Overview of Course

The effects of international cultural differences on business practices within and outside the United States are examined in this class, and methods are provided to build synergies and enhance competitive advantage via those differences. This course is designed to challenge you to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the ways in which culture affects management decisions; to examine more closely your own assumptions, values, and beliefs and consider how they may affect cross-cultural management situations; and to become more familiar with the values of different countries, cultures, and their management styles. This class will explore some of the challenges that managers will face when adapting leadership practices and business strategies in a dynamic, global economy.

International Management includes topics such as the following: globalization, assessing the political, economic, legal and technological environment; ethics and sustainability, and social responsibility; understanding culture, religion and geography as it applies to international management, cross-cultural communication and negotiation, developing and implementing international strategy; entry strategies such as exporting, mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and alliances; emerging economy firms; organizational structure; motivating and leading; developing a global management cadre and expatriate success; and global human resource management issues including staffing, training and compensation for MNCs. Cases used in this class will include: Enrich Not Exploit: Can the New CSR Strategy Help the Body Shop Regain Its Glory?; Eliminating Modern Slavery from Supply Chains: Can Nestle Lead the Way?; Anju Pathak Returns to India; Souq.com and the Battle for the Future of eCommerce Business in the MENA Region; Amazon in China; Daimler Chrysler: Facing a Media Firestorm; and Cirque de Soleil’s Global HR Practices.