GRA 8245 Business in a Global Context (2022/2023) - RE-SIT EXAMINATION
GRA 8245 Business in a Global Context (2022/2023) - RE-SIT EXAMINATION
Both markets and production have globalized over the past decades. Firms face opportunities to reach new markets and to tap into advantages such as lower labor costs or the ability to achieve economies of scale. At the same time, dynamic competitive landscapes are increasingly difficult to navigate with new types of market actors and blurring geographical and organizational boundaries. The multinational firm increasingly competes through connectivity and strategic partnerships in addition to the traditional focus on owned and controlled firm-specific advantages.
This course focuses on understanding how external environments affect firms’ strategic decisions and performance. We introduce frameworks and tools to support key strategic decisions when operating in a global context addressing key questions such as: Why internationalize? How can firms assess and compare foreign markets? What makes one market more attractive than another market? How do institutional and cultural differences influence business? Which strategy is most suitable for global organizations? How can firms strategically use a global network? We also discuss the boundary conditions of existing theoretical perspectives for new types of organizations in digital and sharing economies as well as for other newcomers to the competitive landscape such as emerging market multinationals and firms with alternative governance structures.
The sessions are taught by faculty members at BI Norwegian Business School with extensive global experience and top tier research publications within the field.
- Participants can analyze the global business context
- Participants can critically assess why and how to enter foreign markets
- Participants can critically assess how to organize international activities
- Participants understand the purpose different international strategies and the challenges of implementing these
The classroom sessions will be interactive and focused on leveraging experiences and available data, cases and examples to develop skills. After finishing the specialization, participants will:
- have developed skills to assess business opportunities and challenges when operating in a global context
- have the ability to identify and analyze relevant information to make better decisions in a global business context
- have developed the ability to critically assess the applicability of tools and frameworks for new markets and organizational configurations
- be able to make persuasive arguments in both written and oral form
- Participants understand the complexities and challenges related to global business decisions
- Participants can critically evaluate the influence of institutions and culture and their implications for internationalization decisions
- Participants can draw on insights from established theories to improve their decision-making
This course focuses on the global business context and business decisions that are unique to cross-border business activities. We will examine important contextual influences such as home and host-country location (dis)advantages, and discuss how institutional and cultural differences can influence business activities. Participants will discuss why and how firms internationalize, as well as strategies for geographically spread organizations.
The sessions are interactive, blending cutting-edge research with practical examples. We challenge the boundary conditions of extant knowledge, comparing and contrasting traditional firms with new actors in the competitive landscape.
Key topics include (but are not limited to):
- The macro environment and role of location advantages and disadvantages
- Institutional and cultural influences
- Internationalization motives
- Foreign entry and operating methods
- International strategies
- Managing global organizations
- Knowledge transfer in global organizations
1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours.
The course is conducted through a total of 54 hours of lectures and 96 hours of self-study.
Attendance to all sessions in the course is compulsory. If you have to miss part(s) of the course you must ask in advance for leave of absence. More than 25% absence in a course will require retaking the entire course. It's the student's own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on the course homepage/ It's learning or other course materials.
This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component will be graded using points on a scale 0 -100. The components will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the course. Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam components will get a lower grade or may fail the course. Candidates may be called in for an oral hearing as a verification/control of written assignments.
Specific information regarding the points system and the mapping scale beyond the information given in the course description will be provided in class. This information may be relevant for requirements for term papers or other hand-ins, and/or where class participation can be one of several elements of the overall evaluation.
The course is a part of a full Executive MBA programme and examination in all courses must be passed in order to obtain a certificate.
In all BI Executive courses and programmes, there is a mutual requirement
for the student and the course responsible regarding the involvement of the student's experience in the planning and implementation of courses, modules and programmes. This means that the student has the right and duty to get involved with their own knowledge and practice relevance, through the active sharing of their relevant experience and knowledge.
Granted admission to the EMBA programme. Please consult our student regulations.
Covid-19
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there may be deviations in teaching and learning activities as well as exams, compared with what is described in this course description.
| Assessments |
|---|
Exam category: Activity Form of assessment: Class participation Weight: 20 Grouping: Individual Comment: Class participation, counts 20% of the final grade. Exam code: GRA 82451 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Activity Form of assessment: Presentation Weight: 20 Grouping: Group (2 - 8) Comment: Group oral presentation in class, counts 20% of the final grade. Exam code: GRA 82451 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 60 Grouping: Individual Duration: 3 Week(s) Comment: Individual written assignment, counts 60% of the final grade. The individual written assignment is due approximately three weeks after the module has ended. Exam code: GRA 82451 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
| Activity | Duration | Comment |
|---|---|---|
Teaching | 54 Hour(s) | 6 days in-class module |
Student's own work with learning resources | 96 Hour(s) | Includes (but is not limited to): Preparing reading material Preparing group oral presentation Individual written assignment |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 5 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 135 hours.