23E21555 - Strategy and Marketing from a Business History Perspective D, Lecture, 14.9.2021-21.10.2021
This course space end date is set to 21.10.2021 Search Courses: 23E21555
Topic outline
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Please read the syllabus before the first lecture on 14.09!
The Zoom Link for the course: https://aalto.zoom.us/j/65159146177
Course description
Research in strategic management on the one hand and strategic marketing on the other have traditionally tended to go separate paths. Strategic management research has focused on topics such as dynamic firm-internal capabilities, competitive actions and dynamics, upper echelons of corporations, strategic leadership, and strategy practices and processes. The customer and market viewpoint has often been missing. Strategic marketing research has studied corporate orientations and their performance implications, customer value and customer relationships, marketing performance measurement, and value networks. Therein, the top management and leadership viewpoint has been scarce.
This course offers a business history perspective to strategic management and marketing. It has often been claimed that a lot of management research is void of relevant historical understanding, which may lead practicing managers to repeat past mistakes (e.g. in the case of business cycles). Extant historical studies on the above-mentioned diverse topics on strategy and marketing published in the leading journals of these fields are included in the readings package of the course. What is more, the students prepare and present an academic seminar paper on a chosen historical topic. This not only offers insights into historical past-dependencies in strategy-making and marketing activities in different industry and company settings, but also sheds light on how the historical research method can be successfully applied to provide answers to relevant research questions.
Organization & Faculty
Henrikki Tikkanen is the A. I. Virtanen professor of consumer research since 2017 and a professor of marketing at Aalto University School of Business, Department of Marketing since 2004 (until 2010 Helsinki School of Economics). With more than 80 journal publications (e.g. Journal of Marketing, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management Studies) in the areas of strategic management, marketing, and leadership, Tikkanen is one of the most published academics in the Nordic countries in the topic areas of the course. A business historical research approach is a common denominator in many of prof. Tikkanen’s studies. He has also served as a professor at Stockholm University, Helsinki University of Technology, University of Oulu and as a visiting professor at ESCP Europe (Paris), Asian Institute of Technology (Bangkok) and ESC Lille, France. Prof. Tikkanen holds a D.Sc. (Economics and Business Administration) in International Marketing (Turku School of Economics, Finland, 1997) and a Ph.D. in Economic History (University of Jyväskylä, 2020). You can check out his history doctoral thesis in:
Sari Haavisto, DBA candidate, is professor Tikkanen’s fourth-year DBA student. She will defend her DBA thesis “Evolution of Marketing Thought and Practice: An History of the Finnish Marketing Industry 1883-2020” in Fall 2021. Sari has gathered extensive business knowledge in the fields of marketing, business and sales. She has worked in the internet industry at its infancy at Sonera Plaza, and in different positions at the mobile industry at TeliaSonera. She has also worked at the largest family-owned provider of marketing and consulting services in the Nordic countries, at the advertising agency SEK, as the managing director of media agency Voitto.
Axel Juslin, PhD candidate, is professor Tikkanen’s third-year doctoral student.
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of the course, students will:
- Understand the role of historical knowledge in the evolution of industries and companies
- Understand how central concepts in strategy and marketing (e.g. dynamic capabilities, market orientation, marketing thought and practices) have evolved and how they have been adopted and applied in real-life company settings
- Understand how the historical method can be applied to the study of diverse topics in management research
- Be able to write and present a concise academic seminar paper on a chosen historical topic.
Learning methods
This course is an intensive 9-session (+1 presentation session) course, each session containing 2-3 academic articles as the core readings. Learning methods are a combination of lectures and discussions on the readings and other assignments. During the presentation session, the students present a 4 000 - 6 000 word academic seminar paper they have prepared on a chosen business historical topic.
Readings assignment (30 % of the grade)
Academic discussion on the assigned readings and completion of the related assignment are important parts of class participation and passing the course. In order to be appropriately prepared for the seminar sessions, the students are expected to have read all papers related to a specific seminar session beforehand. This readings package consists of articles/book chapters listed below.
