Teacher(s)
Language
English
Prerequisites
Because this is an advanced course in strategic management, this course is pitched at a level that assumes some familiarity with the foundations of strategic management.
Main themes
- Business-level strategy
- Corporate-level strategy
- Alliances, joint venture acquisitions
- Internationalization stratégies
Learning outcomes
At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to : | |
| 1 | During their programme, students of the LSM Master's in management or Master's in Business engineering will have developed the following capabilities : CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP
|
Content
International Strategic Management is a transdisciplinary capstone course based on a Living Lab Education Framework and implemented through LSM L-Labs at Louvain School of Management. Guided by a Sustainable Innovative Entrepreneurship philosophy, it operates as a real-world laboratory in which students, academics, practitioners and other stakeholders jointly explore evolving international challenges. It connects rigorous strategic inquiry with collaborative learning and experimentation to develop responses capable of contributing to tangible social, economic and environmental impact.
The course examines how organisations and initiatives pursue international ambitions and contribute to wider transformation while navigating uncertainty and complexity. Their choices are shaped by interconnected global challenges, including climate change, geopolitical tensions, technological change, inequality, resource dependencies and institutional fragility. A systems perspective reveals the interactions among economic, institutional, technological, geopolitical, social and environmental forces. An ecosystem perspective examines how relationships among businesses, investors, public authorities, communities, universities and other actors shape resources, knowledge, legitimacy, innovation and transformative action.
Students engage with an evolving real-world challenge whose conditions may change during the learning journey. New information and external shocks require them to question their assumptions and adapt their responses. They bring international strategic-management frameworks into dialogue with knowledge from different disciplines, contextual evidence and practitioner experience. This reciprocal process supports the co-development of context-sensitive pathways towards performance and sustainable impact through responsibility and resilience.
The course examines how organisations and initiatives pursue international ambitions and contribute to wider transformation while navigating uncertainty and complexity. Their choices are shaped by interconnected global challenges, including climate change, geopolitical tensions, technological change, inequality, resource dependencies and institutional fragility. A systems perspective reveals the interactions among economic, institutional, technological, geopolitical, social and environmental forces. An ecosystem perspective examines how relationships among businesses, investors, public authorities, communities, universities and other actors shape resources, knowledge, legitimacy, innovation and transformative action.
Students engage with an evolving real-world challenge whose conditions may change during the learning journey. New information and external shocks require them to question their assumptions and adapt their responses. They bring international strategic-management frameworks into dialogue with knowledge from different disciplines, contextual evidence and practitioner experience. This reciprocal process supports the co-development of context-sensitive pathways towards performance and sustainable impact through responsibility and resilience.
Teaching methods
The course is structured as a transformative collective journey, experiential and collaborative in nature, that moves from Real Life to collective impact through three connected movements: Bringing Real Life into the Classroom, Bringing the Classroom into Real Life, and Connecting the Unconnected. Throughout this journey, Sustainable Innovative Entrepreneurship provides an integrative intellectual philosophy connecting strategic performance and innovation with responsibility, resilience, and social, economic and environmental impact. A final reflective report integrates the complete journey and its strategic, collective and individual learning.
Movement 1 - BRINGING REAL LIFE INTO THE CLASSROOM. During the Bootcamp, randomly formed teams learn by doing through a born-global business simulation, from venture creation to early international growth and scaling. They experience how interdependent decisions influence performance. Lectures, required readings, pre-reading materials and interventions by guest protagonists provide the conceptual and contextual foundations for the real-world challenge.
Movement 2 - BRINGING THE CLASSROOM INTO REAL LIFE. Through the Fast Track, new cross-track teams address a real organisation or initiative facing an external shock arising from a global challenge. Students mobilise strategic-management and innovation perspectives, engage with practitioners, test their assumptions and develop an implementable recommendation under evolving conditions.
Movement 3 - CONNECTING THE UNCONNECTED. This movement culminates in the Grand Jury, Poster Session and LSM L-Labs Workshop, in which active participation is required. Students connect disciplines, knowledge, perspectives and actors by presenting and defending their recommendations, engaging with other teams and contributing to exchanges with academic and practitioner stakeholders.
