There are two pieces of assessment, a country factbook that is to be submitted by each student at the end of the module (70%), and a case analysis prepared by teams of 4 or 5 students (30%).

Units of Assessment

Weighting Towards Module Mark (%)

 

Country Factbook (individual, 3000 words)

70

Case analysis (group work, 2000 words)

30

Alternative Assessment: Case analysis (individual, 1500 words)

100

Qualifying Condition(s) 

A weighted aggregated mark of 40% is required to pass the module.

This module is designed to impart students with the analytical skills to assess socio-economic differences between countries and to identify how these differences impact business and management behaviour across countries through comparative studies. It is based on the rationale that students as managers will be expected to analyse and compare market and business environments in different countries to attain business success.

·      To expose students to various theories and tools that can be employed to conduct country analyses and comparisons, and

 ·      To develop in students the analytical skills to assess differences in strategic market conditions and national business environments between countries through country factbook compilation.

On successful completion of this module, you will:

 ·      be able to undertake a comparative country analysis

 ·      have an understanding of the main international business and comparative theories;

 ·      be able to make informed investment decisions in particular industries.

·      Globalization 

 ·      Foreign Direct Investment

 ·      Locational determinants of FDI

 ·      Entry mode strategies of FDI

 ·      Multinational Strategies and Structures

 ·      Comparative Institutional Approaches

 ·      Divergent Cultures

 ·      Different Financial and Legal Systems

 ·      Different Human Resource and Industrial Relations Systems

The teaching and learning strategy is designed to:

  Introduce theories and tools to conduct country analysis and comparison

•  Systematically develop a country factbook

•  Students are expected to undertake regular reading of the topics discussed during each session.

   Each session consists of two parts.

   

 Part 1 consists of a formal lecture aimed at providing students with the knowledge of relevant theories and tools used in the development of a country-context factbook. 

Part 2 is aimed to be practical and interactive. Students will be encouraged to put their knowledge into practice by analysing cases and illustrative country comparisons. In this way, students will be given the opportunity to put together their own country factbooks over the course of the module.

 The teaching and learning methods will be supported by the ULearn space where lecture material and other relevant information on the module will be made available on a weekly basis.

  Assessment Strategy:

 The individual factbook is expected to provide an application of the theories presented in the lectures to analyse and compare market and business environments in different countries to gain an understanding of the nature of different national business environments. This involves comparing key macro-economic indicators to assess strategic market conditions and institutional influences (the cultural, political, financial, legal, and labour systems) on business systems (including the nature of economic actors, market organisation, work coordination and control systems).

 The group work on a case analysis is expected to

·        provide an application of the international business and comparative theories explained in lectures to solve the case company’s issues at hand,

            ·    consider the implications of the analysis for future strategising 
                  by the company

           ·     justify all arguments put forward in the assessment of the case.

Essential Reading

Daniels, J.D., Radebaugh, L.H., and Sullivan, D.P., 2009. International Business: Environments and Operations. 12^th ed. New Jersey : Pearson Prentice Hall.

Recommended Reading

CIA Factbook: https://www/cia/gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html

The Economist: http://www.economist.com/countries

Economist Intelligence Unit: http://www.eiu.com/index.acp

Human Development Report 2007/2008: http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2007-2008/; http://hdr.undp.org/docs/statistics/indices/technote_1.pdf

Nation Master: http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php

Stephen Gardner: http://business.baylor.edu/Steve_Gardner/CES.HTM

Energy Information Administration: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/

Library of Congress: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html

Department of State: http://www.state.gov/countries/

Boston University , Country Factbooks/Directories: http://www.bu.edu/library/guides/ir/fact.html

Worldbank: http://devdata.worldbank.org/AAG/nld_aag.pdf

commercial service: http://www.buyusainfo.net/adsearch.cfm?search_type=int&loadnav=no

Read an example of an Economist Intelligence Unit analysis sample:

http://store.eiu.com/product/50000205NL-sample.html

Bamber, G.J., Ryan, S., and Wailes, N., 2005. Globalization, employment relations and human resources indicators in ten developed market economies: international data sets. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 15(8), pp. 1481-1516.

