International Business Issues - Page 1/8
NATIONAL CHENGCHI UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Issues on International Business
Academic Year:
20011/12
Course Type:
Course Title:
Course unit Code:
Course Credit:
Level:
Elective Course
Issues on International Business
351761001
3
Postgraduate
1
Thursday 2-5 pm
Instructors
Name
Dr. Ruey-Jer (Bryan) Jean 簡睿哲
Office: Research building R 608
2
Email
Bryan@nccu.edu.tw
Course Objectives
The course unit focuses on strategic aspects of global business and marketing issues, most
importantly entry in emerging markets. Extending beyond issues of domestic business and
marketing activities, it aims to develop strategic thinking in an international business and
marketing context. Managerial issues will be explored using an interactive computer
simulation and tools and key methods will be discussed for solving international business
and marketing problems.
Particularly the aims of the course unit are the following:
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i.
To develop strategic thinking in global business and marketing.
ii.
To examine multidimensional tasks of managerial decision making within a
multitude of different environments and cultures.
iii.
Develop skills of successfully assessing international market opportunities and
formulating international marketing mix.
iv.
To enable students to formulate and carry out research assignments relating to
global business and marketing strategies.
Brief description of the course unit
Faced with a matured domestic market, your (consumer healthcare) home office has decided
to expand abroad and enter the regional market. You are tasked with preparing the regional
expansion, select lucrative markets and deploy the product-launch in the respective country
markets. The scenario for this course is structured around this market-entry theme, builds on
a computer simulation called “country manager” and is organised such that lecture topics
provide the prelude to the practical computer simulation.
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Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this course, you will be able to able to demonstrate:
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i.
Knowledge and understanding: Understand how companies are managing in today's
volatile environments, what type of analysis is needed to enter foreign markets and
how companies manage their foreign operations.
ii.
Personal transferable skills: Formulate international business theory and key issues;
work co-operatively in groups, share knowledge and experience and write effective
and concise theoretical-driven and managerial-relevant reports.
5
•
•
•
•
6
6.1
Class Material
Required:
• Feick, Lawrence, Martin Roth, Michael Deighan, and Stuart James (2003) Country
Manager: The International Marketing Simulation. Charlottesville, Virginia:
Interpretive Software Inc. (ISBN: 1885837283). http://www.interpretive.com/
Cases: These cases come from Harvard Business School Publication (HBSP) or Ivey
Business School Publication. These cases can also be bought at the Harvard Business
School
Publication
website:
http://hbsp.harvard.edu/
and
Ivey
business
website. http://cases.ivey.uwo.ca/cases/pages/home.aspx. You can use “search” then
“order.”
The materials used for each week are listed at the end of the syllabus, including research
paper and case study.
Additional / Supplemental Readings:
Assessment methods and relative weightings
Grade Composition
Market research assignment (interview, case, presentation and
report ) (MRA)
Case and Research paper presentation & discussion
Country manager – country attractiveness exercise (CM-CA)
Country manager – forecasting exercise (CM-F)
Country manager – standardisation & adaptation (CM-SA)
Country manager presentation (CM-P)
Final report country manager (CM-R)
Total (The overall pass mark is 70%)
6.2
... ...
15 %
... ...
……
... ...
... ...
... ...
……
15 %
10 %
10 %
10 %
20 %
20 %
100 %
Market research assignment (MRA)
Students participate in a market research assignment, whereby they identify a number of
specified respondents for an ongoing market research project (questionnaire and/or interview
guideline will be provided), get in touch with the target individual(s), obtain response and provide
reflective feedback on the learning from the market research experience. Reflections should link
to international market research issues from the literature and be concise and succinct. Detail
information is provided both in class and online on blackboard. A report will be written and
presented by a group of people same as case presentation. Reports must be a maximum of
4000 words, excluding summary, tables, figures, bibliography, and other supporting information.
The paper should include a REFERENCES section.
6.3
Country manager presentation (CM-P)
Each group delivers a presentation that comprises of the elements of the final group report,
however, delivered in-class to your colleagues. What you cover: Explain and justify your
overall strategy and present your results (think about how your initial decisions in P1-P5 have
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affected the rest of the game), Explain what you did differently in the communication
standardisation replay and why, and how it affected your performance, Explain what you did
differently in the price standardisation replay and why, and how it affected your performance,
Reflect on what you have learnt and what you might do differently if you could start the whole
game again.