In addition to reading the article package assigned to the course, the students are expected to write QAQC-analyses of each of the mandatory articles. Please write succinctly, preferably no more than half a page per article. The maximum length of the readings assignment is thus ca. 10 pages (Times New Roman, size 12, 1,5-spaced).
QAQC analysis consists of the following steps:
• Quote: Select a quote from the paper that summarizes the study, using the words of
the author(s).
• Argument: Summarize the main argument of the paper in your own words. No more
than a few sentences.
• Question: Pose a question that you would like to discuss in the classroom.
• Connection: Describe how the focal article relates to other articles in the same
session. No more than a few sentences.
The idea of the readings assignment is to encourage students to read through the assigned reading package before the course and it also functions as a springboard for discussion during the course as the instructors will direct discussion to focus on the questions posed by the students.
We strongly recommend that you do the assignment before the contact period to maximize your learning. However, this is not strictly enforced. The deadline for handing in the final assignment is the same as for the final learning diary.
Class participation and discussion
All the participants are expected to participate in class (this year, in Zoom) and contribute actively to the group’s learning experience. The pre-readings are carefully selected to stimulate constructive discussions on each topic, and the instructors will facilitate the discussions. The general aim of the course is to develop critical thinking and debate about theoretical discourses both in strategic management and marketing from a business historical angle. As this year the course will be in a digital format, class discussions are not graded. However, the students must be present during the digital classes (they can be away once without consultation with the teacher).
Seminar paper (50 % of the grade)
The students prepare (alone or in teams of 2-3 students) an academic seminar paper on a chosen business historical subject (presented in the first seminar session or chosen by the students themselves, the professor has to accept the themes) comprising 4 000-6 000 words and present the paper during the last session. The aim is to practice the writing and presenting of an academic paper. The professor and the rest of the course participants act as commentators to all of the papers.
There are three options for a seminar paper:
1. Paper based on extant historical data: For instance: SEK & Grey - Company self-presentation in the professional service industry. SEK has for a long period of time been among the largest advertising agencies in Finland (historical material available from the teachers). The data for this exercise consists of a sequence of company presentations ranging from the year 1980 to 2002. The task is to analyze: 1) What does Sek & Grey sell to their clients, 2) how has this changed over the years, and 3) what can we learn from these changes, if anything? Other company sources can also be used.
2. Paper on the evolution of an industry and/or corporation. The theme (including the research question and theoretical foundation or angle from which you analyze the evolution process) and the subject (i.e. the industry or the company, such as Nokia, Intel or the ICT sector) can be chosen by the students. This option requires data gathering from public sources, e.g. annual reports.
3. Review paper on historical phenomena. The historical phenomena can be chosen by the students (e.g. The influence of Classical Management Thinkers: Taylor and Fayol). The review should consist of at least 10-15 papers that summarize well the discussion around a chosen historical phenomenon.
Learning diary (20 % of the grade)
After the seminar sessions, students are expected to complete an independent learning diary. The learning diary should reflect both the overall learning experience, as well as the key takeaways from the pre-readings, class discussions, and their work on preparing and presenting a seminar paper. Therefore, it is highly recommended to the students to take notes on their learning and new ideas and questions raised throughout the course. The maximum length of the learning diary is 10 pages (Times New Roman, size 12, 1,5-spaced).
Assignment due dates
In order to complete the course, the students are expected to:
· Read the assigned readings in advance for each session.
· Attend minimum of 8 of the 9 seminar sessions and participate actively in the discussions.
· Compile and present a 4 000 - 6 000 word academic seminar paper on a chosen business historical topic (written alone or in a team of 2-3 students) during the last session of the course. The final and corrected version of the seminar paper must be submitted by the end of November, 2021.
· Complete an independent readings assignment (no more than 10 pages in length) and learning diary (no more that 10 pages) and return it by the end of November, 2021. You may combine these two deliverables into one file to be submitted to the course coordinator.
All the deliverables should be returned to the course coordinator, Axel Juslin (axel.juslin@aalto.fi) by the end of November, 2021. No late submissions will be accepted.