APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2014

GRA 8172 EU and Latin American Business Trends

Responsible for the course
Ragnhild Kvålshaugen

Department
Department of Strategy and Logistics

Term
According to study plan

ECTS Credits
5

Language of instruction
English

Introduction
The world is changing at an ever-faster rate. “The 21st Century,” as Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria has remarked, “will be the century of change. More things will change in more places in the next 10 years than in the previous 100.” Indeed, in a world that is increasingly flat, with rapid and perpetual technological change, and massive social and environmental challenges, securing long-term competitive advantage is harder than ever. In this context, “going global” is no longer a choice for leading companies – it is a necessity.

But operating globally and becoming a truly global enterprise is no easy undertaking. Economic realities and dynamics continue to differ among major markets. Add to that strongly diverging political, social, and regulatory conditions that impede the simple transplantation of a successful business model from one market to another. Finding the right balance between global integration and local responsiveness requires not only careful strategic planning but also meticulous, yet adaptable implementation. A particular challenge in this respect is the case of global brand building. To master these daunting challenges, companies need managers who understand cross-cultural differences and who can think outside the box – in short, they need innovative cosmopolitan leaders.

Going Global provides an integrative vision as it explores the full implications of internationalisation from a market, strategy and organisational perspective, as illustrated by the experience of Spanish multinationals in Latin America;

Corporate Entrepreneurship provides a forum for the in-depth examination of mindsets, methods, and managerial activities that follow the corporate entrepreneurial process from opportunity recognition to growing ventures.

Business, Government & Society focuses on the nonmarket forces that increasingly shape the business environment of globally-operating companies and introduces participants to the process of nonmarket strategy formulation and implementation;

Value Creation and Strategic Change highlights the most recent thinking about how firms create and capture value and pays particular attention to the strategic drivers and challenges of internationalization;

National Champions in Global Markets, finally, enables participants to obtain important insights into the drivers and dynamics of contemporary European industrial policy in an age of market globalization and to explore strategies for managing in high stakes political settings. This track will also provide an opportunity to contemplate more broadly the evolving relationship of state and market and its implications for both business and government in the context of the current financial crisis.

The program combines sessions led by IE Business School Faculty with several company visits designed to enable participants to gain first-hand experience of issues covered in the program

Computer-based tools
None

Learning process and workload
1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours.

Attendance to all sessions in the course is compulsory. If you have to miss part(s) of the course you must ask in advance for leave of absence. More than 20% absence in a course will require retaking the entire course. It's the student's own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on the course homepage/ It's learning or other course materials

Examination
Evalutation will be based on 50% individual class participation and 50% group assignment.

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.

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

Examination code(s)
GRA 81721 - Continuous assessment; accounts for 100 % to pass the course GRA 8172, 5 ECTS credits

The course is a part of the Executive Master of Business Administration Program and all evaluations must be passed in order to obtain a certificate.

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 continuous assessment, the whole course must be re-evaluated when a student wants to retake a exam. Retake examinations entail an extra examination fee.

Additional information