issues. Students should expect to work outside of class time as foreseen in the normal calculation of credit points.

Bildungsziele
Knowledge and understanding: Master's degree graduates should be able to acquire an advanced level of preparation that allows for an articulate and integrated view of the finance issues of companies, financial intermediaries, financial institutions and markets. These learning outcomes are achieved through an advanced knowledge and understanding - of the economic-financial planning and evaluation of new investments; - of the characteristics associated with extraordinary moments in corporate management, such as capital transactions, recourse to financial markets, mergers and acquisitions, corporate crisis and reorganisation; - the problems and techniques of the organisation and financial management of companies and financial intermediaries; - the fundamentals of corporate finance for the correct application of, for example, decision-making models and financial data and risk management to treasury management; - the management and economic models of the different types of intermediaries, market microstructure, the operational efficiency of financial markets and the impact of financial markets on the economic conditions of intermediaries; - a wide range of investment, financing and risk management instruments, starting with the fundamentals of portfolio diversification and classical asset pricing and risk measurement models; - of the specific finance issues that characterise the profession of Financial Analyst, Portfolio Manager, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Administrative Officer, Controller, Internal Auditor and business consultant." "Master's graduates should be able to acquire an advanced level of preparation that allows for an articulated and integrated view of business management issues and of economic-quantitative, financial and legal disciplines. These learning outcomes are achieved through an advanced knowledge and understanding - of the economic-business models and tools for the management of companies, whether family or small or of international dimension; - of the design and management of institutional and organisational structures inherent to corporate governance systems; - of business tools and processes developed to recognise, understand and guide change and manage the impact of a transition on the organisation; - of efficient communication strategies within the organisation and towards the various stakeholders. - of the management issues that characterise the profession of financial analyst, portfolio manager, risk manager and consultant. Applying knowledge and understanding: Ability to apply knowledge in the area of Management for the critical analysis and formulation of solutions to complex problems in interdisciplinary national and international contexts in small or large organisations Ability to apply knowledge in the area of management to integrate the results of economic and financial communication and quantitative data analysis into business decision-making models Ability to apply knowledge in the area of Management to frame and evaluate organisational situations and problems in a multidisciplinary perspective, integrating business, economic, legal, financial and statistical-mathematical disciplines Ability to apply knowledge in the area of Management to be able to dialogue and interact with the managers of the various company functional areas, with financial markets and with corporate and tax law professionals Making judgements: Ability to apply the knowledge acquired to make managerial and operational decisions and to solve problems in the administration and finance of companies, intermediaries and financial markets, jointly taking into consideration multiple perspectives of analysis, from the economic to the legal, financial, strategic and managerial ones. Ability to select data and use appropriate information to describe a problem concerning the management of companies, intermediaries and financial markets. Ability to relate models and empirical evidence in the study of companies, intermediaries and financial markets. Communication skills: Ability to communicate effectively in oral and written form the specialised contents of the individual disciplines, using different registers according to the recipients and the communicative and didactic purposes, and to evaluate the formative effects of its communication Learning skills: a) ability to use information technology autonomously to carry out bibliographic research and investigations and for one's own training and updating b) ability to identify thematic links and establish relationships between different cases and contexts of analysis c) ability to frame a new problem systematically and to generate appropriate taxonomies d) ability to develop general models from the phenomena studied.

Bildungsziele und erwartete Lernergebnisse (zus. Informationen)
Knowledge and understanding of • the core elements of strategic management; • the relationship of accounting data and business models / value creation / competitive advantage; • theories, concepts, and tools to craft and implement strategies successfully; • the need to involve stakeholders and ‘the nature’. Making judgments regarding for example • successful and failed strategies; • alternative strategies to reach corporate goals. Applying knowledge and understanding regarding • analyzing classic business articles; • analyzing real-world cases re: emerging trends. Learning skills • Integrate other business and management courses into the strategic management context; • Distill knowledge from different sources and account for uncertainty, subjectivity, and soft facts. Communication skills • in relation to the effective analysis, preparation and presentation of individual and group work.

Art der Prüfung
The assessment of the individual performance is based on two exclusive alternatives that must be irrevocably chosen after the fourth lecture or earlier: Alternative A (attending students): Class attendance must be at least 80% and there is no exemption with regard to possible guest lectures and the final lectures dedicated to the presentation of term assignments (planned for mid January 2026). Class participation and individual summary of three mandatory readings (15% of total grade) Group term assignment (20% of total grade): Individual term assignment (40% of total grade): Written exam with options to choose from – 20 minutes (25% of total grade) NOTE: Term assignments are valid for the academic year 2025/2026 and cannot be carried over beyond that time-frame. Alternative B: Class attendance and assignments not required – final written exam of 80 Minutes (100%) –closed book– based on the script, textbook, and required readings (provided via OLE). NOTE: Video recording of lectures is not provided.

Bewertungskriterien
• Relevant for assignments: Correct application of scholarly concepts on businesses, quality of data used, argumentation, structure of the paper, clarity of language, content, quality of layout and sources; adherence to scientific and ethical standards (re: plagarism, avoidance of AI-generated assigments) • Relevant for written exam: Correct answers based on the knowledge provided in readings, text books, slides, blackboard and verbal explanations given during the lectures. NOTE: successfully passing this course is a major prerequisite to be admitted as an attending student to the corresponding course 'Business Consulting Lab' especially if the maximum number of attending students in BCL is reached.