Introduction to Business Administration, Group D 1

Self-Study: Evolution of the University

• From the medieval to the modern university
• The Bologna process
• Academic customs

Self-Study: Evolution of Business Studies

• The emergence of business schools
• Contextualizing business administration and business psychology in the sciences
• Difference between Betriebswirtschaftslehre and Business Administration
• History of WHU

Session 01: Societal Context of Management

• Famine and the great betterment
• Four industrial revolutions
• Logic of capitalism
• Economic and political liberalism

Session 02: Logic of Business Education

• Criticism of (private) business schools
• Criticism of managerial elites
• Student expectations of business studies
• Making sense of WHU’s curriculum
• Knowing-doing-being framework

Chapter II: Fundamentals of Business Enterprise (Ove Jensen)

Self-Study: The Anatomy of Profit

• Break-even calculation
• Relative significance of profit drivers
• Contribution margin and profit layers
• Externalities and the limits of accounting profit

Session 03: The Anatomy of Business

• Classification of business models
• Structure of business units

Chapter III: Fundamentals of Strategy (Ove Jensen)

Session 04: The Logic of Manufacturing and Industrialization

• Evolution of mass manufacturing
• Economies of mass production
• Supply chain economics

Self-Study: Marketing simulation

Session 05: The Logic of Marketing and Innovation

• Segmentation and personalization
• Economics of marketing: value, costs, price
• Psychology of marketing and sales

Chapter IV: Fundamentals of Management (Ove Jensen)

Session 06: Evolution and Logic of the Corporation

• Market coordination vs. hierarchical coordination
• Rise of large enterprises
• Chandler’s theory of scale and scope
• Williamson’s transaction cost theory
• Institutional theory

Self-Study: Corporate Management

• Managerial elites and corporate power
• Agency problem
• Organizations as iron cages
• Leadership vs. management

Session 07: Labor Relations and Shopfloor Management

• Evolution of blue-collar and white-collar labor
• Taylor’s scientific management
• Mayo’s human relations
• Management fashions
• Critical management studies

Chapter V: Fundamentals of Science (Ove Jensen)

Session 08: Philosophy and Sociology of Science

• Construction of theories
• Paradigms
• Naturalistic fallacy
• Value-free science?

Chapter VI: Strategy Formulation (Utz Schäffer)

Session 09+10: Strategy Formulation

• Key terms and concepts of strategy formulation
• The role of competitive advantage
• Critical evaluation of notorious strategy tools and frameworks
• Rationality and its limits in strategic management

Chapter VII: Strategy Execution (Utz Schäffer)

Session 11+12+13: Strategy execution

• Information
• Planning & Control
• Motivation & Incentives
• Organizational Structure
• Organizational Culture
• Leadership

Session 14: Corporate Governance

• Should top management be monitored?
• Systems of corporate governance compared
• Co-determination

• 45 points (50%): Professor Schäffer’s part of the written exam,
• 40 points (ca. 45%): Professor Jensen’s part of the written exam,
• 5 points (ca. 5%): Participation in the simulation game “Managing customers and segments.”

All questions and instructions will be given in English. Students in Tracks E and BBP must answer in English. Students in Tracks D1 and D2 may answer in English or German. The material covered by the exam:

• The exam reflects the course Introduction to Business Administration as taught in the Fall Term of 2023. If you are from an earlier BSc batch than BSc 2026 and have to re-take the exam, please note that the course contents may have changed compared to the version of the course that you initially participated in.
• Examination questions can refer to the lecture slides, the readings, the whiteboard notes, the professor’s oral classroom presentation, and the classroom discussions. If you have not participated in all class sessions, obtaining the classroom notes from a classmate is helpful.
• We will provide sample exam questions to give you an impression of our examination style.

For WHU students, the course score will enter into the module grade of the study module “Introduction to Business,” together with the course “Sourcing: Managing the Firm’s Supply Base,” co-taught by professors Lutz Kaufmann and Felix Reimann. Both courses are weighted equally. International exchange students can choose either of the two courses or both and will obtain a separate grade for each course.

The exam is a closed-book exam. The exam’s delivery is a proctored, bring-your-own-device, laptop-based Moodle quiz, whether you write on-campus or off-campus. The examination comprises two separate quizzes for Introduction to Business Administration and Sourcing. Switching between the Business Administration and the Sourcing part is impossible, but switching between Jensen’s and Schäffer’s questions is possible.