6.4
Final group report (CM-R)
Each group is to submit a report that describes your group performance and what you
learned about being a country manager for a company expanding internationally. The report
may take the form of a marketing plan. Marketing plans are normally written up before any
action is taken – the strategic roadmap for managing your entry, growth, and expansion into
Latin America. Hence, think of the marketing plan as an ex-post write-up of your strategies,
adding an evaluation of your actual performance outcomes and the learning from your
decisions. The report includes the individual in-class exercises, a) CM-CA Country
manager – country attractiveness group exercise, b) CM-F forecasting group exercise, c)
CM-SA standardisation & adaptation group exercise.
Your report is deemed as an executive report, thus not to exceed ten (10) pages of text (1.5
line spacing, 2.5cm margins, 12-point Times New Roman font). You may add as many
exhibits as you like. All exhibits must be referred to in your text.
•
6.5
Organize your Final Report as follows.
1. Cover sheet with group number and members ID, countries entered, date, and
class number.
2. Description of your group’s success in implementing your original strategy.
3. Revisions that you made to your strategic plans and implementation, why you
made them, and the effects on your group’s success.
4. What you learned about being a country manager for a company expanding
internationally.
5. Your Appendix should include (but is not limited to) country and regional
performance exhibits (using results from your best “initial strategy” and your best
“revised strategy”).
Case presentation
The class will be divided into several groups of 3-4 people at the beginning of the semester.
Each group will be assigned randomly to a case or literature. The case or literature assigned to
each team will be announced at the second week of this semester.
When you are presenting a case, assume that you are a consulting group asked by the Board of
Directors of the firm in the case to analyze their situation and give an overview of the manner in
which you would solve their problems. Each team is responsible for presenting their case
analysis and providing answers to all assignment questions within 20 minutes. Questions from
the "Board of Directors", i.e., your classmates and me, may come up while you are presenting,
so be prepared to clarify or defend your points within your presentation.
You must conduct external research to obtain further information on the firm and the industry
while preparing your case analysis. It is encouraged to use theoretical framework from textbook
or academic literature to analyze the cases.
6.6
Research paper presentation
Each group is expected to present a research paper assigned for each IB issue. In your role as a
session leader, your task is to prepare the assigned paper to be discussed on the assigned day,
including:
•
Conducting an overview and summary of the paper including background, research
questions, methods, conclusions, theoretical/ managerial contributions. It takes about 15-20
minutes.
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•
All students are required to hand in 2 pages summary of the research paper before the
class discussion
Guidelines for Research paper Analysis
Each paper is different and the methodologies may be different. However, you are
expected to answer following questions:
1. Background: What are the backgrounds and motivations to conduct this research?
2. Research questions: What objectives is this paper? What are key research questions?
3. Methodologies: What are the Methodologies employ in this paper? Empirical or
conceptual? Survey, interviews or secondary data.
4. Theoretical Contributions: What are key theoretical contributions?
5. Managerial implications: What are implications for managers and practice?
6. Limitations and future research: What are limitations of this paper? How can it be
improved and move beyond from here?
6.7
Coursework Deadline
•
7
Final project report must be handed in on 13th Jan 2012.
