Appreciate the role of management in the development of organisational capabilities and in the long-term competitiveness of firms
- Learn about the importance of institutional differences between countries and industrial sectors
- Distil the essential lessons from fairly extensive readings, and present these to an audience
- Present coherent arguments in writing about the historical and institutional factors influencing business and economic growth

The course concentrates on the study of patterns of industrial growth and competition in the three main centres of the international arena, i.e. the United States, Germany and Great Britain. It focuses on the historical development of major corporations in each of these countries, concentrating on the period between 1870 and 1940. These firms continue to form a large proportion of the Fortune Global 500 group of multinationals, and studying their historical origins allows us to explore both the internal drivers of corporate performance as well as the important differences in the external institutional context of these three economies. We can learn from this how international differences now have their roots in the past.

Alfred D. Chandler jr., 1990, Scale and Scope: The dynamics of industrial capitalism, Harvard/Belknap
Reader containing additional articles

This is a reading course for literate students with an excellent command of the English language in reading, writing, and conversation.