GRA 6339 Management Control in Multinational Enterprises

APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2014

GRA 6339 Management Control in Multinational Enterprises


Responsible for the course
Jon Erland Lervik

Department
Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour

Term
According to study plan

ECTS Credits
6

Language of instruction
English

Introduction


    Learning outcome
    This course addresses the managerial control issues of international organizations, paying particular attention to the knowledge and human resource aspects of such organizations. The international organization can no longer rely only on financial controls to manage and direct its subsidiaries. Corporate Head Quarter’s desire for uniform and standardized global control across subsidiaries clashes with the need for flexible control grounded in unique local conditions and markets. As a consequence, international organizations’ modes of control needed to be expanded and include additional competitive resources, such as the human resource and
    the knowledge resource. The experience in practice with including these two additional resource components tends to run ahead of academic studies, opening up for highly contemporary research avenues. In addition, the course explore corporate governance issues in an international context. How corporate governance differs from a global perspective, and its influence on how companies are controlled and directed. The objective of this course is to map out and understand the various layers of management control, and how these are
    applied by international organizations.

    Prerequisites
    A bachelors degree qualifying for admission to the MSc Programme.

    Compulsory reading

    Other:
    A list of compulsory readings will be provided on It's learning or in class
    As this course is multidisciplinary, no single textbook is used. The literature consists of selected articles
    and book chapters.
    Articles from e.g. Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Perspectives, Organisation Science, Human Resource Management, California Management Review, Sloan Management Review, Management Accounting Research, Knowledge Management, Corporate Governance, an international review
    During the course there may be hand-outs and other material on additional topics relevant for the course and the examination


    Recommended reading

    Course outline
    The course is broken down into four elements:
    1. Existing theoretical control frameworks
    2. Key concepts in management control
    3. Knowledge and human resource control systems.
    4. Exploring corporate governance from a global perpective

    Theoretical control frameworks provide a conceptual fundament for the design of methods and model, covering:
    - Hierarchical coordination perspectives (transaction cost economics, agency theory)
    - International accounting perspectives (foreign operations, business combinations)
    - Organizational control perspectives (clan controls, network perspectives)

    Key concepts in management control provide an overview of the existing management control paradigms and models, covering:
    - Control tightness and control looseness (innovation and control systems)
    - Results, Actions, and Personnel/Cultural controls (performance measurement systems)
    - Interactive and collaborative controls (strategic uncertainty, IT-based collaborative systems).

    Human and knowledge resource control systems addresses the international organization as a knowledge organization based on its human resources, covering:
    - Knowledge processes in globally networked organizations (knowledge sharing, transfer of best practices)
    - HRM in the international organization (steering with HRM systems)
    - Global integration, local responsiveness (im- and expatriation, managing alliances and diverse multi-cultural combinations).
    Exploring corporate governancefrom a global perspective
    - Introduction to corporate governance system worldwide
    -Introduction to the different participants in corporate governance
    - The role of transparancy, internal control and risk management in corporate governance
    - Corporate governance and accountability

    Computer-based tools
    An intensive use of It's learning is made

    Learning process and workload
    A course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of 160-180 hours.

    The three topical areas are given in-depth coverage by means of the latest research studies combined with guest lectures from experienced practitioners while also employing learning-by-doing, using a series of recent case studies and a practical assignment.

    Please note that it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on the course homepage/It's learning or text book.


    Examination
    Evaluation is continuous and based on individual class participation (25%), individual course papers and presentations (25%), case group work (20%), and a practical group assignment (30%). There is no final examination.

    In this course class attendence is mandatory. Unexcused absence can result in a lower score. Specific information regarding student evaluation 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.

    This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam elements) and one final exam code. Each exam element will be graded using points on a scale (e.g. 0-100). The elements will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the course. You will find detailed information about the point system and the cut off points with reference to the letter grades on the course site in It’s learning.

    Examination code(s)
    GRA 63391 continuous assessment counts for 100% of the final grade in GRA 6339

    Examination support materials
    Exam aids at written examiniations are explained under exam information in the student portal @bi. Please note use of calculator and dictionary in the section on examaids

    Re-sit examination
    It is only possible to retake an examination when the course is next taught.
    The assessment in some courses is based on more than one exam code.
    Where this is the case, you may retake only the assessed components of one of these exam codes.
    Where this is not the case, all of the assessed components of the course must be retaken.
    All retaken examinations will incur an additional fee.

    Additional information
    Honor Code
    Academic honesty and trust are important to all of us as individuals, and represent values that are encouraged and promoted by the honor code system. This is a most significant university tradition. Students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the ideals of the honor code system, to which the faculty are also deeply committed.

    Any violation of the honor code will be dealt with in accordance with BI’s procedures for cheating. These issues are a serious matter to everyone associated with the programs at BI and are at the heart of the honor code and academic integrity. If you have any questions about your responsibilities under the honor code, please ask.

    Semester

    Oversettelser