The lecture will be based on Carl von Clausewitz’s famous book “On war”, published in 1832. Clausewitz participated in the Napoleonic Wars (on the Prussian side) from 1793 until the battle of Waterloo in 1815. He experienced an unprecedented level of revolutionary upheaval in military warfare and world politics. Realizing that critical decisions must be taken in an impermeable “fog of war”, he refused to offer a theory of strategy or a doctrine, but rather emphasized strategic thinking. - In the lecture I will draw the attention to four main thoughts of Clausewitz: (a) dialectic thinking in order to increase the opportunity space (b) evaluating frictions requiring continuous adaptation (c) emphasizing the decisive role of the military genius, a highly balanced personality and (d) the distinction of objectives and purpose.
After his doctorate in Political Science (Foreign Policy, Free University of Berlin) and his Master of Business Administration from the Stanford GSB, Bolko von Oetinger joined the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Menlo Park, CA in 1974. As senior partner he became head of BCG Germany, member of the global Executive Committee, and director of the Strategy Institute. He retired from BCG in 2008. Since 2004 he teaches strategic management as honorary professor at the WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management. From 2010 to 2016 Bolko von Oetinger served as chairman of the board of trustees of the Eberhard von Kuenheim Foundation of the BMW AG, an operationally active foundation that responds to critical issues in society (labor, education, corporate sustainability). Since 2016 he is vice chairman of the board of trustees of the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt. His major publications are “Das Boston Consulting Strategie Buch”, “Clausewitz - Strategie denken” (together with Tihamer von Ghyczy and Christopher Bassford), “Hänsel und Gretel und die Kubakrise.”
The lecture takes place in the context of our class Strategic Management on Tuesday, January 9, in room HS 5 (WIWI) from 08:00 till 10:00 (s.t.). The language is English.