Schedule
Session
1
15/09/11
2
22/09/11
3
29/09/11
4
06/10/11
Topics / Readings / Assignments
Course Overview and Administration
Topics:
• Entry Strategies into International Markets
Readings:
• Agarwal and Sridhar (1992)
Topics
• Exporting
Readings:
• Cavusgil and Zou (1994)
• Gao et al. (2010)
Country manager: Overview, Test Drive
Readings:
• Feick et.al. (2003), Section 1-4 (all chapters)
Assignments:
• Prepare Country Manager case (section 1)
• Read Country Manager manual (remaining sections and appendices)
Country manager:
Country attractiveness & marketing plan preparation
Topics:
• The Internet and International Marketing
Case Study Presentations:
• Gillette Indonesia
Readings:
• Quelch and Klein (1996)
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5
13/10/11
6
20/10/11
7
27/10/11
8
03/11/11
9
10/11/11
10
17/11/11
11
24/11/11
12
01/12/11
13
08/12/11
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• Morgan and Bridgewater (2004)
Country manager:
• Assignment county attractiveness
Topics:
• The Internet and International Marketing
Case Study Presentations:
• Alibaba Corporation
Readings:
• Anderson and Anderson (2002)
• Grewal et al. (2001)
Country manager: Forecasting
• Estimating market size and market share
Country manager:
• Run periods 1-5
Topics:
• Small firm internationalisation & born global firms
Readings:
• Kinght and Cavusgil (2004)
Country manager
• Continue to run periods 6-10
Topics:
• Standardisation and Adaptation
Readings:
• Katsikeas (2006)
Country manager
• Revised run periods 6-10: a) Focus on communication standardisation
Topics：
• Standardisation and Adaptation
Readings:
• Griffith et al. (2003)
• Solberg (2002)
Case Study Presentations:
• Jollibee Food Corp (A)
Country manager
• Revised run periods 6-10: a) Focus on communication standardisation
Mid term exam ( No class)
• International Pricing & Promotion
Readings:
• Cavusgil (1996)
• Sousa and Frank (2008)
Country manager
• Revised run periods 6-10: a) Focus on price standardisation
Topics:
• Guest speaker (TBA)
Topics:
• International Channel Issues
Readings:
• Aulakh and Kotab (1997).
• Bello and Gilliand (1997)
Country manager
• Revised run periods 6-10: a) Focus on channel issues
Topics:
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International Business Issues - Page 6/8
15/12/11
15
22/12/11
16
29/12/11
17
05/01/12
18
12/01/12
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• International Channel Issues
Readings:
• Peng and Anne S. (2001)
Case Study Presentations:
• Li & Fung
Topics:
• Course wrap up and questions
Market Research
Presentations (Ex-post justification of the case study and interweave with
literature)
Country Manager
Presentations (Ex-post justification of decisions and presentation of marketing
plan in view of performance)
Mid term exam ( No class)
Cases
Case:
•
Assignment:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Gillette Indonesia
Why was the Acer Aspire in trouble? What were the sources of the problems in
the US? Worldwide?
How effective had management been in responding to these problems? What
is your evaluation of the changes they had made to the organization structure
and the management roles and responsibilities?
In 1998, how should Stan Shih respond to broader issues raised by the Aspire
problems? Should he continue to support the goal of building Acer as a global
brand?
What changes (if any) would you recommend he make in Acer’s organizational
structure and management philosophy to make sure that it can continue to
operate successfully worldwide? How should he implement your
recommendations?
Case:
•
Assignment:
Alibaba Corporation
1. How does Alibaba Group create a corporate advantage? Is this corporate advantage
sustainable?
2. Is the current degree of competition among the business units appropriate? Do you
think that Jack Ma should encourage more cooperation? If so, how?
3. As Alibaba develops new business, how should the firm incorporate them into the
organization structure? What are the benefits and costs of having new businesses
report directly to Jack Ma?
4. What should the new business initiatives ( mobile platforms and financing small
businesses) reside organizationally? At corporate or within the individual business
units?
Case:
•
Jollibee Food Corp (A)
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Assignment:
1. How was Jollibee able to build its dominant position in fast food in the Philippines? What
sources of competitive advantage was it able to develop against McDonald’s in its home
market?
2. How would you evaluate Tony Kitchner’s effectiveness as the first head of Jollibee’s
international division? Does his broad strategic thrust make sense? How effectively did
he develop the organization to implement his priorities?
3. As Noli Tingzon, how would you deal with the three options described at the end of the
case?How would you implement your decision?
Case:
•
Assignment:
Li & Fung (trading company)
1. How does Li & Fung create value for its customers and suppliers? How do international
differences in labour costs play into this value?
2. Should Charles Ho (Li & Fung's HX division manager) send Classique's order to
Qingdao, China, or the Philippines? If he sends the order to China, should he ask the
HV division to supervise it? If he sends it to China and has his own staff supervise it,
how many visits should they make to the factory—two, three, or four? Consider the
division manager's personal interests, as well as those of the customer and of Li & Fung.
3. Assess Li& Fung’s internal structure, including its organizational structure and the
ways in which it motivates its employees. How does it align employees' interests with
both customer satisfaction and Li & Fung's financial performance
4. How do B2B services differ from business-to-individual consumer
services?
