2017/18 Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue

LUBS5820M International Business Management

15 creditsClass Size: 60

Module manager: Professor Frank McDonald
Email: f.e.mcdonald@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: 1 Sep to 30 Nov View Timetable

Year running 2017/18

Module replaces

LUBS 5819M

This module is not approved as an Elective

Objectives

International Business Management is about understanding the internationalization process of firms. This process entails a string of consecutive decisions that organizations (MNEs and SMEs) make in order to expand abroad. The course has a theoretical as well as a practical element that are closely intertwined. During the IBM programme case studies will be used to illustrate the major motivations for, and the strategic and management implications of, internationalizing processes.

Learning outcomes
Knowledge outcomes

Upon completion of this module, students will be able to:
- Identify and apply the core concepts of IB to the internationalization process of firms.
- Interpret the uncertainties of globalization and its effect on the international expansion of organizations.
- Use entry mode choice theory and location choice theory to assess the internationalization processes of real-life business cases.
- Evaluate and choose appropriate strategies and management practices that are conducive for achieving the internationalization objectives of firms.

Skills outcomes

Upon completion of this module, students will be able to:
- Formulate coherent international plans in the context of the global economy.
- Design crucial parameters for structuring, managing and controlling foreign subsidiaries.
- Communicate and develop a sound internationalization strategy for an organization.
- Identify major cultural, institutional and organizational differences between home and host locations and evaluate the effectiveness of measures to effectively manage key issues arising from these differences.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the importance for effectively managing internationalization processing arising from ethical imperatives, including differences in these imperatives in the variety of political, cultural and institutional environments in which firms operate.

Syllabus

Indicative content:
- The opportunities and threats of globalizations and firms’ decision to internationalize - key issues affecting global value chains arising from economic, geographic, cultural, and institutional distance.
- Alternative methods of foreign market servicing: licensing, exporting and direct foreign investment.
- Foreign market entry strategies - joint ventures, wholly owned subsidiaries, greenfield ventures and merger and acquisition
- Location decisions of MNE at national and sub-national level and coordinating global value chains.
- The importance of internal and external isomorphism for adjusting to institutional/cultural distance.
- Non-economic market considerations for international firms (e.g., political/economic issues connected to the effects of globalization on - impact in home and host locations on economic growth, employment, income distribution and physical environment considerations; ethical issues linked to these political/economic effects of globalization).

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Workshop	3	8.00	24.00
Independent online learning hours			10.00
Private study hours			116.00
Total Contact hours			24.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			150.00

Private study

Private study and independent learning will be conducted in the following ways:
a. Prior to the commencement of the teaching of the module, students will have access via VLE to a series of short videos (5 to 10 minutes) and other online resources on three major areas - i) differing views on the globalization process; ii) the concept of global value chains and key strategic issues for the effective development of these chains; iii) outlines of various opportunities and liabilities faced by firms that are engaged in international business. In addition, guidance on using internet sources to obtain relevant data will be available. This material will be blended into, and developed, in the three-day delivery of the module. This will include breakout activities during the delivery of the module to explore the implications of internationalization for specific topics covered in the module (e.g. managing the liabilities of foreignness, smallness and newness for an SME embarking on internationalization). This will blend the knowledge gained from information provided on VLE with material delivered in the module and will involve students working together in small groups to develop their understanding of key issues.

b. After a three-day workshop, students are required to work on a project involving the internationalization projects of firms that they work for, or are familiar with: or to assess the opportunities and challenges for firms (or organizations) they work for to engage in, or to develop, internationalization. Additional reading material will be provided to the students that might be helpful for them in developing their assignments.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Formative feedback will be provided in the breakout sessions. A discussion forum will be available to make comments and to ask and answer questions about the material covered in the lectures, breakout sessions and on issues connected with the written assignment. Students may also raise (by email to the module leader) specific issues, or ask questions, about the material covered in the delivery of the module and about the written assignment.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Report	3000 words	100.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

The resit for this module will be 100% by coursework

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 27/03/2018

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