Corporate Strategy (Fall Semester 2026)

General Information

Credits acknowledged

Course Description

Most industrial activity in developed countries is carried out by large corporations that compete in more than one market. Some well-known Swiss examples of companies include Nestlé, Novartis, UBS, Valora etc. Due to the dominant role these firms play in economic activity, it is likely that most students, regardless of their chosen career paths, will at some point either work for, advise, or compete with, a multi-business corporation.

The nature of these large corporations has undergone enormous change in the past forty years, affecting both their scope and their structure. The merger and acquisition booms of the sixties and eighties extended the scope of existing multi-business corporations. More recently, capital market pressures forced corporations to reassess their portfolio of businesses, level of overhead, and the way they coordinate and control their multi-business activities. New forms of corporate organization, such as the LBO partnerships of the eighties, provoked a debate about the efficacy of corporate hierarchies. In addition, new institutional arrangements, such as joint ventures, alliances and franchising have come to prominence.

Key Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course students are able to:

• explain how a corporation creates economic value through its multimarket activity.
• discuss why certain corporate activities should be undertaken inside the corporation, rather than accessed through contracts, joint ventures or other institutional arrangements.
• explain how a corporation should be structured and managed to realize the benefits of its multimarket activities.
• analyze the corporate strategy and corporate level decisions of a company through a given case study and discuss it in front of class.

The alignment of course objectives with AACSB (leading international accreditation for business schools) learning goals is shown below.

Teaching Approach and Performance Evaluation

The course is planned to be held physically. 

This course uses a flipped class-room learning approach, building on individual preparation, classic lectures and in-class application.

Concretely this means:

Preparation before Class:

Reading the selected readings from the reading list to gain an understanding of the topic and the underlying theory.

Answering the case questions on ILIAS concerning the Disney case.

Reviewing the relevant case material and reflecting on the case questions.

Engagement during Class:

Discuss the Disney case concerning the topic of the given lecture as well as share insights on gained from the write-ups and build on each other’s learnings.

Discussing the most pertinent aspects of the theory and apply it to practical examples together.

Extending after Class:

Participating in a group assignment to apply the theory to a real-life company example.

Reflecting individually on theory and practice.

Individual Performance (60%)

• Case preparation (10%)
• Final Written Exam (50%)

There are two opportunities for taking the Corporate Strategy exam (see dates and registration period from the course schedule below).

The exam duration and form will be communicated in class at a later date.

Should you decide not to take the exam this semester, you may keep your team grade for the next semester. In this case, contact the course assistant.

Team Performance (40%)

Analysis of the corporate strategy of a Swiss corporation

• Four write-ups applying the relevant chapters to the chosen corporation (20%).
• Final presentation & discussion evaluating the corporate strategy of the chosen corporation as a whole (20%).

Every student attending the Corporate Strategy lecture must be part of a team to do the case analysis (write-ups and final presentation). Therefore, Students need to assign themselves to teams via ILIAS by Friday, September 18^th, 12:00. Teams are composed of 4 to 5 students. Each team needs to choose a Swiss corporation upon which they will base their team work. Finally, each team needs to indicate their preferred final presentation date (December 3^th or December 10^th).

For the final presentation it is not compulsory that each team member participates in the presentation. However, attendance in class during the presentation sessions is required.

The goal of the write-ups and the final presentation is for teams to evaluate the corporate strategy of a Swiss corporation using the theory as a base.

While the write-ups have the purpose to continuously apply the theory of a specific chapters to the chosen corporation, the purpose of the final presentation is to evaluate the corporate strategy as a whole and to give specific recommendations on future corporate strategy decisions.

Guidance on the structure and content of the write-ups and the final presentation will be provided in class and are available on ILIAS.

Bonus (5%)

• Guest lectures (5%)

In case each performance component (exam, practical example, and case study) is graded positively (i.e., with a mark of 4 or above), students — who have attended both guest lectures — will be awarded a 5% bonus. Absence from guest lectures cannot be compensated, regardless of the reason.

Each performance component (exam, practical example, and case study) must be graded positively (i.e., with the grade “4” or higher) to get an overall positive evaluation.

Formalities

Preconditions

The basic course “Strategische Unternehmensführung” (Strategic Management) or an equivalent bachelor level course held at another university must have been completed.

Furthermore, one must be a master student at the University of Bern and ideally in the second or third semester of the master studies.

Language

The course will be held in English, and students are expected to give their presentations in English. Questions in the written exam will be in English. Answers can be in either English or German. 

Course Material & Readings

Collis, David & Montgomery, Cynthia. 2005. Corporate Strategy: A Resource Based Approach, 2nd edition, Irwin/McGraw-Hill.
This book is out of stock! You can find copies at Wiwi-Bib at Schanzeneckstrasse 1. 

For selected chapters you may use the following alternative textbooks:

Puranam, P., & Vanneste, B. (2016). Corporate strategy: Tools for analysis and decision-making. Cambridge University Press.

Dranove, D., Besanko, D., Shanley, M. & Schaefer, S. (2017). Economics of Strategy, 7th Edition, Wiley.

To be able to apply your corporate strategy framework/knowledge to current phenomena in real practice, we highly recommend that you expose yourself to qualitative print material such as: Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), Finanz und Wirtschaft, Bilanz, The Economist or the Financial Times.

Please also note that a complete list of required readings will be provided on ILIAS. There we will provide additional references relating to specific topics covered in this class.

Tentative Course Overview 

(subject to change)