Bartlett, C., and Ghoshal, S., 1998. The transnational: The emerging organization model. In C. Bartlett and S. Ghoshal , eds. Managing across borders. London : Random House, pp. 65-81.

Boyer, R., 2005. How and why capitalisms differ. Economy and Society. 34(4), pp. 509-57.

Casper , S., and Whitley, R., 2004. Managing competences in entrepreneurial technology firms: a comparative institutional analysis of Germany, Sweden and the UK. Research Policy, 33, pp. 89–106.

Dunning, J., and Rugman, A., 1985. The influence of Hymer’s dissertation on the theory of foreign direct investment. American Economic Review, 75(2), pp. 228-33.

Dunning, J., 2000. The eclectic paradigm as an envelope for economic and business theories of MNE activity. International Business Review, 9, pp. 163-90.

Dunning, J.H., 1988. The eclectic paradigm of international production: a restatement and some possible extension. Journal of International Business Studies, 19(1), pp. 1-31.

Groenewegen, J., and v.d. Steen, M., 2006. The evolution of national innovation systems, Journal of Economic Issues, XL(2), pp. 277-84.

Gupta, V., Hanges, P.J. and Dorfmann, P.,2002. Cultural clusters: methodology and Findings. Journal of World Business, 37, pp. 11-5.

Harzing, A.-W., and Sorge, A., 2003. The relative impact  of country-of-origin and universal contingencies on internationalization strategies and corporate control in multinational enterprises: world-wide and European perspectives. Organization Studies, 24(2):187-214.

Kay, N.M. , 1991. Multinational enterprise as a strategic choice: some transaction cost perspectives. In C.N.Pitelis and R.Sugden, eds.The Nature of The Transnational Firm, London : Routledge, pp. 142-64.

Kale, P., Singh, H, and Perlmutter, H., 2000. Learning and protection of proprietary assets in strategic alliances: building relational capital. Strategic Management Journal, 21(2), pp. 217-37.

Kogut, B., 1999. What makes a company global? Harvard Business Review, January- February, pp. 3-7.

Koopman, P. L., Den Hartog, D. N., and Konrad, E., 1999. National culture and leadership profiles in Europe : some results from the GLOBE study. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 8(4), pp. 503–20.

Kwok, C. Y., and Tadesse, S., 2006. National culture and financial systems. Journal of International Business Studies, 37, pp. 227–47.

LaPorta, R., Lopez-de Silanes, F., Shleifer, A., and Vishny, R., 1998. Law and finance. Journal of Political Economy, 106(6), pp. 1113-55.

Mills, M., Blossfeld, H.-P., Buchholz, S., Hofäcker, D., Bernardi, F., and Hofmeister, H., 2008. Converging divergences? An international comparison of the impact of globalization on industrial relations and employment careers. International Sociology, 23(4), pp. 561-95.

Nelson, R.R., and Rosenberg, N., 1993. Technical innovation and national systems. In Nelson, R.R., ed. National Innovation Systems. A Comparative Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 3-22.

OECD, 1997. National innovation systems. OECD Publications, Paris, http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/35/56/2101733.pdf

Radwan, Arkadiusz, 2006. 25 thoughts on European company law in the EU of 25. European Business Law Review, 17(4), pp. 1169-79.

Ralston, David A., Holt, David H., Terpstra, Robert H., and YuKai-Cheng, 2008. The impact of national culture and economic ideology on managerial work values: a study of the United States, Russia, Japan, and China. Journal of International Business Studies, 39(1), pp 8-26.

Rose, A., 2005. Which international institutions promote international trade?. Review of International Economics, 13(4), pp. 682-98. 

Schmidt, R. H., Hackethal, A., and Tyrell, M. 2002. The convergence of financial systems in Europe. Schmalenbach Business Review, special issue 1-02, pp. 7-53.

