• Explain how firms and strategy evolve as they globalize
• Describe the genesis of cultures and traditions and how they affect strategic management decisions
• Reflect on the complexity of the relations between the global environment and business decisions
• Apply concepts, theories, models and frameworks for international management and marketing
• Identify, analyze, and use secondary data sources to identify new opportunities for market entry and growth

All business in global domestic markets are merely segments of an interconnected global environment. In the internet age, many firms are “born global” and from their inception, they serve customers and employ workers beyond their national borders. Nonetheless, many of the  world’s major global players have evolved over time from domestic to multidomestic (multinational) to global companies.  Global firms differ from others not because of their organizational charts, but rather because they adopt a strategic perspective from which they seek opportunities across the globe along all links of the value chain.  Global managers understand that the boundaries of political maps defined by countries, while convenient, do not capture the complexities of a truly integrated, global economy. 
Your generation faces challenges and enjoys opportunities on a global scale like no generation before. Within your own short lifetimes, the BRIC countries (Brail, Russia, India and China) as well as other emerging economies such as South Africa and Turkey have come to prominence.  At the same time, the recent global financial crises have presented great challenges to countries within the Euro Zone.  A key objective of this course is to broaden student horizons by providing cases and examples across all of these other regions of the world.
Everything everywhere takes place against the backdrop of culture.  Too often, students and managers throw up their hands and attribute differences and misunderstanding to the mysteries of something called “culture.” One of the main goals I have in teaching this course is to demystify notions of culture.  Often, culture is presented in terms of customs and traditions that are sacred and sometimes exotic.  Indeed, I believe taking the time to understand the genesis of these traditions leads to the conclusion that, within the local context, they make practical sense. That is, most customs and traditions have their beginnings in solving 
By taking this course, students should become more comfortable asking questions about why cultures develop the way they do and to understand how they make sense in their local contexts. Beyond developing a better understanding of cultures, students should become comfortable using existing theoretical models for analysing comparative and competitive advantages of different countries, regions, and attractiveness for making value-chain related strategic management and marketing decisions related to market selection, development, diversification, and growth.

Preliminary assignment:  Students should identify a company that they believe is truly global and explain how they define what a global company is, and justify why the company they choose qualifies as global.

Class 1:The Evolution of the Global Economy and Global Companies
Class 2:Strategy Basics
Class 3: Competitive Advantage of Nations
Class 4:Understanding the Global Environment (PESTL)
Class 5: Competitive Rivalry
Class 6: Culture - A practical Guide

Class 7: Marketing Research for Market Entry
Class 8: Market Entry Strategies
Class 9: Adaption vs. Standardization: Product and Price
Class 10: Adaptation vs. Standardization: Promotion and Distribution
Class 11: Comprehensive Review

Preliminary Assignment: To help students get maximum value from ISUP courses, instructors provide a reading or a small number of readings or video clips to be read or viewed before the start of classes with a related task scheduled for class 1 in order to 'jump-start' the learning process.

Course timetable is 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 end February 2018 at the latest.

Mandatory readings:

Hitt, Michael A, R. Duane Ireland, and Robert E. Hoskisson (2013) Competitiveness and Globalization: Strategic Management, South-western Cengage Learning