In October 2013, the Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) was admitted to the Microeconomics of Competitiveness (MOC) Affiliate Network at Harvard Business School. Eight years later, Prof Matthias Kiese offers the MOC course developed by leading management professor Michael E. Porter for the 15th time this semester, most recently with teaching support from Simon Rohde. Offered in a virtual exchange format, the current edition is the sixth consecutive online MOC class at RUB.
14 students participate in this innovative course offered by RUB’s Institute of Geography. Despite its small size, the class once again represents remarkable variety with five different study programmes. Half of the participants represent RUB’s M.Sc. programme in Management and Economics, while four Spatial Planning students from TU Dortmund form another block. The class is increased by students from programmes as diverse as Biology, Economic Policy Consulting, and Mechanical Engineering.
Needless to say, class discussions once again benefit from the international and interdisciplinary mix of participants. “This diversity of backgrounds and experiences enriches our discussions enormously”, rejoices Prof Kiese, as the course is built around case studies on the competitiveness of countries, regions and firms, as well as their spatial concentration in so-called clusters. MOC comprises ten case studies this semester, including classics such as the Japanese fax industry and the Californian wine cluster, but also modern favourites like the Dutch flower cluster or Mayor Bloomberg’s economic development strategy for New York City.
As in previous semesters, some discussions are led by guest instructors. The first such appearance was by

Christopher Kronenberg from the University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna today, who also teaches MOC at Lauder Business School. At the same time,

Dominika Kuberska arrived at RUB for a three-months research visit. She is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland, and will later be joined by her Dean,

Mariola Grzybowska-Brzezińska. They will team up to instruct the case discussions on Singapore and New York City.

Ibrahim Awad from the Al-Quds University in Jerusalem (Palestine) will join as another three-months visitor in June, taking responsibility for leading the final case discussion on Ghana.
Students complete the course with group projects, each group analysing the competitiveness of a cluster of their own choice. Additional motivation comes from a World Cup-style contest. The best case study from Bochum will enter a competition with 120 universities worldwide, which are part of the MOC network. The winner will be honoured at the annual MOC affiliate workshop in Boston. In 2016, a RUB student team managed to claim the prestigious trophy with a case study on Frankfurt’s financial services cluster.
Further information about MOC can be found here:

http://www.isc.hbs.edu/resources/courses/moc-course-at-harvard/Pages/default.aspx

https://www.geographie.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/arbeitsbereiche/stadt-und-regionaloekonomie/microeconomics-of-competitiveness

http://news.rub.de/studium/2016-12-13-internationaler-wettbewerb-bochumer-sind-weltmeister-der-clusteranalyse
Bochum, 03 May 2022    Prof Dr Matthias Kiese