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References
Agarwal, Sanjeev and Sridhar N. Ramaswami (1992), "Choice of Foreign Market Entry Mode:
Impact of Ownership, Location and Internalization Factors," in Journal of International
Business Studies Vol. 23: Palgrave Macmillan Journals.
Anderson, Philip and Erin Anderson (2002), "The New E-Commerce Intermediaries," MIT
Sloan Management Review, 43 (4), 53-62.
Aulakh, Preet S. and Masaaki Kotabe (1997), "Antecedents and Performance Implications of
Channel Integration in Foreign Markets," Journal of International Business Studies,
28 (1), 145-175.
Bello, Daniel C. and David I. Gilliland (1997), "The Effect of Output Controls, Process
Controls, and Flexibility on Export Channel Performance," Journal of Marketing, 61
(1), 22-38.
Cavusgil, S. Tamer (1996), "Pricing for Global Markets," The Columbia Journal of World
Business, 31 (4), 66-78.
Cavusgil, S. Tamer and Shaoming Zou (1994), "Marketing Strategy-Performance
Relationship: An Investigation of the Empirical Link in Export Market Ventures,"
Journal of Marketing, 58 (1), 1-21.
Feick, Lawrence, Martin Roth, Michael Deighan, and Stuart James (2003), Country Manager:
The International Marketing Simulation. Charlottesville, Virginia: Interpretive Software
Inc.
Gao, Gerald Yong, Janet Y Murray, Masaaki Kotabe, and Jiangyong Lu (2010), "A Strategy
Tripod Perspective on Export Behaviors: Evidence from Domestic and Foreign Firms
Based in an Emerging Economy," Journal of International Business Studies, 41, 377396.
Gary, A. Knight and S. Tamar Cavusgil (2004), "Innovation, Organizational Capabilities, and
the Born-Global Firm," Journal of International Business Studies, 35 (2), 124.
2011-fall-MScIB-IB issues-Chengchi-syllabus.doc // Last Update: Tue Sep 20, 2011 // BJ
International Business Issues - Page 8/8
Grewal, Rajdeep, James M. Comer, and Raj Mehta (2001), "An Investigation into the
Antecedents of Organizational Participation in Business-to-Business Electronic
Markets," Journal of Marketing, 65 (3), 17-33.
Griffith, David A., Aruna Chandra, and John K. Ryans Jr (2003), "Examining the Intricacies of
Promotion Standardization: Factors Influencing Advertising Message and Packaging,"
Journal of International Marketing, 11 (3), 30-47.
Katsikeas, Constantine S., Saeed Samiee, and Marios Theodosiou (2006), "Strategy Fit and
Performance Consequences of International Marketing Standardization," Strategic
Management Journal, 27 (9), 867-890.
Morgan-Thomas, Anna and Susan Bridgewater (2004), "Internet and Exporting:
Determinants of Success in Virtual Export Channels," International Marketing Review,
21 (4/5), 393.
Oviatt, Benjamin and Patricia McDougall (1994), "Toward a Theory of International New
Ventures," Journal of International Business Studies, 25 (1), 45-45.
Paul D, Ellis (2010), "International Trade Intermediaries and the Transfer of Marketing
Knowledge in Transition Economies," International Business Review, 19 (1), 16-33.
Peng, Mike W. and Anne S. York (2001), "Behind Intermediary Performance in Export Trade:
Transactions, Agents, and Resources," Journal of International Business Studies, 32
(2), 327-346.
Quelch, John A. and Lisa R. Klein (1996), "The Internet and International Marketing," Sloan
Management Review, 37 (3), 60-75.
Schilke, Oliver, Martin Reimann, and Jacquelyn S. Thomas (2009), "When Does International
Marketing Standardization Matter to Firm Performance?," Journal of International
Marketing, 17 (4), 24-46.
Solberg, Carl Arthur (2002), "The Perennial Issue of Adaptation or Standardization of
International Marketing Communication: Organizational Contingencies and
Performance," Journal of International Marketing, 10 (3), 1-21.
Sousa, Carlos M. P. and Frank Bradley (2008), "Antecedents of International Pricing
Adaptation and Export Performance," Journal of World Business, 43 (3), 307-320.
10 Notes
1. The syllabus is tentative and may be changed depending on the progress, and
interest of the class.
2. Students are responsible for reading the case study material before the class
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