Course Catalog

Spring 2009

B8201-001: Economics of Strategic Behavior

MW - Full Term, 10:45AM to 12:15PM

Instructor: wouter dessein

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This course examines the underlying economics of successful business strategy, including the dynamics of entering an industry, the strategic imperatives of competitive markets, the sources of competitive advantage, managing competitive interaction (cooperation and preemption), as well as the organizational implementation of business strategies.

The course combines case discussion and analysis (approximately two thirds) with lectures (one third).  The emphasis is on the ability to apply a small number of principles effectively and creatively, not the mastery of detailed aspects of the theory. Grading is based on case write-ups and class participation (two-thirds) and an in-class final (one third). The course offers excellent background for all consultants, managers and corporate finance generalists.

Wouter Dessein

Wouter Dessein

Eli Ginzberg Professor of Finance and Economics

Prior to joining the Columbia Business School faculty in July 2008, Wouter was an associate professor of economics at the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business from 2005-2008, where he taught Competitive Strategy and Organizational Strategy. He earned a Bachelor in management and applied sciences from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in 1997 and a Ph.D. in economics from Universite Libre de Bruxelles and Toulouse University in 2000, after which he became an assistant professor at the University of Chicago. Wouter's research interests center on the economics of organizations, specifically centralization versus decentralization, incentive design, the organizational structure of multi-divisional firms and the impact of competition on business organizations. His research has been published in leading journals such as American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Review of Economic Studies, and the Journal of Finance. He has also served as a research affiliate for the Center for Economic Policy Research and as an Associate Editor for the Review of Network Economies and the Journal of the European Economic Association.

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