This module aims to:

Provide students with a well-rounded understanding of contemporary scholarly debates in the fields of strategy, international business and entrepreneurship;

Enable students to appreciate the diversity of contemporary research in the fields of strategy, international business and entrepreneurship;

Develop skills in academic research by critically reflecting on underlying assumptions, theoretical positions and methodological conventions in contemporary strategy, international business and entrepreneurship research;

Develop skills in communicating complex ideas both orally and in writing;

Widen access to the profession of academic research by sensitising students to research culture, including the form and syntax of academic debate.

(LO1) Students will be able to demonstrate an in-depth understanding of some of the key contemporary academic debates in the sub-fields of strategy, international business and entrepreneurship.

(LO2) Students will be able to demonstrate a critical awareness of some of the underlying themes that cross-cut the subfields of strategy, international business and entrepreneurship.

(LO3) Students will be able to identify and explain theoretical assumptions and methodological conventions that animate contemporary research in strategy, international business and entrepreneurship.

(LO4) Students will be able to demonstrate an ability to undertake independent research, acquire and analyse data and information and evaluate their relevance to develop academic judgements on the quality of research in strategy, international business and entrepreneurship.

(LO5) Students will be able to demonstrate an ability to communicate research ideas effectively and concisely, orally and in writing.

(LO6) Students will be able to position their emerging or incipient research ideas within the contemporary academic debates pertaining to strategy, international business, or entrepreneurship.

(S1) Lifelong learning (critical thinking, problem solving, decision making)
In their critical reflections, students will develop an awareness of the multiple epistemic stances that animate contemporary research in strategy, international business and entrepreneurship. The development of this epistemic pluralism will allow students to engage with academic debates and research traditions that lie beyond their immediate research interests and their preferred methodological approaches. Students will develop their problem solving skills by identifying and explaining theoretical blind spots and methodological limitations in contemporary empirical research. They will do this by engaging with contrasting perspectives on contemporary research issues. This will allow them to identify and articulate novel research questions

(S2) Communication
Students will develop their written and oral communication skills by identifying and articulating the relationships between theoretical constructs and mechanisms. They will also be able to identify and articulate the alignment between theoretical constructs and empirical material (in the form of numbers and text). Students will also be able to communicate how their own research interests are informed by, or may contribute to contemporary issues in strategy, international business and entrepreneurship. This will be assessed by written coursework and presentation.

(S3) Ethical awareness
Students will enhance their ethical awareness by explicitly considering the tensions associated with shareholder/ stakeholder value, social/commercial performance, growth/ inclusivity, globalism/ localism, and transparency/surveillance. Aside from these substantive engagements with ethical concerns, students will also reflect critically on the ethical context(s) of contemporary research in strategy, international business and entrepreneurship.

(S4) Organisation skills
Students will develop their organisational skills by engaging with a significant amount of academic material in a condensed time period. In doing so, they will organise and prioritise reading to ensure that they can contribute generatively to class discussions. This will help students develop their abilities to synthesise complex information to form judgements under intense time pressure.

(S5) Digital skills
Students will have opportunities to improve their digital skills. Students will demonstrate skills in the use of software applications and digital methods including word processing, visual presentations, and using the internet and other digital platforms for information searches in the course of researching and presenting coursework.

(S6) International awareness
International issues will be covered in class work.

Lectures x 10 hours

Lectures will provide an overview of the key research theme, drawn from the syllabus topics. They will provide an introductory discussion of the assigned readings and prepare students for the discussions that are to take place in seminars.

Seminars x 10 hours

Seminars will take the form of round table discussions. Students will be expected to prepare notes and reflections on the assigned reading and to share their reflections on these papers. They may be asked to identify and explain the motivations for the assigned papers, to comment on the suitability and robustness of the methodological approach that is adopted, and to reflect on the significance of research findings. Students will also be expected to reflect on how assigned readings may connect to, inform, or challenge their incipient research ideas.

Presentation and discussion sessions x 6 hours

Self-Directed Learning x 174 hours

Each week students will be expected to read and prepare notes on no more than 4 academic papers from world leading journals, which will allow them to actively participate in the weekly discussions. They will also be expected to work on their individual written assignment and final presentation.

The module will be structured around the key research themes that characterise the School’s research in Strategy, International Business and Entrepreneurship. These themes are:

The contemporary research landscape in Strategy, International Business and Entrepreneurship
This provides students with an advanced and critical understanding of the key research outlets associated with each of these sub-fields. It will also help students identify the key traditions within each of these sub-disciplines (e.g. micro/ macro perspectives in Strategy, IB and Entrepreneurship). This topic also identifies the boundaries and intersections that demarcate and intersect the sub-fields of strategy, international business and entrepreneurship.

Sustainable strategy and its governance
Topics include the interrelations between corporate strategy and sustainability strategy, corporate purpose and mission, causes and consequences of corporate social (ir)responsibility and corporate engagement with grand challenges.

The management of people, knowledge and technology across borders
Topics include global strategy, strategic human capital, patent strategy.

Innovation, collaboration and emerging digital technologies
Topics include innovation networks, process and practice approaches to innovation management, and the relations between emerging digital technologies and organising.

Entrepreneurship and social inclusion
Topics include hybridity in social enterprises, social innovation, processual approaches to entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship as practice.

Each week, 3-4 key readings that reflect seminal contributions to the topics listed above will be made available to students via the VLE. Students will be expected to complete all readings that will be provided on the VLE prior to their seminars. Weekly lectures will be used to introduce students to the topic that unites each of the key readings, and to orient students to th e contours of the debate that the readings present. Students may choose to find supplementary resources if they wish, but this will not be mandatory.