BST 2413 International Business
BST 2413 International Business
This course prepares students for working in an international business environment, by addressing critical macro-level factors in the environment and meso-level factors in the organization that are fundamental for a manager to be competent in international business. This course will provide students with knowledge of the institutional, organizational, and interpersonal factors and challenges that are critical to successful international business.
The course begins with an overview of the global business environment and introduces the international organization and key decisions managers have to face when going international. The environmental and organizational context will provide the backdrop for an in-depth analysis of culture and management. Special focus will be placed on the cross-cultural management, global leadership and international human resource management. Strategy and structure of the international business organization will also be discussed. Students will have the opportunity to develop their skill sets based on their knowledge of culture and management to be effective negotiators and team players. The course is built on a research-based foundation, and uses practical cases where different perspectives can be used to solve real world problems.
During the course students shall:
- Acquire knowledge of the international business environment
- Learn how to manage international and global companies, and culturally diverse employees.
- Acquire knowledge of central factors in international business, on the macro-, meso-, and micro-level.
- Acquire knowledge of the national differences in the international business environment, firms’ strategies for serving foreign markets and engaging in global competition, as well as culture's consequences for leadership, HRM, and negotiations.
After completed course students shall:
- Be able to apply core models and concepts to practical situations.
- Be able to manage a diverse workforce as well as negotiating across cultures.
- The students should be able to reflect on the meaning of culture and culture's impact on people's expectations and perceptions of management.
- They should also be able to reflect on the effects of globalization (negative as well as positive) and to see how a changing world impacts business across different levels.
The course content will be structured as below.
- Conceptualizing and understanding cultures
- Cross-cultural communication
- Leading across cultural boundaries
- Managing workforce diversity and expatriates
- New challenges for globalization
- Firm competitiveness and investing abroad
- Globalization and integration
- Global competition and collaboration
- Organizing and innovating in MNEs
The course consists of 75 teaching hours and 15 hours for tutoring and administration of learning process. For the total 75 teaching hours, 2/3 of them (50 hours) will be delivered in a synchronous fashion; the remaining 1/3 (25 hours) are asynchronous, which includes recommended videos or readings as well as other asynchronous learning materials.
The learning process emphasizes a mix of lectures, interactions and group activities, weekly assignments, student presentations, analysis of cases of business decisions and management challenges. Active participation and involvement in class is expected. Information regarding student evaluation will be provided in class.
Starting in the autumn of 2023, the form of evaluation in this course has changed from four exam codes (BST 24131, BST 24132, BST 24133 and BST 24134) to two exam codes (BST 24135 and BST 24136).
A last re-sit exam is offered in the former exam codes BST 24131 and BST 24134 in autumn 2023.
Two years of college education in economics and business administration, marketing or equivalent is required for taking the course.
Disclaimer
Deviations in teaching and exams may occur if external conditions or unforeseen events call for this.
As a minimum the basic course in statistics MET 3431 Statistics or MET 2920 Statistics.
| Exam category | Weight | Invigilation | Duration | Grouping | Comment exam |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Exam code: BST 24135 Grading scale: ECTS Grading rules: Internal examiner Resit: Examination when next scheduled course | 40 | No | 1 Semester(s) | Group (2 - 3) | Biweekly learning journal (term paper). Every other week, you write a report to reflect on (a) what learning activities you have participated in, (b) which part of the content you found particularly helpful or interesting, and (c) how the newly acquired knowledge have changed your views of international business or themselves. |
| Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Exam code: BST 24136 Grading scale: ECTS Grading rules: Internal examiner Resit: Examination when next scheduled course | 60 | No | 5 Hour(s) | Individual | Individual take-home exam (digitally) |
All exams must be passed to get a grade in this course.
| Activity | Duration | Comment |
|---|---|---|
Teaching | 75 Hour(s) | |
Student's own work with learning resources | 150 Hour(s) | |
Group work / Assignments | 130 Hour(s) | |
Examination | 45 Hour(s) |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 15 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 400 hours.