TOPICS IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

BA 447 WINTER 2006

Lecture Slides/Materials

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

                        Office: B 224B

                        Office hours: W 2:30-4:00pm; Th 12:30-2:00pm

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 to encourage students can 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.

There will be quizzes, assignments, and un-graded in-class writing exercises to measure the first learning outcome.  The objective of these class activities is to encourage preparation before coming to class and participation, both of which serve to build awareness of the materials being covered.  Expect a quiz by the second week of classes; 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 used to measure the second and third learning outcomes.  I will break up the class into groups early in the term.  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 the aspects of this corporation that makes issues discussed in class risk- or opportunity-laden to this corporation; how is it vulnerable; why.

B) ISSUE PORTION: An in depth investigation of an issue raised during the term and/or in the course of the students’ investigation of (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 a such paper:

1) What are important strategically to this company?  Where are its major sources of business?  Supplies?  What can affect a large portion of its profits?

2) Potential developments in the global arena, issues discussed in class, which may impact this company.

3) How can these issues affect the corporation, citing factors mentioned in (1), separating risks and opportunities, and explaining relevance to the corporation.

Regarding the ISSUE PORTION of the term project, a good report will be a paper with an argument that goes something like the following: the coverage of this issue in the popular press would make one conclude ____, however there is more ___; 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?  A description of the ISSUE or development being investigated, including a discussion of symptoms, e.g. events reported in popular press that point to this ISSUE, and its nature e.g. technological in nature, political, religious, 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’s research suggest as a more informed view of the ISSUE.

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.

GRADES

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%

No midterm or final exams will be 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 above should suffice.

course schedule

ba 447 WINTER 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.

LECTURE SLIDES

Day	Topic (Ch # refers to Friedman book)
01/09	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?”
01/11	Ch 2: The 10 Forces that Flattened the World Ch 3: The Triple Convergence DISCUSS ISSUES PORTION OF TERM PROJECT FORM GROUPS
01/16	MLK day
01/18 **	Ch 4: The Great Sorting Out Ch 10: How Companies Cope DISCUSS CORPORATE PORTION OF TERM PROJECT FINALIZE GROUPS
01/23 *	Developing Countries and the Flat World Ch 9: The Virgin of Guadalupe
01/25	- Continue with Ch 9: Other “Outsourcing” Countries
01/30 *	Geopolitics and the Flat World Ch 11: The Unflat World Ch 12: The Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention
02/01	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.
02/06	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)
02/08 *	WTO – general introduction Reading material: <http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/whatis_e.htm>
02/13	WTO – issues
02/15 *	Environment. Scan Readings and your other sources on Global warming and international efforts towards sustainable developments
02/20 *	Guest Speaker: cancelled.  In lieu of this activity, America and the Flat World Ch 5, 6, 7 & 8 Scan Readings on ethical issues surrounding Wal-Mart
02/22	NOTE:  Use 02/22 and 2/27to 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 03/01 and 03/06, and ISSUES portion from 03/08 to 03/15.  Assume 10 minute presentation and 5 minutes for Q&A per group for the first, and 15 minutes and 10 minutes for the second set of presentations.
02/27	see NOTE above
03/01	see NOTE above
03/06	see NOTE above
03/08	see NOTE above
03/13	see NOTE above
03/15	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.)