MBA 2407 Asian Business Trends

APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2012/2013

MBA 2407 Asian Business Trends Responsible for the course Ragnhild Kvålshaugen Department Department of Strategy and Logistics Term According to study plan ECTS Credits 4 Language of instruction English Introduction Recent economic growth in Asian countries (e.g. China, India) has forced companies to re-evaluate their strategies to take advantage of these opportunities. What are the current financial and human capital costs of doing business in Asia and globally? What might future challenges be? How do firms compete to capture emerging business opportunities? How should firms strategically position themselves today to take advantage of key developments in the Asian and Western economies to sustain high corporate growth? These fundamental concerns will be addressed by the proposed Asia EMBA Programme, specially designed for BI Norwegian Business School, to be conducted by the Nanyang Business School. Learning outcome Participants will reap the following benefits: 1. Gain insights into Asian perspectives on leadership and strategy, through reflection on lessons from Sun Zi Bingfa. 2. Develop middle management strategic leadership competencies that are crucial in the changing and competitive global business environment. 3. Gain insights into the tensions between stakeholders in multi-business corporations, and the implications for improving corporate governance. 4. Build cultural intelligence as a strategic leadership capability that will help manage global/local issues in a multinational work environment, create a global mindset that will help extract value from cultural differences and build alignment with global corporate strategy. 5. Develop the capability to analyze, understand, and adapt to the behaviour of people from different societal, generational, or organisational cultures. 6. To gain a better understanding on how the global crisis is likely to affect Asia, its governments and its leading companies, with emphasis on China and India. Prerequisites Bachelor degree or equivalent, 4 years work experience, managerial experience and good written and oral knowledge of the English language. Compulsory reading Collection of articles: Collection of cases and articles Recommended reading Course outline This is a 6-days programme comprising the following courses: Sun Zi Bingfa and strategic leadership There are many attributes and qualities required of a great leader. However, among all the important traits and characteristics, as highlighted by Sun Zi, the ability to make independent and bold decisions without compromising the overall objective of the organization is perhaps the most significant hallmark of a great leader. What exactly does this mean? This session will attempt to address the following issues: • Responsibility and accountability • Empowerment and enlightenment • Attributes of leadership Corporate governance The course entails a comprehensive review of corporate governance issues, analyzing the relevant questions to derive effective solutions. The focus is on the analysis of the relationships among these parties, with a view of improving corporate governance and along with it enterprise performance, which means attaining the firm’s full potential, given its endowment with human, physical, and financial capital and taking into account the legal and ethical restraints in a world of environmental concerns, threatening technology gaps and cultural sensitivities. In view of the globalisation of markets for capital, technology, products and talent, clear views on how corporations are and should be governed, and which principles are to guide such governance, become very important for executives as well as those involved in shaping public policy. Asia’s role in the Brave New World This session discusses how the global crisis is likely to affect Asia, its governments and its leading companies (with emphasis on China and India). It then examines globalisation and discusses (a) the internationalisation strategies of a number of Asia’s emergent global companies and (b) the role Asia plays in the global strategies of leading MNCs . Brave New World: How Asia might emerge from the Global crisis a. China/ Korea/ Japan b. The Indian sub-continent c. Asean ( with emphasis on role of government in promoting development & growth) Marketing in Asia The objectives of the course is: • To familiarise participants with the latest marketing concepts • Give an overview of the dynamic changes in the business landscape and the competitive forces in Asia • Develop competitive marketing advantages that are sustainable for the future Various stimulating reading materials drawn from various sources, including the Harvard Business Review as well as the Nanyang Business Review, will be prescribed for this programme. Appropriate case studies will be undertaken, including those from Harvard and Nanyang Business School’s very own Asian cases from its www.Asiacase.com portal. Cross cultural management It is a challenging job to motivate a workforce that is made up of people from different cultures. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to this difficulty. Management methods that work well for one culture may not work as well in another. To manage performance well, we need to pay attention to how cultural differences impact performance attributions, self-construal, employee motivation, and performance-related feedback behaviour. Suggested topics: (a) Common cultural dimensions (b) Cultural intelligence (c) Performance attributions (d) Self construal (e) Employee motivation ( f) Feedback behaviour Company visits Computer-based tools None Learning process and workload Examination 50% individual class participation. 50% group assignment. Examination code(s) MBA 24071 - Process evaluation; accounts for 100 % to pass the program MBA 2407, 4 ECTS credits Examination support materials Re-sit examination Re-takes are only possible at the next time a course will be held. When course evaluation consists of class participation or process elements, the whole course must me re-evaluated when a student wants to retake a exam. Retake examinations entail an extra examination fee. Additional information

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