TOPICS IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

BA 447 SPRING 2006

Lecture Slides/Materials

Professor:   Manolete V. Gonzalez, Phd    Email: gonzalezm@bus.oregonstate.edu

                        Office: B 224B

                        Office hours: T 1-2pm; W 3-4 pm; Th 9-10am

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The objective of this course is to investigate selected topics in International Business with the end in view of providing an understanding of “unique problems, characteristics, and demands” on a multinational enterprise.  Because the list of issues can be potentially long, we will identify a limited set of issues and attempt to study them well.  The course will be investigative in approach, with the intent of encouraging students to continue to learn beyond this course; we will also investigate these from the perspective of strategic and operational decisions that multinational enterprises face.

In terms of learning outcomes, at the end of this course, students must demonstrate:

1) An awareness of strategic issues that can affect a multinational enterprise;

2) Capacity to investigate one such issue in its complexity;

3) And to determine the impact of these issues on a particular multinational enterprise.

The structure of this course is designed to allow investigation.  We will start with Thomas Friedman’s book, for no other reason than it is current and it provides a reasonably cohesive framework within which to understand how global business is evolving.  We will use our discussion of this book to define an initial list of issues for further study.  I have added a few other issues that I believe are relevant.  We will investigate these issues through a process of readings and discussion; in most cases I will provide the initial material, in all cases, I would like students to surprise me by suggesting material that are relevant and useful.  See the comment on Readings below.

REQUIREMENTS

Text: The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman

Readings: Economist, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Asian Wall Street Journal, websites of such organizations as the World Bank, and websites indicated in the schedule below.

Students are expected to read the assigned chapters of the text and contents of website indicated in the schedule below.  They should also regularly scan the headlines of the publications under Readings and read the articles that interest you and which you think relate to topics covered in this class.  If a student does not subscribe to these publications, he or she can go to the library and go over issues published this year.

REQUIREMENTS AND GRADES

There are no midterm or final exams required for this course.  Because of the nature of the course, this is a topics course, and the nature of the topics we will cover, the requirements below are intended to encourage class attendance and participation.

QUIZZES AND ASSIGNMENTS

There will be quizzes, assignments, and un-graded in-class writing exercises to measure the first learning outcome.  Expect a quiz by the second week of classes; all other quizzes will not be announced; there will be no make-ups for quizzes missed.

On days with an (*) below the date, bring a copy of an article that is related to a chapter or reading assigned for the day and a short statement (handwritten, typed, one paragraph, whatever) as to what the article is about and why it is relevant.  

TERM PROJECT

A two-part term project will be required and will form the major portion of a student’s grade.  The requirements for this term project are described below.  Each student will work with a group of 4 in fulfilling this requirement.  I will break up the class into groups early in the term.  

I will require each group to establish expectations/criteria covering group participation early in the term and will require a peer evaluation to be submitted along with the term project.  These peer evaluations will be considered in determining the term project grade to each member.

GRADE DISTRIBUTION

The following will provide the basis for a students grade:

                                                                        Weight

Quizzes and in-class writing                          30%

Report on Corporation (A)                             30%

Report on ISSUE (B)                                      40%

TERM PROJECT

A two part term project will be required and used to measure the second and third learning outcomes.  Each group will identify a corporation with global operations which will become the focus of their investigations.  These groups will then write on the following:

A) CORPORATION PORTION: An investigation of a corporation answering the questions: what are potential or current developments of a global nature that may affect this corporation? how or why is the company particularly vulnerable to these developments?

B) ISSUE PORTION: An in depth investigation of a development raised in (A).

Both of these portions of the term projects must be of a quality that one would submit to senior executives of a multinational company, e.g. the CEO and/or the Board.   Note: length will be from 5 to 10 pages for each portion, typed, double spaced., place only your group or student id numbers on the report.  The term project will be submitted in two parts and each group will be asked to present both to the class.  (Please refer to the Schedule.) 

Regarding the CORPORATION PORTION, a good paper will answer the questions raised earlier in a comprehensive and logical manner.  The following should be considered as parts of such a paper:

1) What are important strategically to this global company?  For example, in what countries or regions of the world are the company’s major sources of revenues, raw materials, production facilities, etc. located?

