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.

Organised by Wageningen School of Social Sciences (WASS)
Date

Tue 13 February 2024 until Fri 8 March 2024

Registration

Registration page

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 13-2-2024 14.00-15.30
Session 2 16-2-2024 11.40-13.10
Session 3 23-2-2024 11.40-13.10
Session 4 1-3-2024 11-40-13.10
Session 5 8-3-2024 11.40-13.10

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

Cancellation conditions:

The participants can cancel their registration free of charge 1 month before the course starts. A cancellation fee of 100% applies if a participant cancels his/her registration less than 1 month prior to the start of the course.

The organisers have the right to cancel the course no later than one month before the planned course start date in the case that the number of registrations does not reach the minimum.

The participants will be notified of any changes at their e-mail addresses.