The Sociology of Strategy
This MIT Sloan graduate seminar introduces the sociologists and organization theorists who study strategy and strategic management from a sociological angle. Rather than surveying the strategy field broadly, the course concentrates on recent scholarship addressing relative firm performance, the nature of competition and market interaction, organizational capabilities, the founding of industries and firms, the diffusion of ideas and practices across organizations, and strategic change. Materials on MIT OpenCourseWare include the syllabus, readings list, and session-by-session topics used in the actual MIT seminar, letting learners follow the same research literature graduate students engage with. There is no certificate; the course is offered freely for self-study. It suits students already familiar with organizational theory or economics who want a sociological lens on strategic management questions rather than an introductory business course.