Postgraduate Course: International Strategy (CMSE11214)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 15 |
ECTS Credits | 7.5 |
| Summary | This course provides an overall understanding of the needs, contexts and processes of toplevel decision-making for businesses working in an international context (multinational corporations in particular), and some useful approaches to analysing them. The course highlights and analyses the strategic choices (and implementation approaches and methods) open to managements faced with complex international business opportunities and threats. |
| Course description |
By applying principles of learning by doing, this course gives you a thorough and deep understanding of the subject area of what we know about how international managers can best manage international business. You will know the most important concepts and frameworks that are relevant for managers and firms to develop an international business strategy for a business, and you will be exercised in applying them to international and internationalizing firms, addressing real international business problems. You will be able to address, for actual companies operating in international contexts, questions such as:
-What are the right reasons for doing business internationally, and the strategies for doing it?
-What alternative ways are there for firms to develop geographically?
-Which are the best territories to consider for international expansion, which the worst, and why?
-How should the firm be structured to do it, and what resources will be needed?
-How should be managed as it grows internationally?
Syllabus:
The strategy concept in an international context.
The international challenges and opportunities: Liabilities of foreignness. Understanding Cognitive/Cultural Liabilities
The business environment in emerging markets
The knowledge needed for international business
Strategies for gaining the knowledge needed for international business
The relationships needed for international business
Strategies for gaining the relationships needed for international business
The management and organization needed for international business
Strategies for gaining the management and organization needed for IB
Student Learning Experience:
Interactive lectures and course texts, and advised readings will provide programme participants with the key concepts, models and frameworks and guided reading necessary to understand the state-of-the-art in planning and managing the international business.
As well as lectures, there will be seminars in which course participants, in groups, guided by the course lecturer, exercise their knowledge on the case company. Here, teams will apply the concepts learned to a case company. Each team will act as a team of consultants who will advise the company on the basis of concepts and ideas that are presented. The skills developed and knowledge gained in teams in this process will be examined in a presentation and report for the case company, and ultimately in a two hour open book exam which asks for international strategy thinking that addresses the international business problems faced by a very different type of case company.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Business School students only unless specific arrangements have been made. |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
150
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 5,
Other Study Hours 122,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 3,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
0 )
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| Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) |
Independent Learning
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
100% coursework.
60% - Group presentation and report
40% - Individual reflective essay |
| Feedback |
A. Feedback commentary on draft presentation and report outlines from the course organiser.
In seminar sessions, the course organiser will give feedback to participant groups concerning the way they intend to develop and structure their presentations and reports. This feedback is designed to enable course participants both to gain an immediate and effective learning opportunity with regards to the development of an important skill, and to improve the work that they will submit.
B. Verbal feedback commentary on presentations from the course organiser.
The course organiser will give feedback to the presentation teams at the end of their assessed presentation. The assessment criteria of these presentations do not include presentation skills; this feedback gives an immediate and effective learning opportunity for developing their presentation skill, in a supportive and encouraging way. The key strengths of the argument will be noted, and areas where it could be improved in the final report.
C. Feedback commentary on case presentations from industry practitioners.
The class as a whole will receive overall feedback at the first lecture after the presentations, will is the final lecture of the course. This will address the quality of analysis conveyed, the recommendations that are made, and the effectiveness of the arguments shown.
D. Feedback sheet on case presentations from course organiser.
A feedback sheet on the team presentations will be made available to each course participant. This A4 sheet gives a 5-point grading on the following elements:
1. Coherence of argument
2. Use of international strategy concepts to develop an international business strategy
3. Effective use of case data to develop convincing recommendations
4. Response to questioning
5. Overall persuasiveness through integration of concepts with case data
This sheet then gives detailed commentary feedback on the best and worst aspects of the arguments made, and gives constructive suggestions as to what could have been done better, in order to help improve the final report essay.
E. Feedback form on team reports
Feedback forms will be included on team reports, which will show grading and comments against the following criteria:
1. Coherence and effectiveness of argument
2. Use of international strategy concepts to develop an international business strategy
3. Effective use of case data to develop convincing recommendations
4. Overall persuasiveness through integration of concepts with case data
It also gives detailed commentary feedback on the best and worst aspects of the report, and gives constructive suggestions as to what could have been done better, in order to help the essay.
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Explain and critically discuss the patterns/growth of the international businesses.
- Understand and critically discuss the principles and characteristics of managing across boundaries.
- Critically discuss how to build international strategic capabilities and match competitive challenges.
- Understand and critically evaluate appropriate organizational structures and coordination & control mechanisms.
- Critically discuss how to generate and leverage knowledge globally and how to gain insidership into new networks.
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Reading List
FK: Frynas, Jedrzej George and Mellahi, Kamel (2011) Global Strategic Management, 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press. [ISBN 978-0-19-954393-9]
CKR: Cavusgil, S. Tamer, Knight, Gary and Riesenberger, John (2014) International Business: The New Realities, 3rd Edition. Prentice Hall. [ISBN -10: 0132991268 ¿ ISBN-13: 9780132991261]
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Cognitive and practice skills. On completion of the course you should be able to:
-Evaluate practical management problems and developing viable solutions.
-Manage and analyse relevant information about firms in a clear, sound and explicit way.
-Apply models of international business management to challenging and complex circumstances
-Work in multicultural teams of the type normally involved in making international strategies
-Communicate analyses and conclusions clearly and persuasively
-Be able to argue a strategy at a senior level
-Be able and confident to present at a senior level
-Know how to source and collect material relevant to a senior level decision |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Simon Harris
Tel: 07946 645069
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr Peter Newcombe
Tel: (0131 6)51 3013
Email: |
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