Harvard Business School Cases available at the textbook Store. The business press often cites factors such as access to distribution channels, market share and coverage, advertising strength, or external partnerships such as strategic alliances as source of firm competitive advantage and success. This is, however, not the entire story. The internal characteristics of the firm are equally critical to competitive advantage and organizational success. Many mergers, for example, look perfect on paper promising high synergies, cost savings, and performance improvements, in reality however they often struggle during the integration process never realizing the anticipated savings and improvements.
Internal power struggles at the management level are often the source for strategic re-orientations.
Empire building and pursuit of personal interests often drive diversification and merger strategies. This course will explore key internal factors and their contingent relationship to performance. During this course we will examine the individual, group, and organization levels of behavior. We will discover how these behaviors relate to working in and managing today s complex organizations. We will examine these issues in relation to organizational behavior, human resources, and internal organizational processes.