Ekonomisk processanalys och strategi

Introduction

MH2501 (F4H5910 doctoral course) is an optional course for all students at KTH. Is comprises 6 ECTS study points and is presented by the division of Metallurgy, department of Material Science, KTH.

Examiner: Professor Pär Jönsson.

Teacher: Per Storm; tel. +46 705 94 90 24; e-post: per.a.storm@gmail.com

Coordinator Material Science: Anders Eliasson

Prerequisites:

The course is based on previous knowledge of Management and economics equivalent to Industriell ekonomi, grundkurs B. It also requires intimate knowledge of metallurgy and metallurgical processes.

Description and contents

The course is an introduction to the fundamentals of the steel business. It deals with practical and theoretical issues of managing companies in the steel industry but can also be used as an example of management in the wider process industries. It centres round a case study which serves as an application example.

Management issues are situation dependent; hence the company as a whole and its environment will be the discussed and mapped. The mapping consist of outlining of the company’s products, business processes (production, innovation, marketing) and its business functions (management, control, finance). Apart from company dependent conditions, also its markets, customers, customer’s customers and competitors are analysed as well as the conditions governing different actors on said markets.

A case study

The application example starts with a management issue in an actual company (or situation). From this, the time frame of the issue, the production flow setting etc. is analysed. In conjunction both company processes and different supply chains are analysed in terms of the setting of the problem, physical flows involved, economic consequences and information flows. The case study is reported as a comprehensive ppt-presentation.

Examination

To pass the course a passed case study and a passed oral or written exam must be passed.

Literature

Engwall et al. Industriell ekonomi – metoder och verktyg, Studentlitteratur, 2014

Engwall et al. Industrial Management – tools and techniques, Studentlitteratur 2016

Content overview

Industry specific content

• Introduction: a world of steel; the study of economics and business in the steel industry; Course overview, case study
• The Steel Business – an introduction
  • the unit operation, the production lay out, the value chain; the industrial firm/company; industrial operations: innovation, production, marketing (incl. sales, logistics)
• Steel Markets:
  • determinants of steel demand, market theory
  • raw materials markets,
  • competition: the steel industry
• Steel strategies, strategic choices

General company resource management

• Operations management - tools:
  • economic management, book keeping, accountancy, P/L, Balance sheet, cash flow
  • Product calculations, example
  • cost management Du Pont; example
  • investment calculation, example; finance (company valuation),
• Repetition, preparations for the exam