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2021/2022  KAN-CCMVI2097U  International Strategic Management

English Title
International Strategic Management

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Full Degree Master
Duration Summer
Start time of the course Summer
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Max. participants 60
Study board
Study Board for MSc in Economics and Business Administration
Course coordinator
  • Michael Mueller - Department of International Economics, Goverment and Business (EGB)
For academic questions related to the course, please contact course coordinator Michael Mueller at mm.egb@cbs.dk
Main academic disciplines
  • Globalisation and international business
  • Management
  • Strategy
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 01/12/2021

Relevant links
Learning objectives
To achieve the grade 12, students should meet the following learning objectives with no or only minor mistakes or errors:
  • Identify key concepts, frameworks and theories behind international strategic management practices discussed during the course.
  • Use relevant theories and frameworks to analyze challenges and problems associated with implementation of international management practices.
  • Understand and assess the dilemmas and challenges facing the international manager in different contexts and different phases of the business cycle.
  • Discuss how recent developments in international business challenges conventional strategic management practices.
  • Apply and critically assess international strategic management theories and frameworks to real cases.
Course prerequisites
Completed a Social Science Bachelor
Examination
International Strategic Management:
Exam ECTS 7.5
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Size of written product Max. 15 pages
Assignment type Project
Duration Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Summer
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
The 1st and 2nd retake is a 72-hour, maximum 10-pages home assignment
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

Internationalization is reshaping our world, and it will continue to do so. International firms manufacture, sell, service, and employ people in markets with different cultures, beliefs, laws, and socio-economic development in comparison to their home market. To cope with the dynamics brought by increased international activity, firms need to develop strategies and international managerial capabilities to compete and survive in today’s world. This course examines the international environment, strategic and managerial issues related to international firms’ operations. In this course, we move beyond the 'usual suspects' of European and North American countries to base some of the topics covered around situations in Africa. We also incorporate some CSR and sustainability issues, and we direct our attention toward the exciting topic of cross-cultural management. This course is designed to stimulate discussions concerning managerial decision-making and reflections on contemporary international strategic management topics. Lectures and case analysis will provide key elements regarding firms’ strategies and management across cultural and geographical borders.


Among the core topics of the course are:

• Formulating and implementing strategy for international firms

• International location choice and timing

• Internationalization of platform businesses
• The role of culture across boundaries
• Developing international management capabilities

Students will learn to identify key concepts, frameworks, and theories behind international strategic management practices; and to creatively apply knowledge from different approaches to the problems facing today’s international firms.

 

Class 1: What is strategy?
Class 2: Why do firms go abroad?
Class 3: What to Internationalize?
Class 4: Where and when to go?
Class 5: Internationalization of platform businesses
Class 6: The role of culture in the corporate world 

Class 7: The international manager's role and environment
Class 8: Developing international management capabilities
Class 9: Implementing market entry strategy
Class 10: Subsidiary management across borders
Class 11: Responsible international business

 

Preliminary assignment: Complete a pre-course survey and read a few short texts about Globalization and the Corporate World.
Description of the teaching methods
This course builds on a combination of readings, lectures, podcasts, videos, and cases. Cases and real-life examples – which cover a variety of industries and national contexts – are used as vehicles to explore and sensitize students to a range of common issues in the formulation and implementation of international strategic management. Students will have the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of core concepts in in-class quizzes and are expected to share their insights and experience with the class to help create a constructive learning environment.
Feedback during the teaching period
Exam style case with individual feedback
Student workload
Preliminary assignment 5 hours
Classroom attendance 33 hours
Preparation 131 hours
Feedback activity 7 hours
Exam paper 30 hours
Further Information
Ordinary 6 weeks course
 
Preliminary Assignment: 

 

The course coordinator uploads Preliminary Assignment on Canvas at the end of May. It is expected that students participate as it will be included in the final exam, but the assignment is without independent assessment&grading.”

 

“Course and exam timetable is/will be available on https://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/international-summer-university-programme-isup/courses-and-exams

 

We reserve the right to cancel the course if we do not get enough applications. This will be communicated on https://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/international-summer-university-programme-isup/courses-and-exams in start March.”

………………………………………..

 
Expected literature

Alcácer J, Chung W 2014. Location strategies for agglomeration economies. Strategic Management Journal, 35(12): 1749-1761.

Andersen TJ, Andersson U 2017. Multinational Corporate Strategy-Making: Integrating International Business and Strategic Management. The Responsive Global Organization: 13-34.

Beamond MT, Farndale E, Härtel CEJ. 2016. MNE translation of corporate talent management strategies to subsidiaries in emerging economies. Journal of World Business 51(4): 499-510.

Colakoglu S, Caligiuri P 2008. Cultural distance, expatriate staffing and subsidiary performance: The case of US subsidiaries of multinational corporations. International Journal of Human Resource Management 19(2): 223-239.

Dikova D, van Witteloostuijn A, Parker S 2017. Capability, environment and internationalization fit, and financial and marketing performance of MNEs' foreign subsidiaries An abductive contingency approach. Cross Cultural & Strategic Management 24(3): 405-435.

Dow D, Baack D, Parente R 2018. The role of psychic distance in entry mode decisions: Magnifying the threat of opportunism or increasing the need for local knowledge? Global Strategy Journal 10(2): 309-334.

Drogendijk R, Holm U. 2012. Cultural distance or cultural positions? Analysing the effect of culture on the HQ-subsidiary relationship. International Business Review 21(3): 383-396.

Eisenmann T, Parker G and Van Alstyne MW, 2006. Strategies for two-sided markets. Harvard business review, 84(10): 92.

Ghemawat P 2001. Distance still matters. The hard reality of global expansion. Harv Bus Rev 79(8): 137-140, 142-137, 162.

Gong Y 2006. The impact of subsidiary top management team national diversity on subsidiary performance: Knowledge and legitimacy perspectives. Management International Review 46(6): 771-790.

Gundelach H 2021. Subsidiary Survival in Challenging Business Environments in East Africa. Copenhagen, Denmark, Copenhagen Business School.

Gundelach H, Hansen MW. 2020. The Dynamics of Entry Mode Choice in Challenging Business Environments: An Exploratory Study of Medium Sized Exporters’ Entry into Africa. International Journal of Export Marketing 3(3): 174-203.

Hernandez, E 2014. Finding a home away from home: Effects of immigrants on firms’ foreign location choice and performance. Administrative Science Quarterly, 59(1): 73-108.

Kogut B, Singh H 1988. The Effect of National Culture on the Choice of Entry Mode. Journal of International Business Studies 19(3): 411-432.

Meyer E 2014. Navigating the Cultural Minefield. Harvard Business Review(May): 119-123.

Neilson GL, Martin KL, Powers E 2008. The Secrets to Successful Strategy Execution. Harvard Business Review(June): 61-70.

Sheehan M 2012. Investing in management development in turbulent times and perceived organisational performance: a study of UK MNCs and their subsidiaries. International Journal of Human Resource Management 23(12): 2491-2513.

Zaheer, S 1995. Overcoming the liability of foreignness. Academy of Management Journal, 38(2): 341-363.

Zeng YP, Shenkar O, Lee SH, Song S. 2013. Cultural differences, MNE learning abilities, and the effect of experience on subsidiary mortality in a dissimilar culture: Evidence from Korean MNEs. Journal of International Business Studies 44(1): 42-65.
Last updated on 01/12/2021