Syllabus BAIM 502
Cultural and Political Analysis for International Business Planning and Management
Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:30 – 3:30 p.m., HA 412
Ilan Vertinsky
Office: 604-822-9406
Home: 604-224-7404
ilan.vertinsky@sauder.ubc.ca
Aviad Pe’er
peer@sauder.ubc.ca
Office hours: David Lam 522, Tuesdays/Thursdays 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. or by appointment
Objectives
I.
To increase awareness of political, social, and cultural differences that businesses encounter and to
develop frameworks for anticipating, analyzing, and reconciling these differences.
II. To apply cultural and political analysis to specific business situations and help solve current business
challenges
• across different issues (cross-cultural management, business negotiations, strategic alliances)
• at multiple levels (individual, organizational, inter-organizational, and among firms and
governments).
Evaluation
Evaluation in this course will be based on:
• Class Participation (40%).
• Case Presentations (30%).
• Final Exam (30%).
Class Participation
You are expected to be present and prepared and willing to share your views in the classroom
discussion in every class, both voluntarily and when called upon to do so. Class participation includes
individual contributions to class discussions, class exercises and debates, and participation in role-plays.
The most valuable contributions provide insightful viewpoints and analyses that build upon the prior class
discussion and move our thinking forward.
The quality, quantity, and consistency of your contribution will be evaluated each week. You will
also play an important part in your own evaluation by preparing a short (maximum one page) journal
entry each week. In this journal entry, you can describe what you have learnt in the previous week and
what you have contributed to the class discussions (ideas, facts, new interpretations). The journal entries
for each week are due on the Tuesday of the following week. These journal entries are not individually
graded but provide important input into your final class participation grade, which you will receive at the
end of the term. However, should you have specific or immediate concerns on how to improve your class
presence, please feel free to consult with me at any point during the semester.
In addition to your individual input into the case study discussions, you will have the opportunity to
participate in several in-class exercises (role plays and mini-debates). Most of these exercises will be
group-based. For example, to explore cross-cultural interactions hands-on, we will use role plays. Each
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group may be assigned a pair of national cultures (e.g. Germany-China; Japan-Italy; Brazil-Thailand) and
a specific business issue (e.g. making a sales pitch to someone from the selected cultures to buy a chosen
product, negotiating a new business venture, dealing with a conflict between an employee and his/her
manager). Each group will have about 20 minutes to explore behavioral patterns in the assigned cultures
and to prepare a brief “play” that demonstrates the essential characteristics of these behavioral patterns for
the class. Following the play, each group should be ready to explain what was done, why it was done, and
what were the differences between the assigned cultures. Different members of the group may take on
different roles (e.g. leadership of the group discussion, enactment in front of the class, explanation of key
points, etc.).
Case Presentations
In the first class groups of 4 to 5 students each will be formed.
Each group will be given front stage on one or two case. They will have 10 to 15 minutes at the
beginning of the class to debrief the salient facts of the case and propose a solution. This assignment will
earn 15% of the final grade.
Case Assignments: There will be four different cases covered in this class. In the first session, each
group will draw from a hat the name of the case on which they will lead the class discussion.
Case assignments will reflect group effort. Thus, each group member will receive the grade earned by
their group, unless group members agree amongst themselves on a different grade allocation and obtain
approval from the instructor at least one week prior to the end of classes.
Final Exam
The Final Examination will take 2 hours and will include 3 parts:
• One part will focus on a specific aspect of one the four cases discussed in class.
• The second part will ask you to apply knowledge gleaned from the readings.
• The third part will require writing a brief essay (2 pages) on a more general question related to the
class discussions. The essay will provide opportunities for creative articulation of views
(informed by the readings and by class discussions).
Schedule
The schedule below identifies the topics to be discussed during each session and the readings and
case studies assigned. These need to be prepared prior to each session.
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Session Date
1
Tuesday,
April 20nd
Topics
Introduction to the Course
Discussion on Globalization and Its
Cultural, Political, and Economic
Implications
Case: Alpha Gearing
Frameworks for Analyzing Cultural
Values
Frameworks for Analyzing Cultural
Values (cont.)
Mini-debate on the Implications of
Cultural Values in Different
Economies
2
Thursday,
April 22th
3
Tuesday,
April 27th
4
Thursday,
April 29th
Cross-cultural Management
Role Plays
5
Tuesday,
May 4th
JV: Cultural Implications for Partner
Selection, Negotiation, and
Governance
In-class exercise
6
Thursday,
May 6th
Case: Nora Sakari
7
Tuesday,
May 11th
Case: Russki Adventures
Political Risk Analysis
Readings
Stanbury, W., and Vertinsky, I., “The Economics, Demography and Cultural
Implications of Globalization: The Canadian Paradox”, Management
International Review, forthcoming.
Slaughter, K.E.; Jie Z; & Everatt D. (05/11/2000) “Alpha Gearing Systems
Shanghai Co., Ltd.” Ivey Case 9A99C014.
Hogetts, R. M. & Luthans, F. (1997). “Ch. 4. The meanings and dimensions
of culture.” International Management, 3rd Ed. New York: McGraw Hill:
95-121.
Hofstede, G. & Bond, M. H. (1988). “The Confucius connection: From
cultural roots to economic growth.” Organizational Dynamics, 16(4): 1213.
Jackson, T., & Bak, M. (1998). “Foreign companies and Chinese workers:
Employee motivation in the People’s Republic of China.” Journal of
Organizational Change Management, 11(4): 282-300.
Elenkov, D.S. (1998). “Can American Management Concepts Work in Russia?
A Cross-cultural Comparative Study.” California Management Review,
40(4): 133-156.
Beamish, P.W. (2000). “Ch. 7, The Design and Management of International
Joint Ventures”, in International Management: Text and Cases, Forth
Edition, in Beamish, Paul W., Paul W. Allen Morrison, Philip Rosenzweig,
and Andrew Inkpen (eds), Irwin McGraw-Hill, 2000, 113-131.
Brouthers, K.D., Brouthers, L.E., & Wilkinson, T.J. (1995). “Strategic
Alliances: Choose Your Partners”, Long Range Planning, 28(3): 18-25.
(Optional)
Ainuddin, P.A. & Beamish, P., “Nora-Sakari: A proposed Joint Venture in
Malaysia” (02-11-2000), Ivey Case 9A95G002.
Beamish P.W. & Sullivan I. (08/13/1999) “Russki Adventures.” Ivey Case
9A92G002.
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8
Thursday,
May 13th
Political Risk Analysis (cont.)
9
Tuesday,
May 18th
Political Risk Analysis (cont.)
Social Responsibility
Case: Royal Dutch/Shell Nigeria
10
Thursday,
May 20nd
Case: Royal Dutch/Shell Nigeria
(cont.)
de la Torre, J. & Neckar, D. H. (1988). “Forecasting Political Risks for
International Operations.” International Journal of Forecasting, 4: 221241.
Donaldson, T. 1996. Values in Tension: Ethics Away from Home, Harvard
Business Review, September-October, 4-12.
Moldoveanu, M., Sharp Paine L, & Crawford, R.J. (04-20-2000), “Royal
Dutch/Shell in Nigeria (A)”, Harvard Business School, 9-399-126.
Case de-brief
Branzei, O., Vertinsky, I, Takahashi, T, & Zhang, W. 2001. Corporate
Environmentalism Across Cultures, International Journal of Cross
Cultural Management, 1(3): 287-312 (Optional Handout)
Module Review
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