The honours students have taken on eight extra elective sessions to increase their awareness of every intriguing facet of the subject of strategic transformation. Students will be required to apply what they have learned to construct and present a real strategic management project to satisfy the four companies which are; international semiconductor company NXP; Japanese multinational imaging and electronics company Ricoh, renewable energy company Eneco; and factory automation company Festo.
The Honours students have until May to work on the companies’ issues in making strategic transformations. Their collaborative work in the Honours class culminates in an executive presentation when the teams of students present their strategic transformation findings for the four companies’ managers and executives, who will assess and score the students’ projects.
The Honours programme is an additional programme of study this spring, taught by Strategy faculty Professor Henk Volberda (co-ordinator), Dr Raymond van Wijk, Dr Mirko Benischke, Dr Frank Wijen and Dr Magdalena Cholakova.
“Students will engage with important topics that deserve attention but are not covered in the regular master programme,” said Prof. Volberda. “The Honours class illustrates RSM working closely with businesses to provide our most talented students with the tools to launch their careers.”
The Honours class will gain extra understanding of concepts, tools and outcomes of strategic transformation, as well as developing their analytical skills, problem-solving expertise, and critical thinking, using recent research from the Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship department.
“We expect the students to actively contribute to the course as they have been selected because of their skills and achievements. The class will also provide a platform for learning from each other through discussions and teamwork, as well as for interacting with executives to plan and implement strategic transformation,” said Prof. Volberda, who explained that the Honours class emphasises discussion between students rather than information presented as a lecture by a professor. Students must prepare thoroughly before the class in order to be active contributors.
Dr Van Wijk, Academic Director of RSM’s MSc in Strategic Management, adds that “by engaging with companies facing a need for strategic transformation, students will get practical experience of what it means to be thinking strategically and how companies steer through disruptive times. The companies involved get fresh perspectives from students, which are driven by the latest academic insights.”
In fieldwork, students will be coached by one of four faculty members specialising in one of the themes of transformation and will interact with experienced executives who will provide a rich source of insights into these transformation experiences.