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Research

CSC provides cutting-edge research on Strategy and Market Systems, International Business, Knowledge in Networks, Clusters, and Competitiveness Policy.

The history of the area of strategy and competitiveness relates back to the important works of Professor Michael E. Porter in the 1980s and 1990s. Instead of approaching strategy as a managerial concept, driven by top management, Professor Porter opened up a new research avenue linking strategy with the competitive environment. How strategies are set, which strategies survive, what the structural drivers of profitability are, how different "qualities" (level of innovation, internationalization, etc.) of strategies evolve, and so on, were put at the center of the analysis. Research has shown that strategies to a large extent are driven by structural characteristics of surrounding industries, and the degree of sophisticaiton of the immediate microeconmic business environment of the firm.

During the 1990s the focus moved from industry to clusters (systems of inter-linked industries, research organizations and authorities). Furthermore, the competitiveness of firms (at the micro level) was linked to the attractiveness of regions and nations.

During the 2000s an additional focus of investigating virtual worlds and the 3D internet was added in order to investigate developments in these areas and the relationship with competitiveness.

The Center for Strategy and Competitiveness produces books and reports, academic articles, opinion editorials, as well as teaching cases.