Theoretical Foundations of Entrepreneurship and Strategy (ABRI course)

This course is offered by the Amsterdam Business Research Institute (ABRI), Vrije Universiteit. The course is open to students as part of the BDS curriculum. Contact your DGS before registering for this course.

Read more on the ABRI website.

This specialization seminar provides students with a solid understanding of the main theories in the fields of strategy and entrepreneurship, as well as insights into the latest developments in these growing research fields. Entrepreneurship research seeks to understand the actions and processes that lead to the creation and transformation of firms and markets, whereas strategy research focuses on how firms develop market strategies, resources and capabilities that enable them to outperform others. The seminar will, first, offer in-depth discussions of the dominant schools of thought in strategy and entrepreneurship (“the classics”), and second, engage students in detailed explorations of several emergent streams of research (“hot topics”).

The schools of thought in strategy that will be discussed include:

• Industrial organization views of strategy (including the work of Porter and cooperative game theory)
• Resource-based views of strategy (including knowledge-based and (dynamic) capabilities views)
• Behavioral and evolutionary views of strategy

The schools of thought in entrepreneurship that will be discussed include:

• Economic theories of entrepreneurship (including work on opportunity recognition and the role of risk and uncertainty)
• Psychological theories of entrepreneurship (including work on cognition and emotions)
• Sociological theories of entrepreneurship (including work on social movements and network perspectives)

The current research streams that will be discussed include:

• Stakeholder strategy
• Cooperative strategy
• Social and sustainable entrepreneurship
• Scale-ups and models of entrepreneurial firm growth