GRA 8284 Regional Business Contexts

GRA 8284 Regional Business Contexts

Course code: 
GRA 8284
Department: 
Strategy and Entrepreneurship
Credits: 
4
Course coordinator: 
Birgitte Grøgaard
Course name in Norwegian: 
Regional Business Contexts
Product category: 
Executive
Portfolio: 
EMBA Business Administration - Elective courses
Semester: 
2025 Autumn
Active status: 
Active
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching language: 
English
Course type: 
One semester
Introduction

The global business environment is currently in a state of tension. Parallel with the increasing pressures for globalization, the is a strong push for de-globalization and protectionism. Globally, politicians are gaining ground with rhetoric focusing on protectionism and an increased skepticism towards global trade. This has increased resistance and skepticism towards trade agreements and open market policies, even in countries such as the UK and USA that have traditionally epitomized free markets and global trade.

This specialization course explores regional contexts and the influence of regional integration schemes, with a specific focus on the European Union (EU).

The sessions are taught by IE Business School faculty.

Learning outcomes - Knowledge
  • Participants understand the role of regional integration schemes such as the EU
  • Participants understand the institutions of EU
  • Participants can critically assess how regional contexts can influence business opportunities and strategic firm level decisions
  • Participants can assess whether a business or industry is regional or global in nature
Learning outcomes - Skills

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:

  • be able to reflect on the balance between local (regional) responsiveness and global integration strategies
  • be able to critically assess the applicability of tools and frameworks in a regional context
  • be able to make persuasive arguments in both written and oral form
General Competence
  • Participants understand the role of regionalization in a global business context
  • Participants can critically evaluate the meaning of regional institutions and culture and their implications for strategic decisions
  • Participants have reflected on the unique characteristics of regional business contexts
Course content

This course exposes the students to new business contexts to learn about regional integration, with a specific focus on EU. The content is taught by leading academics at IE, our partner institution in Madrid. This unique experience of physically visiting our partner institution allows us to tap into local competence on regional trends and connect with businesses operating in and from these regions.

Key topics include (but are not limited to):

  • Regional integration schemes
  • World Economic Outlook
  • Regional Economic Outlooks
  • Business, Government and Society
  • Culture and Business
Teaching and learning activities

1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours.

The course is conducted through a total of 45 hours of lectures and 100 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.

Candidates may be called in for an oral hearing as a verification/control of written assignments.

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

Software tools
No specified computer-based tools are required.
Qualifications

Granted admission to the EMBA programme. Please consult our student regulations.

Disclaimer

Deviations in teaching and exams may occur if external conditions or unforeseen events call for this

Assessments
Assessments
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Submission PDF
Weight: 
100
Grouping: 
Group (2 - 8)
Duration: 
4 Week(s)
Comment: 
Written assignment in group, counts 100% of the final grade.
Exam code: 
GRA 82841
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Resit: 
Examination when next scheduled course
Type of Assessment: 
Ordinary examination
Total weight: 
100
Student workload
ActivityDurationComment
Teaching
32 Hour(s)
Prepare for teaching
25 Hour(s)
Student's own work with learning resources
63 Hour(s)
Self study, feedback activities/counselling and exam.
Sum workload: 
120

A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 4 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 110 hours.