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International Business

Department of International Business

College of Management, NDHU

Fall 2008

Time-                   10am-5pm, every Bi-weekly Saturday

Classroom-         A209, College of MGMT

Instructors-         Prof. Lin (The 1^st Half);           Prof. Luan (The 2^nd Half)

Office-                MGMT B322 (Prof. Lin; L);    MGMT A421 (Prof. Luan; l)

Email-                  (L) tjlin@mail.ndhu.edu.tw;    (l) cjluan@mail.ndhu.edu.tw

Office Hours-     by appointment (L- ext.3051; l- ext. 3059)

 ¡§Good science is good conversation¡¨

      Nature and Scope of the Course

Today, companies are confronting an increasing array of choices of markets, of locations for value adding activities, and of modes of crossing borders. This course will emphasize the international dimensions of trades, investment, strategies and organizations, and will offer a framework for formulating strategies in an increasingly complex world economy, and for making those strategies work effectively. 

The first section of the course provides the basics for understanding cross-cultural difference and competitiveness in international business at the level of the nations.  International business theories and strategic decision consideration on investment across boarders are included in the first section as well.  Taking advantages of those opportunities faces enormous managerial challenges, and the second section of the course focuses on international business strategies, for instance, licensing, joint venture, and assorted possible entry modes modern enterprises have adopted.  The goal of this course is to provide the foundations for taking effective actions in the multi-faceted world of international business.

We will start with a presentation-lecture-discussion format.  Before a class, students should be ready about the required readings or chapters for further discussion in the class.   Participants will be grouped by no more 3 persons[1], and one of the groups will be assigned to present the readings of that session in about 30 minutes.  After that presentation, lecturing and discussion will follow, and any supplementary documents, for instance, studied cases, will be released if any.  Also, lecturers will have the rights to adjust the processes if necessary.

      Textbook and Teaching Materials

       Textbook-  Hill, C. L., International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace, 6^th edition, 2007, McGraw-Hill (Mandarin Edition is also available)

       Cases-     Harvard Business School Cases (if necessary); participants should pay copyrights (about US$3) for each case

       Lecture notes, if any, will be offered in each class, and other teaching materials will be also provided if necessary.

       Reference-  Doz, Y., Santos, J., and Williamson, P., From Global to Metanational: How Companies Win in the Knowledge Economy (Harvard Business School Press, 2002)

      Course Requirements

   Meaningful Participation- Sufficient mutual communication is the key to effective learning, so being present is the essential commitment.  Moreover, aggressive participation also includes preparation before the class, expressing opinions when discussion and exchanging ideas during the class.  To enforce the mutual learning process, in addition to the comprehensive exam, learning activities are based groups.  Taking loading of assignment and cost of intra-group coordination into account, a group is composed of no more 3 persons.  Please complete the grouping list before the first assignment is due.

   Case & Write-ups- Case studies are to goal to train students¡¦ abilities to analyze issues, think logically, propose alternative and make strategic decisions, under the real case and contingent information, based on the knowledge in the class.  In addition to CASE write-up, each group should also hand in a BI-WEEKLY write-up related to the contents of assigned chapters by the class.  The write-up should be 2-paged, double-spaced, and well-typed, and include each member¡¦s signature on the cover page, about assigned readings or chapters in that very session.  For fair evaluation, no late submissions will be allowed.

   Comprehensive Exam- This is to aim to testing students¡¦ comprehensiveness on concepts, structures, and critical issues related to international business in order to evaluate individual difference.  Because the exam is to test what you should know in the course (rather than what you do not know), do not worry too much if you fully participate the class.

      Grading Policy

                        Comprehensive Exam                                                 50%

                        Case & Bi-weekly Write-ups and Assignments          40%

                        Class Participation                                                       10%

           Feel free to let us know if you have any questions about the course.

           Wish you a great journey of the course- International Business.

Tentative Schedule ^a

      Session I- Introduction

W1        9/20              (L) Introduction: Globalization

        Hill[2] (Ch. 1)

      Session II- International Environment and Trade

W2        10/4               (L) Cross-border Environment and International Trade Theories

        Hill (Ch. 2.3.5.6)

        Case I- Matsushita

W3        10/18             (L) FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), Ethics and Regional Integration

        Hill (Ch. 7.8.4.9)

        Case II- Starbucks

W4       11/1                (L) Guest Speeches- Topics: TBC

W5        11/15              (L) Corporate Visit- Topic: International Trade Procedures

      Session III- International Business (IB) Strategy and Org. Structure

W6        11/29             (l) IB Strategy, Organization, and Entry Strategy

        Hill (Ch. 10.11.12.13)

        Case III- P&G

W7        12/13             (l) Operational Strategies

        Hill (Ch. 14.15.16)

        Case IV- NTT DoCoMo¡¦s Marketing Strategy

W8        12/27             (l) Theme-based Film Case Studies

W9        ¡¥09/1/10        (l) Comprehensive Exam; Course Wrap-up and Review

^a Session I and II (W1-W5) are scheduled to Prof. Lin¡¦s (L); Session III (W6-W9) is to Luan¡¦s (l)