MBA 2400 International Business

MBA 2400 International Business

Course code: 
MBA 2400
Department: 
Strategy and Entrepreneurship
Credits: 
4
Course coordinator: 
Gabriel R. Garcia Benito
Course name in Norwegian: 
International Business
Product category: 
Executive
Portfolio: 
MBA China
Semester: 
2018 Spring
Active status: 
Active
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching language: 
English
Course type: 
One semester
Introduction

This course gives an overview of the opportunities and challenges facing firms involved in conducting cross-border business activities in an increasingly open and dynamic world. 

The course aims to provide the students with managerial knowledge and analytical skills that are important when companies carry out international business activities.

The course combines corporate strategy theories with theories of economic organization and management.

Learning outcomes - Knowledge

Students will have acquired a good overview of key economic/geographic, institutional/legal, and political/cultural conditions for international business activities.

Students will learn how to identify and analyze adequate strategies for internationalization.

Students will learn about challenges in the organization and management of multinational corporations, and they should be able to evaluate appropriate structural solutions.
 

Learning outcomes - Skills

Students should be able to critically analyze the internationalization strategies of business companies, both international companies entering the Chinese market and investing in China, and Chinese companies entering foreign markets and investing abroad.

Students should be able to analyze international business cases and to master a range of internationalization strategies that can be applied in modern business. 

Learning Outcome - Reflection

Students should appreciate the complexity that firms operating internationally face. They should be able to identify and discuss dilemmas and trade-offs in international business, develop sensible alternatives, and propose decisions and actions to deal with them. 

Course content

Module Schedule
Day 1: The international business context
Day 2: International markets and strategies
Day 3: Becoming international: Modes and combinations
Day 4: Managing the global organization

The students are assigned into groups that are asked to prepare case analyses to be presented in Power Point format in class the next day and to be handed in for feedback.

The students are expected to draw actively on their own business experience and to contribute in class with internationalization cases from their own corporate experience.

Learning process and requirements to students

Students are trained in analyzing real life business cases to prepare for managerial careers in international companies.

The course is conducted as a teaching module, where students have classes all day for four subsequent days, a total of 32 hours.

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 MBA and examination in all courses in the MBA programme must be passed in order to obtain a certificate for the MBA degree.

 

 

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

Granted admission to the BI-Fudan MBA programme. Please consult our student regulations.

Assessments
Assessments
Exam category: 
Activity
Form of assessment: 
Class participation
Weight: 
20
Grouping: 
Individual
Comment: 
Class participation, counts 20% of the total grade
Exam code: 
MBA 24001
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Resit: 
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Written submission
Weight: 
10
Grouping: 
Group (2 - 8)
Duration: 
2 Day(s)
Comment: 
Group work, counts 10% of the total grade
Exam code: 
MBA 24001
Grading scale: 
China
Resit: 
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Written submission
Weight: 
70
Grouping: 
Individual
Duration: 
1 Month(s)
Comment: 
Individual assignment, counts 70% of the total grade
Exam code: 
MBA 24001
Grading scale: 
China
Resit: 
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Exam organisation: 
Continuous assessment
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Total weight: 
100
Sum workload: 
0

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.