ECON6026 - Strategic Business Relationships

Semester 2, 2011  |  Credit Points: 6

Coordinator: Diane Hutchinson
Phone: +61 2 9351 4088
Email: diane.hutchinson@sydney.edu.au

Description

This unit studies how strategic business relationships create sustainable competitive advantages for firms and nations. Business relationships are dynamic learning networks that result from strategic decision-making. They include internal relationships within the firm as well as external relationships. With internal business relationships, the focus is on organisational design issues, including employee-manager interaction, and manager-shareholder relations. External relationships include formal contracts and informal agreements with suppliers, buyers, distributors, lenders, competitors and partners. Resource and capability-based views of the firm provide the conceptual framework for analysing the foundations of sustainable competitive advantage and the role of effective relationships in building this advantage. Agency and transaction cost approaches help explain the operation of these relationships. Throughout the unit, we distinguish between the knowledge-based sectors of the economy and the more traditional sectors, and we consider how the form of business relationships varies between countries.

Assessments

Individual & group concept maps (7%), 3x quizzes & short answer tests (15%), group assessed on-line forums (28%), In-class written report (25%), Final Exam (25%)

Classes

1x 3hr seminar per week

Prohibitions

ECOF5802, ECOF6050

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