2) A description of potential developments/issues in the global arena, whether discussed in class or those that you may identify, which may impact this company.  Examples of potential developments or issues are possible WTO decisions that may affect the company’s ability to sell in particular countries, threats to their supply chain because of terrorist activities or political unrest in a region, shortages in resources such as crude oil, water, etc.

3) How can these developments affect the corporation?  Are these opportunities or threats?  Use factors mentioned in (1), to explain relevance.

Regarding the ISSUE PORTION of the term project, a good report will be a paper with an argument that goes something like the following arguments: the coverage of this issue in the popular press would make one conclude that ____, however there is more to be considered; or, the rhetoric of some groups would have us believe that ___, however this is far from ___.  The following should be considered parts of such a paper.

1) What is the “conventional wisdom” on this ISSUE?  This would be a description of the ISSUE or development being investigated that one may obtain by reviewing popular press.  These should include a discussion of symptoms, or events reported in popular press that point to this ISSUE, its nature e.g. technological in nature, political, religious, etc., and its scope, e.g. global, specific region of the world, a major market for the company, etc.

2) A discussion of its history or its roots, the areas of the globe it affects, and different sides or aspects of the issue. 

3) What does your group conclude to be a more informed view of the issue or development?

I can give several examples of a potential developments, including papers from the previous class which I kept, and we will discuss these in class. 

ba 447 SPRING 2006 gonzalez

1. Subject to change.  Changes will be announced in class and a revised version of this schedule will be posted.

2. Should a guest speaker be scheduled, please submit a short summary of what was presented for check-off.

Day	Topic (Ch # refers to Friedman book)
04/04	How the World Became Flat Ch 1: While I Was Sleeping Introduction to the course; course requirements. Brainstorming exercise “what are the major issues facing multinational companies?” Understanding global nature of companies
04/06	Ch 2: The 10 Forces that Flattened the World FORM GROUPS
04/11	Ch 3: The Triple Convergence DISCUSS CORPORATE PORTION OF TERM PROJECT FINALIZE GROUPS
04/13 **	Ch 4: The Great Sorting Out Ch 10: How Companies Cope DISCUSS ISSUES PORTION OF TERM PROJECT
04/18 *	Developing Countries and the Flat World Ch 9: The Virgin of Guadalupe
04/20	- Continue with Ch 9: Other “Outsourcing” Countries
04/25 *	Geopolitics and the Flat World Ch 11: The Unflat World Ch 12: The Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention
04/27	Governance. Ch 11 raises issues regarding globalization that are significant: poverty alleviation in the form of fighting disease and also enabling the marginalized; globalization, pros, cons, how; religious and ideological conflicts (which we sometimes conveniently sweep under the label “terrorism”).  Ch 12 deals with how economic imperatives sometimes override political conflict.  Scan for relevant material and lets discuss.
5/02	Corruption. Corruption is the absence of or weak governance.  This is referred to in Ch 11, but I want to spend a separate session on this.  Reading on the SAUD family <http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200305/baer>; also scan World Bank site (TBA)
05/04 *	Environment. Scan Readings and your other sources on Global warming and international efforts towards sustainable developments
05/09	WTO – general introduction Reading material: <http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/whatis_e.htm>
05/11 *	WTO – issues
05/16	NOTE:  Use 05/16 and 05/18to work on Term Projects.  I will keep office hours during the class period on these two days to provide students the opportunity to consult with me on specific questions regarding their term projects.  Student groups will present the results of their findings on the CORPPORATIONS portion of their term projects on 05/23 and 05/25.   Assume 5 minute presentation and 5 minutes for Q&A per group.  Written reports on CORPORATION PORTION are due 05/25.
05/18	see NOTE above
05/23	see NOTE above
05/25	see NOTE above
05/30 *	America and the Flat World Ch 5, 6, 7 & 8 Scan Readings on ethical issues surrounding Wal-Mart
06/01	Student groups will present the results of their findings on the ISSUES portion from 06/01 to 06/08.  Assume 10 minute presentation and 5 minutes for Q&A per group.  We will then spend a portion of 06/08 to recap, Written reports on the ISSUES PORTION are due 06/09.
06/06	see NOTE above
06/08	see NOTE above; wrap up.

NOTES:

** Expect a long quiz on this day (at least 10% of grade.)  All other quizzes will not be announced.

*   I will collect  assignments on these days (each will be worth 2% of grade.)