|
| Module Availability |
| All Year |
|
|
| Assessment Pattern |
| Unit(s) of Assessment |
Weighting Towards Module Mark(%)
|
3 Hour Examination
|
70
|
| Coursework |
30
|
Qualifying Condition(s)
A weighted aggregated mark of 40% is required to pass the module. |
|
|
|
| Module Overview |
| The module considers the nature of business and competition in the modern global economy using tools of analysis drawn from both economics and management strategy. |
|
|
| Prerequisites/Co-requisites |
| None |
|
|
| Module Aims |
| To familiarise students with analytical concepts and models which assist in the understanding of the global competitive environment. |
|
|
| Learning Outcomes |
By the end of the module, students will:-
- Understand some of the causes and consequences of international specialisation
- Understand the nature and consequences of product market competition and innovation in the modern global economy
- Understand the role of clusters and networks in promoting innovation and business competitiveness
- Understand the economic significance of different types of business organisation
- Understand the nature and economic properties of alternative systems of business and corporate governance in the global economy
- Understand the drivers towards internationalisation and globalised activity
- Understand the paradox of globalisation and localisation
- Understand the range of global strategy levers available to globalised organisations to help achieve competitive advantage
|
|
|
| Module Content |
Likely topics include:
- Mdoels of international comparative advantage: technology and endowments of factors of production as sources of comparative advantage; the implications of North-South trade. Technology and its international diffusion. Learning by doing and endogenous comparative advantage, infant industries and the case for protection.
- Models of product market competition in the global economy: price versus non-price competitiveness; horizontal and vertical product differentiation and innovation; increasing returns and the role of market size: monopolistic competition and intra-industry trade; the pro-competitive impact of trade; strategic trade.
- Sources and implications of competitive advantage; Location, clustering, networks, and innovation. Multi-national activity.
- Economic analysis of institutions and the global business environment. Varieties of capitalism in the modern global economy and the concept of institutional complementarities; varieties of corporate governance, and economic performance; national differences in science and technology policy; national systems of innovations.
- Drivers of internationalisation: Market, cost, government and competitive drivers, including issues of consumer tastes convergence and Hofstede's dimensions of national culture.
- The conflicting demands for global and local strategies; analysis of markets: PESTEL and CAGE
- Global strategy levers: global market participation, global location of activities, global products, global marketing and global competitive moves
- The design of global organisations including strategic alliances.
|
|
|
| Methods of Teaching/Learning |
Weekly two hour lectures and discussion
Preparation and taking part in class tests
Producing a researched essay |
|
|
| Selected Texts/Journals |
No single text-book covers all topics. However, S. Brakman, H. Garretson, C. Marrewijk, and A. Witteloostuijn: Nations and Firms in the Global Economy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2006) provides good background and discussion to much of the material.
Innovation provides a key theme for many components of the module; here G.M. Peter Swann provides a good introduction in the Economics of Innovation, Edward Elgar, (2009); also W. Baumol: The Free Market Innovation Machine, Princeton University Press, 2002 provides useful discursive background with some theoretical analysis.
Strategic management elements of the module may be found in:
P. Lasserre, Global Strategic Management, Palgrave Macmillan (2007). This is the principal text for the strategic elements of the module, providing clear frameworks and recent corporate examples
G.S.Yip Total Global Strategy: Managing for Worldwide Competitive Advantage, Prentice Hall, London (2003). This text provides a succinct overview of the strategy levers, benefits and disadvantages.
M. Porter, Competition in Global Industries, The Free Press, New York (1986)
M. Porter, The Competitive Advantage of Nations, The Free Press (1998)
|
|
|
| Last Updated |
| 04 October 2010 |
|
