30215 - INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

Students attending this course are expected to possess prior background knowledge of key terminology and theoretical frameworks of general management and business administration.

The increase in protectionist policies, "de-risking" and "decoupling", the insurgence of technological cold war, the military conflicts with their huge toll on human lives and growing international political tensions: is it the end of the modern globalization wave? Probably yes: the world is and remains interconnected, but the patterns of globalization will change. The internationalization strategy of the multinationals will need to take into account, on top of the “usual” complexity of international decisions, the changed goals and values of businesses, as well as a completely new set of constraints, risks and opportunities. The mission of this course is to get you ready for the growing complexity of the international business and to equip you with a "starter toolkit" for the decision making in the modern global context. The main learning goal of this course is to enable you to formulate or contribute to the formulation of international strategy for any kind of business.

The course will consist of six blocks:

1. Globalization trends and internationalization goals

2. Differences among markets and adaptation decisions

3. Internationalization strategy definition

4. Foreign markets selection

5. Entry modes to foreign markets and crossborder alliances

6. Implemenation of the internationalization strategy

• identify internationalization objectives for any kind of business
• identify the cross-cultural differences impacting the key internationalization decisions 
• identify the need of the busness model adaptation to the diferences among markets 
• define the need of delocalization (arbitrage) for a multinational firm
• define the foreign market selection criteria
• descrive the alternatives and define possible entry modes for international markets
• identify the key areas of negotiation for the creation of a crossborder alliance
• identify the factors determining the choice of the internationalization strategy for any kind of business

• Develop internationalization objectives
• Analyze the cross-cultural differences impacting the key internationalization decisions 
• Evaluate the need of the busness model adaptation to the diferences among markets 
• Analyse the need of delocalization (arbitrage) for a multinational firm
• Analyse and compare the importance of the foreign market selection criteria
• Conduct a pre-screening of foreign markets for any kind of business
• Evaluate the alternatives and define possible entry modes for international markets
• Formulate the key areas of negotiation for the creation of a crossborder alliance
• Propose the internationalization strategy for any kind of business

• Face-to-face lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Exercises (exercises, database, software etc.)
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
• Group assignments

The course will alternate interactive lectures with in-class exercises, case discussions, group assignments allowing students to gradually learn to apply theoretical and conceptual knowledge of the course, and attending students to accumulate a part of their course grade. A guest speaker talk will be dedicated to the illustration of the challenges of the implementation of the internationalization strategy in a modern context.

ATTENDING STUDENTS

• 50% of the grade: “attending student points” - attending students are expected to work on short cases or assignments given by the instructor in class, and to actively participate to the plenary case discussions. In-class assignments will consist of 30-50 minutes of in-class discussion by small groups, followed by the small groups' submission of their assignments via elearning platform in real time and eventually pilot presentations of their findings or solutions. Successful completion of in-class assignments and active class participation allow attending students to accumulate up to 16 points of the final grade. The attending student status is achieved after a student accumulated a minimum of 8 out of 16 "attending student points". The “attending student” status and "attending student points" are valid for the next three exam sessions.

The short assignments and cases completed in class in small groups will test students's ability to apply theoretical frameworks discussed in class to real business situations and decisions. In particulat, the assignments and cases will test students's ability to link internationalization strategy to the strategic growth goals, to analyze the cross-cultural differences, to evaluate the need of the business model adaptation to the differences among markets, to analyse the need of delocalization, to select foreign markets, to evaluate possible entry modes to international markets (including alliances) and to formulate the internationalization strategy for any kind of business.

• 50% of the grade - “final exam points”. The final written exam will test students' knowledge of key theoretical frameworks of the course and their ability to apply theoretical knowledge to briefly described business situations; the exam will consist of multiple choice questions:
  • “CORE QUESTIONS” 16 questions (1 point for each question) - for all attending students.
  • optional “ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS” 8 questions (1 point for each question) - only for those attending students who accumulated between 8 and 15 "attending student points" for the in-class assignments and who are willing to improve their final grades. For example, a student who accumulated 10 out of 16 maximum "attending student points" is given a possibility to answer to the first 6 out of 8 ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS.

NON- ATTENDING STUDENTS

The assessment of non-attending students consists of a final written exam. The exam consists of 32 multiple-choice questions aiming to test the student’s knowledge of key theoretical frameworks and definitions contained in the obligatory readings as indicated in syllabus.

• Course slides
• Case studies (as indicated in syllabus)
• Selected readings and links (as indicated in syllabus)
• Selected chapters of “The Art of Going Global. A Practical Guide to a Firm’s International Growth”, Annushkina O., Regazzo E., Palgrave Macmillan, 2020 

• Course slides
• Selected readings and links (as indicated in syllabus, except for the case studies)
• “The Art of Going Global. A Practical Guide to a Firm’s International Growth”, Annushkina O., Regazzo E., Palgrave Macmillan, 2020