A93118 Entrepreneurship and Regional Competitiveness

This course is concerned with the determinants of competitiveness and economic development viewed from a bottom up, microeconomic perspective, i.e. entrepreneurship occurring in firms and clusters.

The strategies of firms, the entrepreneurial vitality of clusters, and quality of the business environment in which competition takes place are what ultimately determines a region’s productivity.

This course covers both developing and advanced economies, and addresses competitiveness at several levels: nations, states or cities within nations, clusters, and groups of neighboring countries.

A major theme of the course is that competitiveness and economic development is affected by policies at all these levels.

The course will explore not only theory and policy, but also the nature of the organizational structure and institutions for sustained improvements in competitiveness.

Course Presentation

Part I: Firms, Industries And Cross-Border Competition

• Competitiveness: overall framework and the diamond model

Part II: Locations and Clusters

• Clusters and Cluster Development

• Cluster Initiatives

• Economic strategies. The foundations of a competitiveness policy

• Organizing for Competitiveness

• Competitiveness strategy – IoT and Competitiveness​​​

• The "tango" approach: the challenges of synchronizing public and private sectors

• Smart Cities

• Internationalization of Clusters

Part III: Competitiveness Strategies

• Impact of digitalization, China on Competitiveness in clusters Economic Development using Technology and governance insights ​

• Economic Strategy: Advanced Economies

• Institutions for Collaboration

• Attracting Foreign Investment

• Creating Shared Value

The course will be taught using the case method developed at Harvard Business School, together with readings, lectures, videos and guests.

Case studies will focus on global firms, clusters and strategies for competitiveness. The case method requires extensive advance preparation for each class, and a significant part of the course grade will be based on participation.

The course also involves a major team project involving the competitive assessment of a particular cluster.

Professor Michael E. Porter together with other faculty from the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School may be involved both in video-recorded or remote live sessions.