Syllabus academic year 2009/2010
(Created 2009-08-11.)
TECHNOLOGY, STRATEGY AND STRUCTURETMA010

Higher education credits: 15. Grading scale: TH. Level: A (Second level). Language of instruction: The course will be given in Swedish. Compulsory for: TEMA4. Course coordinator: Associate Professor Carl-Henric Nilsson, Företagsekonomiska institutionen, carl-henric.nilsson@fek.lu.se. Prerequisites: For participation in the course, the student is required to be accepted for the Technology Management program. Recommended prerequisits: This course is eligible to candidates that has completed Technology Management course Lund University. This course is compulsory for Technology Management majors. Assessment: Written Exercise Report and project reports and presentations. Further information: The course can only be accomplished in teams. The group constellations are determined by the course leader. The group constellations are based on the ones for TMA035, TMA037 and TMA010. Home page: http://www.tm.lu.se.

Aim
The purpose of the course is to give the students knowledge and proficiency in management and development of companies or parts of a company, especially industrial companies. By means of integrative pedagogic an understanding is developed of how a company’s strategy is connected to the concrete processes that constitute the business. As a background for understanding the company’s current position, the long-term economic historical preconditions under which the company was developed are analysed. Technical and business oriented aspects are integrated during the whole course. The pedagogic of the course is based on teamwork, thus contributing with concrete application of the learning from the parallel course TMA035.

Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must

be able to discuss and explain fundamental concepts and aspects related to management and development of the whole and parts of companies and other organisations.

be able to discuss, argue and be able to value the company’s strategy, organisation and management considering the economic historical prerequisites, strategies, organisation, work organisation and industrial standards.

Skills and abilities
For a passing grade the student must

be able to analyse and formulate a company’s strategy or an organisation’s goal.

be able to analyse a company’s or organisation’s business and establish recommendations for development of the whole or parts of the business based on company information, course related literature and directly collected company related empirical material.

be able to handle real industrial issues with built in conflicting goals and several interested parties in dynamic team-based cases.

Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must

be able to ndependently and in groups formulate a company’s strategic agenda in harmony with co-workers, the market and society in general.

Contents
The course is focusing high-tech industries. The analysis takes the operational level as the starting point – the value adding process in industries with a high rate of change. Thereafter we discuss the long period structural changes and strategic tools for enhancing the scope of action in turbulent industries. The course pedagogic is based on problem based learning and research aimed. This puts high demand on teachers as well as students. The course literature is used as a starting point for a critical discussion and analysis and is complemented with further material and perspectives by the students during the course. The operative aspects of technology management are studied during study visit as well as team based live cases in order to provide a frame of reference concerning advanced production technology. On the strategic level the research literature on strategies for turbulent industries is analysed.

Literature
Hill, T.: Manufacturing Strategy (optional issue).
Whittington: What is Strategy – and does it matter? International Thomson Business Press, London (optional issue).
Processes and process orientation, optional author.
Nilsson, C.-H. et al: Compendium – Technology, strategy and structure, EC Printcenter, Lund.
Additional literature is announced at the course introduction.