MGMT221-17S1 (C) Semester One 2017

International Business

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 20 February 2017
End Date: Sunday, 25 June 2017
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 3 March 2017
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 19 May 2017

Description

This course introduces the major topics in International Business, including comparative environmental frameworks, government and economic influences, import/export, and organisation of international business. The course emphasises the pervasive repercussions of global issues on contemporary business management and the role of the business owner or executive manager.

International Business is one of your key courses, given the increasingly global nature of commerce. It will take a strategic perspective in introducing you to the international dimensions of managing organisations. Although New Zealand’s place in international business will be explored, the emphasis is on developing an international rather than a local perspective. The IB paper is essential to everyone with a sense of adventure and curiosity about the wider business world: not only those aiming to work overseas in large corporates, but also those heading to smaller and/or domestic organisations, and budding entrepreneurs. The format will be as interactive and applied as possible with formal lecture input, videos and cases; and informal discussion and debate where possible. Although theory is vital to understand what’s going on in international business, the applied emphasis will enable you to link course themes and issues to the practitioner world.

Relationship to other courses
This is a core course in the Management, International Business, and Strategy and Entrepreneurship BCom majors. It is an introduction to international business focused on strategically managing an organisation. This course is complemented by MGMT344 Strategic Management and MGMT344 Strategy Processes & Practices. It also helps prepare students for the MCom masters and BCom Honours programmes.

The estimated workload for MGMT221 is:
Lectures 24 hours
Lecture preparation 33 hours
Weekly quizzes 11 hours
Group project 50 hours (per person)
Exam preparation 30 hours
Final exam 2 hours
Total 150 hours

Learning Outcomes

  • The aim of the course is to introduce you to the international strategic dimensions of management at the level of the organisation. Selected BCom programme Graduate Attributes and Learning Outcomes are as below, with relevant course-specific Learning Outcomes for MGMT221 bulleted under each:

    Attribute 1: Critically competent in a core academic discipline of their degree
    LO1.1.1. Graduates can demonstrate an understanding of theory, concepts, models or reasoning from their selected subject major to a problem/issue/context.
  • Recognise the main contemporary international, supra-national and global strategic impacts upon organisations. The final exam is an opportunity to demonstrate advanced knowledge of international business theory and practice.
  • Explain the different roles Multinational Enterprises and Small-and-Medium-sized Enterprises play in international business. The Learn quizzes help assess this.

    Attribute 2: Employable, innovative and enterprising
    LO2.1.1. Students can apply subject specific knowledge and tools to analyse, propose a solution to and/or address a given problem or issue. Innovative approaches and solutions are encouraged.
  • Interpret spatial strategic situations, evaluate strategic choices and identify nascent strategic options firms have chosen in response to spatial impacts. The group project requires application of theories and techniques to an organisation’s strategy problems.

    LO2.1.4. Students can write a report/essay on a problem/issue/situation/scenario that:
    a. incorporates content at an appropriate level of detail
    b. is logically structured
    c. is presented professionally using correct English, referencing and appropriate resources.

    LO2.1.5. Students can work effectively in a team in order to reach a common goal.

  • Manage a group project involving the effective delegation of specific analytical, writing and editing tasks and the coordination of all team members over the entire project period; and the on-time delivery of the final project report.

    Attribute 5: Globally Aware
    LO5.1.1. Students can identify, consider and debate perspectives, processes and impacts relating to globalisation and localisation in different contexts, drawing on theory and practice when considering issues in their discipline or field of study.

  • Demonstrate knowledge of the business environment of specific regions/countries that are of increasing importance to internationalising companies. The Learn quizzes help evaluate this.

    LO5.1.2. Students can identify, consider and debate perspectives, processes and impacts relating to the culture and identity of multiple stakeholders, drawing on theory and practice when considering issues in their discipline or field of study.

  • Review and interpret salient international and national cultural influences upon organizations. This is a specific lecture topic, and Learn quizzes help assess this.

    Holding of student work
    For quality assurance purposes the School is required to hold on record a number of assessment pieces as examples of differing standards of work.  If you have any objections to the school holding your assessment for this purpose then email the course coordinator to ensure your assignment is not used for this purpose.

Prerequisites

(1) MGMT100; and (2) 30 points in ECON, MGMT, MKTG or MSCI

Restrictions

MGMT220

Course Coordinator

For further information see Management, Marketing and Tourism Head of Department

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Quiz 09 Mar 2017 20% Quiz
Group Project 11 May 2017 30% Group Project
Final Examination 50% Final Examination


Learn quizzes are weekly online tests designed to help test your own individual understanding of each of the main topics of the course as you go along. They are based on your Essential Reading (the core text chapter) and the relevant lecture each week (including the video cases presented) – so reading the textbook and regularly attending lectures is essential to successfully completing quizzes. To gain full credit for this item of assessment, you will need to complete all questions for 8 out of 11 quizzes. This item of assessment is not available for aegrotat consideration.

Group Project
The group project will help you understand how international business impacts practically upon a company. It is designed to help you develop applied strategic management understanding and skills. You will be allocated to a group and it is up to you to be able to function effectively as a team to deliver this assignment. All group members will be expected to contribute equally to this assignment; and for all those engaging fully it should be an enjoyable and interesting learning exercise.

Final Examination
The final examination will be a closed book, invigilated, short essay-style, applied 2-hour exam based on material from the lectures and the textbook. The paper is designed to test you on your broad knowledge of International Business issues, concepts and tools from across the course rather than on a single topic. You will need to answer 4 questions from a choice of 6, each from a different topic area. Good answers will use organisational examples to illustrate points drawn from short case studies in the textbook. As well as the textbook cases, I also give company/country examples in the lectures both anecdotally and through the video cases.

Textbooks / Resources

Please buy this or consult a copy in the library, since this is Essential Reading for this course. Do not use previous editions, since much of the material will be out-of-date.

Other material will be posted on the course Learn website.

Notes

Class Representative
A class representative may be asked to volunteer in the first few weeks of class. Any problems with the course can be raised with the class rep. Their email can be found at UCSA. The class representative will take up any issues raised by class members with the lecturer concerned as they occur.

Departmental Academic Policies
The Department assumes that you have read this document.

You should also read the General Course and Examination Regulations

Dishonest Practice
The University of Canterbury considers cheating and plagiarism to be serious acts of dishonesty.  All assessed work must be your own individual work unless specifically stated otherwise in the assessment guidelines. Material quoted from any other source must be clearly acknowledged. You must not copy the work of another person (student or published work) in any assessment including examinations, tests and assignments. Any person, who is found to have copied someone else's work, or to have allowed their work to be copied, will receive a fail grade for that piece of assessment and may face disciplinary action which may lead to a fine, community service or exclusion from the university.

IMPORTANT: Where there are concerns regarding the authorship of written course work, a student can be required to provide a formal, oral explanation of the content of their work.

Coversheets - Group and Individual

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $775.00

International fee $3,188.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Management, Marketing and Tourism .

All MGMT221 Occurrences

  • MGMT221-17S1 (C) Semester One 2017