GRA 6426 International Marketing Management

APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2014/2015

GRA 6426 International Marketing Management


Responsible for the course
Carl Arthur Solberg

Department
Department of Marketing

Term
According to study plan

ECTS Credits
6

Language of instruction
English

Introduction
Globalisation of markets and industries forces firms to take an active stance to international markets. This course addresses the process that firms undergo in their international marketing endeavour and treats critical issues in developing and implementing marketing strategies in international markets.

Learning outcome
The students should at the end of this course have a thorough understanding of the main challenges facing firms in international markets. The course will, through lectures, group work, cases and work-shops highlight key strategic problems and discuss their solutions. Emphasis is placed on the students’ ability to analyse different strategic situations of firms operating in international markets.

Prerequisites
A bachelor degree qualifying for admission to the MSc Programme

Compulsory reading
Books:
Doole, Isobel, Robin Lowe. 2012. International marketing strategy : analysis, development and implementation. 6th ed. Cengage Learning

Collection of articles:
A collection of scientific articles and readings. Examples of journals: European Business Journal, Management Research News, Journal of International Marketing. A list of compulsory readings will be provided on It's learning or in class.

Other:
During the course there may be hand-outs and other material on additional topics relevant for the course and the examination.


Recommended reading

Other:

Text books and articles pertaining to the topic of the chosen term paper. UN publications, government white papers, newspapers/magazine articles, academic articles etc are all relevant.



Course outline
Module 1
Introduction
The international marketing environment: Globalisation, institutions, markets and development
The internationalisation process of firms
Strategy development and strategic thrusts

Module 2
Market selection and market coverage
Entry modes
Standardisation / adaptation of the marketing mix
Monitoring channels in international markets
Market information in international markets

Module 3
Case seminar

Computer-based tools
Not compulsory in this course. However, search in databases is strongly recommended for the term paper.
It's learning


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

The course will be carried out in three parts. Part 1 will basically consist of lectures and class discussions. In part 2 the students will present an outline of their term paper and will get feed back on their drafts, both from the professor and from fellow students. Part 3 will in its entirety consist of case seminars. Four cases will be treated by groups of students.

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
The course grade will be based on the following activities and weights:
1.Term paper, counts for 50 % of the final grade
The term paper should analyse the international marketing strategy of a firm to be selected by the students.
2. Oral examination 50 % of the final grade
The oral examination will go into depth of a concrete case in intermational marketing
To get a final grade in the course, students need to complete and achieve a passing grade in all parts of the 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 64261 continuous assessment accounts for 100% of the final grade in the course GRA 6426.

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

Re-sit examination
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.