COURSE:

BUS 340

SEMESTER: Spring 2015

D100

INSTRUCTOR: Neil Abramson

TITLE: International Business

Office: TBA

Strategy

Phones: 778-782-6725
Email: neil_abramson@sfu.ca
Phone: TBA

Prerequisites:

60 Units. This course is only open to students in the

Business Minor program.

Required Text:

Moran, Robert T., Abramson, Neil Remington, and

Moran, Sarah V. 2014. Managing Cultural
Differences, Ninth Edition. London & New York:
Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-71735-9 (pbk).

Course Objectives:

Course participants will have the opportunity to learn how

Multinational Enterprises (MNE) formulate strategies and
the organizational capabilities needed to support these
strategies to produce international competitive advantages.
Participants will study the criteria for assessing strategic
and organizational capabilities of MNEs to determine
solutions for increasing organizational performance. Special
topics include effective intercultural communications,
negotiations, handling a changing environment, and
motivating a diverse workforce. Coverage emphasizes
China and East Asia, as well as Southeast Asia, Europe, and
the Middle East.

Course Organization: Relevant topic areas are: (1) Motivations, means, and
mentalities; (2) Four strategic orientations international,
multinational, global, and transnational each a strategy
intended to produce international competitive advantage;
(3) Organizational capabilities systems, structures,
culture, resources needed to support each of the four
strategies. (4) Cross-national knowledge transfer and
worldwide learning as a source of competitive advantage.
(5) Boundary-spanning structures and processes such as
alliances and joint ventures, as source of competitive

advantage. (6) Implementation and evaluation of a

transnational strategy. (7) Ethical issues that have
tarnished the worldwide reputation of SMEs.

Teaching Method:

BUS 340 will be taught as a Harvard or Ivey style case

course. Discussion in class will focus primarily around a
teaching case in each class. Students will be expected to
read relevant readings but the theory will be manifested
inductively from the case discussions. There may be some
self-assessment instruments to help students identify their
own strengths and weaknesses as strategic planners or
managers who hope to achieve goals by getting things
done. Students may be asked to view up to two films for
discussion in class.

Grading:

The grading includes evaluation of in-class participation, inclass small group assignments (but no quizzes), and likely
two take-home case analyses in lieu of a midterm and/or
final exam. Students may be asked to complete a short
essay, or additional case analysis, or an in-class
presentation as well.

The course outline is subject to change at the discretion of the instructor.