Strategy, Competition and Regulation

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  Research internships connected to thesis research

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  Elective courses in period 3 for tailor-made programme

Navigating tomorrow's competitive and regulatory changes

In the past two decades, many aspects of business and social life have been disrupted by high-growth organisations such as Google, Apple and Airbnb. The market power of corporate organisations is based on brilliant but sometimes debatable strategies. These strategies present challenges for the organisations themselves, as well as for policymakers, regulators and supervisors such as the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets and the European Commission. In this highly dynamic and international environment, strategy, competition and regulatory challenges require broad expertise related to industrial organisations, strategic management, competition law and econometrics. This Master’s programme focuses on the academic and practical toolkit to operate in the arena of powerful corporates and international policymakers.

Are you interested in competitive strategies, economic and legal perspectives on market power, the role of private equity, and mergers and acquisitions? Do you want to make a difference in increasing social welfare by balancing private and public interests in the functioning and regulation of markets? Do you want to have a professional role at leading, fast-growing businesses, policymaking organisations, regulatory and supervisory bodies, or economic and legal consultants? If so, we think you’ll be well suited to a Master’s programme in Strategy, Competition and Regulation.

You will work with top economics, management and legal scholars as well as lecturers with practical experience.

The real world perspective

The Utrecht University School of Economics (U.S.E.) aims to contribute to an economy where people flourish. We enrich economics with other disciplines to better solve problems and identify opportunities, from a business and a government point of view. Scientifically rigorous and societally relevant. The real world perspective.

Leading expertise from multiple disciplines

This Master’s programme is based on Utrecht University’s world-class research in industrial organisation, strategic management, competition law and econometrics. You’ll work with Utrecht University School of Economics’ top scholars, complemented by leading professors from Utrecht University’s School of Law and external lecturers. We are proud to have the School of Law’s involvement in our curriculum, which makes the programme truly multidisciplinary and unique in strategy, competition and regulation.

What to expect from this programme

You will examine regulatory issues from both a government and business perspective, using a solid basis in economic theory and econometrics that you obtain throughout the programme. You will focus on:

• the international growth of platform businesses and the challenges these bring to policymakers and regulators, as well as these platform businesses’ competitive strategies;
• the disciplines relevant to analysing these challenges, namely industrial organisation, strategic management, competition law and econometrics; and the solutions to these challenges from theory and empirical research.

Programme objectives

The Master’s programme Strategy, Competition and Regulation provides you with:

• knowledge and understanding of key competition challenges at the interface of private and public interests faced by international high-growth businesses and public regulators;
• the skills and expertise required to understand the strategic, economic and regulatory aspects of competition issues in markets, to evaluate such issues and to draft prospective plans to resolve or leverage such issues; and
• the ability to adopt a reasoned position in the strategic, economic and regulatory debate on the justifications, principles, practices, causes and consequences of the management, monitoring and regulation of markets and institutions.

Career prospects

After completing the programme, you will be an expert in the competitive growth strategies of international high-growth businesses, the challenges these bring to policymakers and regulators, and potential solutions. This expertise is highly sought after in powerful, high-growth corporate organisations (e.g. Google, Apple and Airbnb), international policy organisations and regulatory supervisors (e.g. Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets and the European Commission), economic consultancies (e.g. Oxera) and international law firms.

Admission

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