COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. Article summaries
In each session, one student will summarize (in a written form) one of the suggested papers, as well as present her or his summary in class. For Sessions 8, 9, 11, and 12, there will be two of these individual presentations.
The written summaries have to be of one page in length (single-spaced, 12 font) and include:
(1) The reference of the article, according to the Strategic Management Journal (SMJ) format, as this is illustrated in the Journal¿s articles.
(2) The name of the student.
(3) Brief synopsis of the essentials of the paper: theoretical argument, assumptions, proposition(s) and/or hypotheses, research methods (if empirical), main empirical results, theoretical and empirical implications of the study.
(4) The student¿s assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the paper.
The student has to send the summary by email to the rest of the class as well as to me the night before the presentation.
The student has to send to me the file corresponding to the oral presentation (e.g., in PowerPoint format) the night before the presentation. The student will have approximately 10-12 minutes to present the summary of the paper in class.
One week before the beginning of the course, I will provide the list with the assigned papers to each student.
Assessment of this task: based on the ability to capture and describe the essentials of the paper.
2. Class participation
The Strategic Management course is not a typical lecture course; hence just attending the sessions does not contribute by itself to learning. It is important that, not only you attend every class, but you contribute to the discussions with good questions, answers, and reflections. It is also important to raise original ideas and make constructive suggestions to your classmates.
Assessment of this task: I will rely on the quality of your contributions in evaluating your participation. Outstanding contributions will lead to a premium (reflected on your grade), whereas a lack of attendance and participation will lower your overall grade.
3. Research questions
At the beginning of the course, students will have to form groups. Each group should comprise three (3) students.
In each session, one group will summarize (in a written form) one of the suggested papers (next to the one/s presented individually), as well as present their summary in class.
Furthermore, the night before each class, each group has to send by email two questions to the rest of the class as well as to me. These questions have to guide the discussion about each paper and topic. I expect that you formulate questions that are original, provocative, and that reflect your knowledge of the topic.
In the email, please include the names of the members of the group.
Assessment of these tasks: based on the ability to capture and describe the essentials of the paper, and on the quality of the questions.
4. Work-in-progress presentation
Before presenting the final paper (see below point 5), a work-in-progress presentation has to take place. This work-in-progress presentation has to take place in about 5 minutes + 5 minutes of comments and suggestions by the rest of the class.
The work-in-progress presentation has to include:
(1) The research question
(2) The conceptual framework (which theory or theories will be employed and a brief description of them)
(3) The hypotheses to test
(4) A first assessment of the empirics to test these hypotheses.
Deadline: Send me by email your PowerPoint presentation by the set deadline. Failure to meet the deadline will lead to points' deduction in this component of the grade.
Assessment of this task: the soundness of the above-described components will determine the evaluation.
5. Final paper
Each student has to write an individual final paper. The final paper has to be the front end of a research paper, within the context of one of the topics covered in this course.
The final paper should include:
(1) An appealing introduction with a clearly formulated research question (see Appendix on how to write an introduction that is considered as appealing).
(2) A sound theoretical framework, with its formulated propositions and/or hypotheses.
(3) A tentative research design.
(4) A discussion that emphasizes the expected contribution of the paper to the existing literature on the topic.
To write the final paper, I recommend you to follow the SMJ style guide. The maximum number of pages of text is 15 (without counting figures, tables and references). The number of pages dedicated to tables and references is not restricted.
Each student is required to present her or his research paper (in about 10-12 minutes) at the end of the course (see Sessions 13 and 14).
Deadline: Send me by email your paper by the set deadline. Failure to meet the deadline will lead to points' deduction in this component of the grade.
Assessment of this task: the originality of the idea and the soundness of the above-described components will determine the evaluation.
6. Exam
A final exam will cover all the sessions taught during the course. The quality of your answers will determine the evaluation.