Courses
Uppsala STS is engaged in education in the STS area, both on the undergraduate and graduate levels.
PhD-course in Analyzing Transnational Business Networks
A doctoral course arranged by Uppsala STS in co-operation with Norwegian Business School, BI.
Empirical content
The contemporary business landscape is characterized by constellations of companies, which are related to and dependent on each other in complex, transnational patterns. The total product cost of an end-product; regardless if a physical product or a service; stems to a large extent from external, related suppliers and sub-suppliers. Thus, less of an end-product is the result of actions carried out within the borders of a company. This implies that any company, regardless size or business, systematically is related to a number of counterparts, on its supplier and user side. This gives the business landscape a network-like pattern which characteristics are influencing both efficiency and innovativeness of each individual firm. Furthermore, these patterns also have a great impact on policy attempts to renew industries within specific communities. To increase the understanding of transnational business networks; their light and dark sides included, is one of ambitions with this course.
Theoretical content
To analyze the contemporary transnational business landscape creates new demands on theory as well as methodology. There are also some approaches that during the last decades have emerged with the ambition to catch the interactive and interdependent characteristics of the business landscape. One of these is the IMP Industrial Network Approach, (see e.g. Håkansson et al, 2009, or www.impgroup.org ) which has been developed by researchers interested in the content and effect of connected business relationships. Another ambition with this course is to start out from the IMP Industrial Network Approach; including considering how it is related and contrasted to other approaches, and discuss how it can be used in order to investigate network characteristics of the business landscape.
The course is given annually or on request by doctoral students. For more information, please contact Alexandra Waluszewski.
Economic Science and Society: Ph.d-course in Analyzing Business Networks
A co-operation between three units
1. Uppsala STS
2. Norwegian School of Management, BI
3. Chalmers Technological University
Empirical content
The modern business market consists of constellations of companies related to each other and to other organizations in complex patterns. These patterns have network characteristics and are crucial both for creating efficiency and innovativeness. In these structures small and medium sized companies are systematically related to each other and to units within large companies and organisations. Analyzing these constellations include areas that traditionally have gone under headings such as strategy, industrial marketing, purchasing and technology management. The development of these structures, including highly specialized business units - sometimes even labelled virtual – creates new demand on the analytical tools used to investigate these.
Theoretical content
There are several theoretical approaches that have developed during the last decades in interaction with the above described development of the economic world. One such approach is the industrial network approach that has emerged among researchers studying industrial companies and their way to act in relation to external partners such as suppliers, customers or producers of complementary or competitive products. The ambition with this course is to start out from the industrial network approach and to contrast and relate it systematically to other appoaches.
For more information, please contact Alexandra Waluszewski.