Schwartz, S.H., 1999. A theory of cultural values and some implications for work. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 48, pp. 23-47.

Smits, J. M., 2004. The Europeanisation of national legal systems: some consequences for legal thinking in civil law countries, http://arno.unimaas.nl/show.cgi?fid=919

Sorge, A., 2004. Cross-national differences in human resource and organization. In: Harzing, A-W, and Van Ruysseveldt, J., eds. International Human Resource Management. London : Sage, pp. 117-40.

Whitley, R., 1997. Business systems. In IEBM Handbook of Organizational Behaviour. London , Thomson Business Press, pp. 173-86.

Whitley, R., 2000. The institutional structuring of innovation strategies: business systems, firm types and patterns of technical change in different market economics. Organization Studies, 21(5), pp. 855-87.

Wolf, J. and Egelhoff, W.G., 2002. A re-examination and extension of international strategy-structure theory. Strategic Management Journal, 23, pp. 181-89.

Background Reading

Buckley, P.J. and Ghauri, P.N., 1999. The Internationalization of the Firm. A Reader, 2^nd ed. International Thomson Business Press. OR (1977) in  Journal of International Business Studies, 8(1), pp. 23-32

Casper , S., and v. Waarden, F., eds., 2005. Innovation and Institutions. A Multidisciplinary Review of the Study of Innovation Systems. Cheltenham : Edward Elgar.

Chakrabarti A., 2001. The determinants of FDI: sensitivity analysis of cross-country regressions. KYKLOS, 54, pp. 89-114.

Communal, C., and Brewster, C., 2004. HRM in Europe . In: Harzing, A-W, and Van Ruysseveldt, J., eds. International Human Resource Management. London : Sage, pp. 167-94.

Earley, P. C., 2006. Leading cultural research in the future: a matter of paradigms and taste. Journal of International Business Studies, 37, pp. 922–31.

Fu, P.P., Kennedy, J. C., and Tata J., Yukl, G. A., Bond, M. H., Peng, T.-K.  et al., 2004. The impact of societal cultural values and individual social beliefs on the perceived effectiveness of managerial influence strategies: a meso approach. Journal of International Business Studies, 35, pp. 284-305.

Gunnigle, P., Turner, T., and Morley, M., 1998. Employment flexibility and industrial relations arrangements at organisation level. A comparison of five European countries.   Employee Relations, 20(4), pp. 430-42.

Hall, P. A., and Soskice, D., 2001. An Introduction to Varieties of Capitalism. In Hall, P. A. and Soskice, D. W. eds. Varieties of Capitalism: Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1-68.

Hofstede, G., 1980. Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values. Newbury Park, CA : Sage.

Messick, R., undated. Key functions of legal systems with suggested performance measures, http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/legal/legaltoolkit.pdf

Orakhelashvili, A., 2006. The idea of European international law. The European Journal of International Law, 17(2), pp. 315-47.

Raghuram, S., London , M., and Larsen H. H., 2001. Flexible employment practices in Europe : country versus culture. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 12(5), pp. 738–53.

Saenger, I. , 2005. Recent developments in European company and business law. Deakin Law Review, 10(1), pp. 297-318.

Sorge, A., 1991. Strategic fit and the societal effect: interpreting cross-national comparisons of technology, organization and human Resources. Organization Studies 12, pp. 161-90.

Steil, B., Victor, D. G., and Nelson R. R., 2002. Introduction and overview., In D. G. Victor and R. R. Nelson, eds. Technological Innovation and Economic Performance. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 3-22.

Tayeb, M., 1995. The competitive advantage of nations: the role of HRM and its socio-cultural context. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 6(3), pp. 588-605.

Vernon , R., 1966. International investment and international trade in the product cycle. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 10(2), pp. 190-207.

Whitley, R., 2000. The Institutional structuring of innovation strategies: business systems, firm types and patterns of technical change in different market economics. Organization Studies, 21(5), pp. 855-87.