Course
From Business Theory to Practical Application - 2 ECTS
It is an advanced course which is part of the WASS graduate programme. The course discusses fundamental theories underlying business decisions and their translation into research questions and empirical applications in the domains of (i) corporate finance and business resilience theory; (ii) theory of planned behavior and technology acceptance models; and (iii) market orientation and theory of competition.
Registration
The course is provided by three groups in the Business Section: MCB (Frans Verhees), BMO (Verena Otter), and BEC (Miranda Meuwissen). The course requires an active attitude of students including pre-class uploading of short videos and entry-quizzes. Pre-class preparations enrich discussions during lectures and tutorials, among others on the applicability and translation of theories to your own research context.
Experience shows that the combination of perspectives and joint discussions about business-related theories provide useful insights for the design and analysis of empirical (PhD) research.
Learning outcomes
After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:
1. Distinguish and contrast fundamental theories related to business decision making;
2. Debate contemporary themes in business theory;
3. Appraise relevant business theories for business problems in uncertain, complex and dynamic business environments;
4. Propose research questions for business oriented scientific research;
5. Evaluate business decision theories for their own research.
Activities
- lectures;
- tutorials in which main texts on business theories are intensively prepared and discussed;
- tutorials in which contemporary themes are assessed;
- a case study in which a case is elaborated from different theoretical perspectives;
- an individual short paper transforming case-relevant theories into testable hypotheses, research questions and empirical applications.
Examination
- short individual paper (50%);
- written test in which knowledge on theories is tested (50%).
The written test requires a minimum of 5.5 to pass.
Schedule
| Session 1 | 11-2-2025 | 14.00-15.30 |
| Session 2 | 14-2-2025 | 11.45-13.15 |
| Session 3 | 21-2-2025 | 11.45-13.15 |
| Session 4 | 28-2-2025 | 11.45-13.15 |
| Session 5 | 7-3-2025 | 14.00-15.30 |
Course fees:
| WGS PhDs with an approved TSP | 200 euro |
| a) All other PhD candidates b) Postdocs and staff of the above mentioned Graduate Schools | 490 euro |
| All others | 700 euro |