School of Business

School of Business

Department of Marketing, Business Economics Law BUEC 342 (B1): International Business

Winter 2010

Instructor: Gordon Lucyk

Office: Hub Mall (North End – called “Fish Bowl”) (after class or by appointment)

Office phone: 497-5236

E-mail:

Lectures: Section B1: M, W, F 9:00-9:50 am BUS 3-10

Winter term classes: Jan 5 – Apr 8 Objective:

This course will examine international trade and investment in the context of the global political economy from the perspective of the business enterprise. Course topics include the political, legal, economic and cultural environment for international business, trade and foreign direct investment in theory and practice, international financial and monetary institutions and operations and foreign exchange risk hedging.

Required readings:

• Hill, Charles W. L. and Thomas Mc Kaig: “Global Business Today,”

Second Canadian Edition, publisher: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.

Possible Alternatives (used textbooks)

o Hill, Charles W. L. and Thomas Mc Kaig: “Global Business Today,”

First Canadian Edition, publisher: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.

• Cases and any hand-outs distributed in class.

• Lecture notes and hand-outs posted on the course webpage

Recommended Readings:

You are encouraged to read current business magazines such as The Economist, Fortune, Business Week and similar periodicals, business sections in daily newspapers such as the

Wall Street Journal, Globe and Mail, National Post or The Edmonton Journal. Specific articles may be assigned as topics arise in class.

Websites

The following are important websites that you should refer to for additional information:

The World Trade Organization: The Government of Canada:

Export Development Corporation: The World Bank:

Department of Foreign Affairs: The United Nations:

International Trade Canada:

International Monetary Fund:

Economic Development Alberta:

Course structure:

Article Presentation and Analysis

Each class will start with presentation of important news related to international

business based on reading of The Economist, Fortune or other news media. Students will be required to lead one of these presentations in a 5 mintue discussions during the term, Each class will have 1-2 student presentations depending upon class size.

Students are expected to show development of research and critical thinking skills by completing a written analysis of the article presented in class. A short analysis (2-3 pages) demonstrating how the article relates to specific issues in the global economy and course material is required.

NOTE: Article reviews that only summarize an article and do not provide any critical analysis will be given a mark of 0.

Student Group Case Presentations: Students are asked to form groups of ____ which will be responsible for leading the discussion of a presentation case from Hill’s textbook.

There will be a list of cases with presentation dates which will be assigned to groups.

Plan a 10-minute presentation with a 5 minute question and answer session. Each member of a group has to present a part of the case.

Homework Assignment

On the last day of class, each group is expected to turn in a case analysis for which they led the discussion. The analysis has to be comprised of:

1) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2) MAIN POINTS OF CASE

3) ANSWERS TO CASE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS (IF THERE ARE ANY) 4) APPLICATION OF THE COURSE MATERIAL TO CASE.

4) REFERENCES

The maximum length of the assignment is 10 pages single spaced.

Evaluation

Your course evaluation will be based on one case analysis presentation (10%) and

corresponding written assignment (15%), two exams (midterm 30%, final 35%) and your article presentation and written analysis (10%).

Note: Case analysis assignments are due on April 12 (Monday) in class. Late assignments are not accepted and will not be graded.

Exams:

1. Midterm: February 24 (Wednesday) in Class.

2. Final Exam: TBA

Tentative Course outline: (Chapters refer to Hill, Second Canadian Edition)

This tentative outline should guide you in your readings and class preparation. However, since some topics may take more or less time than I have allotted for them, we may deviate from this schedule.

The schedule needs to be somewhat flexible. However, due dates, student presentations, and the exam date are not flexible.

Week 1

Jan 4 Introduction and Course Overview Jan 6 Globalization

Jan 8 Globalization (continued) Week

2

Jan 11 Country Differences in Political Economy Jan 13 Country Differenced in Political Economy

(continued) Jan 15

The Cultural Environment Week

3

Jan 18 Culture (Cont’d) Jan 20 TBA

Jan 22 TBA Week

4

Jan 25 Ethics in International Business AP 1 Ling Wang Meng

Jan 27 Ethics (Cont’d) AP 2 Kathleen Shea

Jan 29 All students have to be signed up for a case. AP 3 Magdelena Wachowska Week

5

Feb 1 International Trade Theory AP 4 Melissa Thomas Feb 3 International Trade Theory (Cont’d) AP 5 Breanne Fisher Feb 5 International Trade Theory (Cont’d) AP 6 Sterling Wood Week

6

Feb 8 Foreign Direct Investment AP 7 Sergio Ortega Huerta

Feb 10 Foreign Direct Investment (Cont’d) AP 8 Radu Nastase Feb 12 Foreign Direct Investment (Cont’d) AP 9 Curtis Roth Week

7

Feb 15

NO CLASSES, READING WEEK Feb 17

Feb 19 Wk 8

Week 8

Feb 22 Review before midterm Feb 24 MIDTERM

Feb 26 Regional Economic Integration Case Group 1

Week 9

March 1

Regional Economic Integration (Cont’d) AP 10 Cecile Niel March

3

The Foreign Exchange Market Case Group 2 March

5

The Foreign Exchange Market (Cont’d) AP 11 Preston Pellegrini

Week 10

March 8

The Foreign Exchange Market (Cont’d) AP 12 Zijun Ding March

10

The Global Monetary System Case Group 3 March

12

The Global Monetary System (Cont’d) AP 13 Marcello Cimino

Week 11

March 15

Global Strategy Case Group 4

March 17

Global Strategy (Cont’d) AP 14 Justin Dudka March

19

Entering Foreign Markets Case Group 5

Week 12

March 22

Entering Foreign Markets (Cont’d) AP 15 Francesca de Leon

March 24

Exporting, Importing, and Countertrade AP 16 Sonia Atwal March

26

Exporting, Importing, and Countertrade (Cont’d)

AP 17 Michael Dreher

Week 13

March 29

Global Marketing and R&D Case Group 6 Mar 31 Global Marketing and R&D (Cont’d) AP 18 Corey Chan Apr 2 GOOD FRIDAY/EASTER MONDAY –

NO CLASS Week

14

Apr 5

Apr 7 Global Manufacturing and Materials Management

AP 19-20 Danielle Saina Arun Pillai

Apr 9 Global Human Resource Management AP 21-22 Zach Newman Mike Lindgren

Week 15

Apr 12 Review for the final.

Homework assignment due in class.

Note: There will be 22/4 = 6 groups of students for case presentations.