PROF. STEPHEN SILVER OFFICE: BOND HALL 358
Sections of the Syllabus:
Approximate schedule
of classes
To give
the students a clearer understanding of the world they live in and how to compete,
not only with other U.S. firms, but also with firms from around the world. To
meet this objective, students will study the unique problems confronting
multinational firms and techniques used.
PREREQUISITES
Students
need not have had other business administration courses prior to taking this
course. Knowledge necessary for the
complete understanding of the topics covered, such as economics, will be
covered briefly as needed.
Required text is John S. Hill, World Business: Globalization, Strategy and Analysis,
(Thomson, South Western, 2005). Thomas
L. Friedman, The World is Flat, (Farrar, Strauss
and
Students will gain a greater understanding of the world they
live in, the forces that drive international trade and finance, and the importance
of becoming “internationalized” in order to compete in a shrinking
universe. Among the topics we will
discuss in the course are the following:
·
Cultural
misunderstandings and how these may lead to not “closing the deal”.
·
The effect of current events
on the chances of success.
·
Political climate in a
country and how it affects business risk.
·
How legal factors may
impact
Grading in the course
will consist of five world geography knowledge quizzes, periodic quizzes/short
tests covering concepts covered in class, a final paper/presentation by each
student, and participation/attendance. Grading will be approximately as
follows:
|
Geography quizzes |
35% total; 5 percent each |
|
Quizzes/tests |
10 percent |
|
Final project/presentation |
40 percent |
|
Attendance/participation |
15 percent |
Approximate schedule of class readings and
activities
|
Classes |
Topics |
Chapters and assignments
|
|
Jun 24 |
World
business challenge |
Chapter
1 |
|
26 |
Globalization
and worldwide infrastructure development |
Chapter
2; GQ 1 The |
|
Jul
1 |
Globalization,
technology transfers, economic development, and cultural change |
Chapter
3; Dinner “Las |
|
3 |
Geopolitical
analyses of regional markets |
Chapter
4; GQ 2 |
|
8 |
Analyses
of national markets |
Chapter
5; Dinner “A la Française” at Cocos
|
|
10 |
Analyzing
global industries and competitors |
Chapter
6; GQ 3 East Asia/Oceania |
|
15 |
International
strategic planning and market screening |
Chapter
7; Dinner “Chun Jie” at Red Orchids |
|
17 |
Internationalization
and globalization processes |
Chapter
8; GQ 4 |
|
22 |
Market
entry and servicing strategies |
Chapter
9; Dinner “Thousand and One Nights” [Couscous, anyone?] |
|
24 |
Global
and multi-market strategies |
Chapter
10; GQ 5 |
|
29 |
Global
and multi-market supply chain management |
Chapter
11; Dinner “Indian style” at Taste of India |
|
31 |
Managing
cultural differences |
Chapter
12; GQ 6 |
|
Aug 5 |
Localization
strategies; managing stakeholders and supply chains |
Chapter
13; GQ 7 |
|
7 |
Presentations |
|
One never knows when some unimportant piece of trivia will
come in handy. Suppose you are
interviewing for a job with some soft drink company and the interviewer just happens
to mention that the company is about to open a new bottling plant in
What should you answer?
a. Where’s that?
b. Oh, that’s in
c. Whereabouts in
Whether we like it or not, such small, inconsequential
remarks can mean the difference between closing the deal and not getting the
job. Traditionally, Americans, that is
people from the
In recent years things have changed dramatically. We now export more than four times as much,
in real terms, as we did in 1973.
Foreign direct investment of
More and more, firms are looking for people with knowledge
of other cultures and languages, world geography, and international economics
and business training. Even relatively
small firms are looking to expand their operations and marketing functions in
other countries and to invest in production facilities where labor costs, legal
constraints, and duty barriers may be more advantageous than in the United
States. Manufacturing, once the domain
of rust belt
In order to expand overseas, these firms need to recruit and
hire young people who they feel will thrive in such an environment. A hiring mistake for such overseas positions
can be very costly indeed; training, moving and settling-in costs for the new
hire and his/her family will cost many times the amount for a home country
position. And there is nothing worse
than an unhappy employee, thousands of miles from home, in a strange land.
While knowledge of geography alone will not prepare you for
this brave new world, it is certainly a start.
By the time you complete the semester, most of you will have achieved a
level of knowledge and international sophistication far greater than you had at
the beginning of the semester.
To provide you additional incentive to improve your
geography acumen, you will be given weekly geography quizzes totaling 35
percent of your grade. For each country
you can identify on a world map, you will receive two points; the name of its
capital earns you 1 point. There are in
excess of 150 countries possible, or 450 points. Each point is worth about 1/13th
of one percent up to a maximum of 35 percent.
Click here
for a list of countries and their capitals; for great map sources, click http://www.yourchildlearns.com/owlmouse.htm ,
http://www.fpa2.org/maps/fpa_world_atlas/norm_htm/world.htm
or http://www.theodora.com/maps/abc_world_maps.html.
Outline maps are available at http://geography.about.com/library/maps/blindex.htm
or to www.citadel.edu/faculty/silver/World_Outlines
The Student
Assignment
The student will choose the
student assignment from the topics outlined on the handout at the beginning of
the class. It may be on any topic that
is germane to the areas outlined in the handout; it need not deal directly with
business. Students are strenuously
encouraged to work closely with the instructor in choosing topics, finding
resources for their research, and in preparing the final product.
This assignment will require considerable time and effort on
the computer, as there is very little current information available from “normal”
channels. The best source of up-to-date
information is the World Wide Web. A
partial list of sources is provided at the following site:
http://faculty.citadel.edu/silver/final_paper.htm
In doing this research, I suggest you work together to find
and use these sources.
You MUST cite clearly and correctly every source
used. These should be typed into a Word
document and copied to a diskette that I can use to link to the sites directly
from your document. The project will be
handed in at the end of the course.
Those who choose may also do a presentation of their research. While the presentation will reduce the
percentage of the grade derived directly from the paper, it no way reduces the
quality I expect from the paper. In the
presentation, you may use overheads, handouts, PowerPoint presentations,
etc. Just give me sufficient notice to
have equipment ready.