Most major companies are not single businesses firms operating in a single location but portfolios of products and business units spanning multiple locations. This course studies corporate strategy in terms of portfolio composition and organization, focusing in particular on vertical integration, horizontal scope, and geographic diversification decisions.

Class time shall be devoted to discussing cases to gain a better understanding of the economic factors underlying value creation and value capture in corporate strategy. In particular, we will explore the role of transaction costs, agency costs, complementarities, and organizational rigidity and adaptation. Students who take this course will develop a sophisticated basis for analyzing corporate strategy decisions both as insiders (corporate managers and management consultants), and as analysts and investors.

Stephan Meier

James P. Gorman Professor of Business; Chair of Management Division

Stephan Meier is currently the chair of the Management Division and the James P. Gorman Professor of Business at Columbia Business School. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Zurich, was previously a senior economist at the Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision-Making at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and taught courses on strategic interactions and economic policy at...

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