Real Life also encompasses the students’ experience within their teams, including diversity of perspectives, leadership, coordination, differences and shared responsibility.
THE FINAL REFLECTIVE REPORT connects the Bootcamp decisions and performance results with the Fast Track recommendation, stakeholder interactions and feedback. Its collective and individual components assess the outcomes achieved, the processes through which they were produced and the learning generated across the journey.
Movement 1 - BRINGING REAL LIFE INTO THE CLASSROOM. During the Bootcamp, randomly formed teams learn by doing through a born-global business simulation, from venture creation to early international growth and scaling. They experience how interdependent decisions influence performance. Lectures, required readings, pre-reading materials and interventions by guest protagonists provide the conceptual and contextual foundations for the real-world challenge.
Movement 2 - BRINGING THE CLASSROOM INTO REAL LIFE. Through the Fast Track, new cross-track teams address a real organisation or initiative facing an external shock arising from a global challenge. Students mobilise strategic-management and innovation perspectives, engage with practitioners, test their assumptions and develop an implementable recommendation under evolving conditions.
Movement 3 - CONNECTING THE UNCONNECTED. This movement culminates in the Grand Jury, Poster Session and LSM L-Labs Workshop, in which active participation is required. Students connect disciplines, knowledge, perspectives and actors by presenting and defending their recommendations, engaging with other teams and contributing to exchanges with academic and practitioner stakeholders.
Real Life also encompasses the students’ experience within their teams, including diversity of perspectives, leadership, coordination, differences and shared responsibility.
THE FINAL REFLECTIVE REPORT connects the Bootcamp decisions and performance results with the Fast Track recommendation, stakeholder interactions and feedback. Its collective and individual components assess the outcomes achieved, the processes through which they were produced and the learning generated across the journey.
Evaluation methods
Continuous assessment covers the results achieved, the process through which they are produced, and the collective and individual learning generated throughout the journey.
Collective assessment (70%)
Activities requiring participation cannot be repeated during the second examination session. The resit consists of an individual Fast Track case analysis or research paper and may be organised orally when few students are registered. Detailed arrangements and course policies are communicated through Moodle.
Because assessed teamwork begins with the Bootcamp, students who join the course after its completion cannot participate in or be assessed for the Bootcamp components, which represent 30% of the final grade.
Collective assessment (70%)
- Bootcamp simulation performance: 20%
- Bootcamp deliverables and executive briefing: 10%
- Fast Track strategic recommendation and Grand Jury defence: 20%
- Poster Session: 10%
- Final reflective report – collective component: 10%
- Active participation, including the compulsory LSM L-Labs Workshop: 10%
- Final reflective report – individual component: 20%
Activities requiring participation cannot be repeated during the second examination session. The resit consists of an individual Fast Track case analysis or research paper and may be organised orally when few students are registered. Detailed arrangements and course policies are communicated through Moodle.
Because assessed teamwork begins with the Bootcamp, students who join the course after its completion cannot participate in or be assessed for the Bootcamp components, which represent 30% of the final grade.
Other information
The detailed calendar, team arrangements, milestones and submission instructions are provided through Moodle. Because the course addresses an evolving real-world challenge, additional information and pedagogical scenario elements may be released during the learning journey.
Online resources
Moodle provides access to the course schedule, announcements, required readings, pre-reading and case materials, activity instructions, submission links and assessment guidance. Access to the born-global business simulation and other digital resources is provided through the designated online platforms.
Course materials include lecture slides, required readings, simulation resources, pre-reading packs, real-world challenge and shock materials, and guidance for the Fast Track, Grand Jury, Poster Session, LSM L-Labs Workshop and final reflective report. Materials are released progressively in line with the learning journey.
Course materials include lecture slides, required readings, simulation resources, pre-reading packs, real-world challenge and shock materials, and guidance for the Fast Track, Grand Jury, Poster Session, LSM L-Labs Workshop and final reflective report. Materials are released progressively in line with the learning journey.
Bibliography
A selected bibliography covering international strategic management, Sustainable Innovative Entrepreneurship, systems and ecosystem perspectives, sustainability, responsibility and resilience is provided in the course pack and updated through Moodle. Additional readings and case-specific sources may be introduced as the real-world challenge evolves.
Faculty or entity
