International Business Strategy
The subject is lectured in these programmes:
International Business Strategy |
| Prof. Guillaume Finck |
| WHAT DO STUDENTS GAIN FROM THE STUDY AND FROM COMPLETING THIS SUBJECT |
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Studying this subject will give you a critical appreciation of both the opportunities and challenges associated with the increasing globalization of markets. An analysis on the key environmental forces shaping consumer needs and preferences, the impact of foreign political and economic factors on companies, the influence of international competition, market segmentation and strategy decisions specific to international marketing. It will also help to learn how to design a specific International Strategy, and when appropriate, to free yourself from the usual strategies. After completing this subject, you will be able to understand which type of strategy is better suited better for a certain company according its internationalization stage, resources and objectives and analyze the impact of cultural, social, political and economic factors on business strategies. Studying this subject will mainly give you an opportunity to continuously consult your lecturer, an expert on the topic, about real problems, practical cases and situations, and to design a solution to these problems in the form of practically oriented case study (essay) elaborated under the lecturer’s guidance. As the consultations are not held in groups but only between you and the lecturer, you can consult also sensitive company issues, including specific data etc., without any worries about sharing this information with other students. The output from this subject is thus a valuable document that can be immediately used in your own company or job, providing high value-added thanks to one-to-one consultations with an expert. |
| EXAMPLES OF FIELDS AND TOPICS TO BE CONSULTED WITH THE LECTURER |
| Field 1 - Develop a concrete and operational understanding of strategic and tactical options. |
| Field 2 - Understand the challenges and methods necessary for an industry analysis. |
| Field 3 - Be able, once the rules are mastered, to break them when necessary. |
| Field 4 - Choose one of the international market entry mode available for a company pursuing an international development strategy. |
| Field 5 - Assess a company’s export capabilities. |
| Field 6 - Build an export plan. |
| Field 7 - Research and select an international target market. |
| Field 8 - Understand the global influences in business such as currencies, oil, politics, etc… |
| More topics within the lecturer’s area of competence can be agreed upon |
| COMPLETION OF THE SUBJECT |
| In order to complete the subject, students elaborates an essay in which they address a specific topic from their practice related to the given subject, or one of the model topics prepared by the lecturer (see below). The essay should contain 7-10 pages in the A4 format, comprising at least 8 standard pages of text. The evaluation of the essay is done by the lecturer and expressed in percentage 50% and more means that the student has completed the subject successfully. |
| MODEL TOPICS FOR THE ESSAY |
| 1. Should Apple organize a takeover of Samsung? |
| 2. What would you do differently if you were the CEO of Sony? |
| 3. What would be your strategic recommendations for Tesla? |
| STUDY LITERATURE AND OTHER RESOURCES : |
| Supporting study materials elaborated by the lecturer (available online in the study system) |
| E-books available online: |
| Business Strategy And Strategic Planning by Neil Ritson |
| https://bookboon.com/en/business-strategy-and-strategic-planning-ebook |
| Other study literature (Authors: Name, Publisher, Year of publishing, ISBN): |
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Charles W. L. Hill and G. Tomas M. Hult (2019): International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace, 12th Edition |
| Other useful resources (videos, online professional groups, blogs, discussions etc.): |
| NPR https://www.npr.org/sections/news/?t=1548403308783 |
| BBC News https://www.bbc.com/news |
| The Art of War, Sun Tzu. |
| The Prince, Machiavelli |