California State University, Fall Semester 2008

California State University, Fall Semester 2008

(Preliminary) Syllabus, Mgt. 464: International Business Management

Syllabus v1.4, dd.8/28/08

Ticket: #18050 Class meetings: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 12.30-1.45PM in JH1212

Course WebCT site:

Instructor: R.A. (Denny) Kernochan, Ph.D.

E-mail: (Put “Mgt.464” in subject line if you wish to be sure I receive it promptly)

Website: www: ; Office: JH4208
Telephone: CSUN Office: (818) 677-2422; Home office: 310-452-5863 (9AM – 5PM weekdays please)

Office hours: Tues. 11AM-noon; Thurs, 2.00-3.00PM and 5.00-6.00PM; and by appointment.

Catalogue Description: [Mgt. 464] studies various issues related to managing international businesses effectively. The purpose is to develop skills in identifying critical issues facing, analyzing key factors related to, and developing solutions for businesses that compete in global business environments either now or in the future. Prerequisites: MGT 360. Passing score on the Upper-Division Writing Proficiency Exam (WPE). BUS 302/L is a prerequisite for BSBA majors.

This course emphasizes the applied and practical aspects of international trade and the experience of international business. It will cover some of the technical aspects, but the technical complexities of international business are simply too great, too uncertain or too variable to be covered in a single or even several courses. Students may have a particular question or issue concerning international business that is not currently covered in the course. They are invited to tell the professor so that the course can attempt to incorporate their specific educational needs.

Textbook:Cavusgil, S.T., Knight, G. & Riesenberger, J.R. 2008. International Business: Strategy, Management and the New Realities. Pearson, Prentice Hall, : Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Recommended: (one of) The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Financial Times

Grading Guidelines

Course grade will be based on total points earned from the following class evaluation opportunities: quizzes, midterms, student participation, field research project and website project.

Points
Participation / 15
Quizzes / 15
Midterms (best 2 of 3 grades) / 25
Field Research Project / 20
Website Project / 25
Total Points / 100

Grading: partial (+, -) grades will be used. Cutoff points for grades are: A+: 98-100 points; A: 92-97.99; A-: 90-91.99; B+: 88-89.99; B: 82-87.99; B-: 80-81.99; C+: 78-79.99; C: 72-77.99; C-: 70-71.99; D+: 68-69.99; D: 62-67.99; D-: 60-61.99; F: fewer than 60 points earned.

Student Participation

Learning is an inter-active process, not a passive one, and involves making mistakes. You and I will have many opportunities to make mistakes in this class. It is my experience that the more you put yourself on the line, the more you learn --if only because making mistakes and good points in public are memorable. Ultimately the responsibility for participating is yours, not the instructor’s. I will be happy to be your partner and help you participate actively but only if asked. You are the one who must choose a level of participation: to actively and responsibly contribute to the class, or to be a passive member. This class rewards those who take responsibility for their learning by being active participants.

Participation is more than just answering questions. It is also about asking good ones, either of the professor or other students, in class or in teams. And it’s about helping others make a contribution. The questions you turn in on the readings are considered class participation.

Participation comes in many forms. Attending and being on time to class are signs of responsible participation. Active participation in teams and class discussions are important contributions to your learning and that of others. Oral reports on recent news articles in class are also important. The report should always include your opinion as to why the article is significant or important for international businessmen. If you wish, you can read and give an oral report to the class on a book about someone’s business experiences in foreign markets or foreign trade like Maverick by Ricardo Semler or Typo by David Silverman. Reading assignments, in-class assignments and group activities will also count. And feel free to propose other forms that might better fit you, your strengths, knowledge or talents.

Quizzes

To reward those prepare for class, there will be a number of simple short-answer quizzes. The quizzes will normally be given at the beginning of class and test basic understanding of the key points in the readings, cases or other materials. The quizzes may also include key points from prior readings.

Persons arriving in class after a quiz has been handed out will not receive a copy.

Examinations

There will be a maximum of 3 examinations in this class. They will consist of short answer questions and will be cumulative, i.e., questions on any given exam will cover all prior readings, class assignments and classroom information. The two best scores will be counted toward the final point total. Students are required to take the last examination. At the instructor’s discretion, examinations may also include multiple choice or essayquestions.

Field Research Project

The purpose of the field research project is to discover cultural assumptions and biases about business and management, both yours and the culture you investigate. Los Angeles has many foreign communities in which to conduct such research. To accomplish this project, students will be formed into teams of 3. Each team will locate a different cultural community, identify a diverse set of international businesspersons to interview, arrange the interviews, write their field reports both individually and as a team, and give a written and oral report that summarizes their key findings. The report should cover the details of the research design (who, what, when, where, and the biases of both researchers and subjects) as well as the findings.

Teams will develop and turn in a statement of key activities, goals &/or milestones and target dates. Meeting those target dates will be considered in the project evaluation.

The grade for the project will include content, presentation and individual contribution to the team effort. If an individual contributes minimally to the team’s work, then that person will earn minimal or no points for that activity.

Final Project

Students will be formed into teams of 2-3 to create a website for a foreign market of their choice. The purpose of the website is to present the international trade opportunities for that particular market as well as the chief highlights of its culture (business and social) and a summary of its key strengths and weaknesses from the perspective of a potential investor. It is recommended that the website be related to the cultural community chosen for the field research project. The class and professor will jointly develop the evaluation criteria for the websites.

Teams will develop a statement of key activities, goals &/or milestones and target dates. Meeting those target dates will be considered in the project evaluation.

The evaluation of the website will include its content, the team presentation and each individual’s contribution to the team effort. If an individual contributes minimally to the team’s work, then that person will earn minimal or no points for the project activity.

COBAE ETHICS STATEMENT & CSUN ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY

The College of Business and Economics at California State University, Northridge, prepares students to be ethical decision makers. The college maintains high standards of ethical conduct that students are expected to maintain throughout their academic and professional careers. Please view the "core values" at

The CSUN policy on academic dishonesty will be strictly enforced. A statement of the policy can be found in the CSUN 2006-2008 Catalog, Appendix C, p. 536. (URL: Any student violating the academic dishonesty policy with respect to any aspect of this class will not receive credit for the course and will be reported to the appropriate authorities. This policy includes any incident, no matter how small, of using company literature without quotation marks and appropriate citations.

Please be advised, forgetting is not an acceptable excuse. If you care, you don’t forget. So don’t be that person. The penalty isn’t worth the time you save. Be forewarned: you will need to be particularly careful on your website project.

Week / Classes / Subject/ Topics / Readings / Assignments, Case
8/26
+
8/28 / T
Th / Introduction to the Course
Intro, International Business; / Ch. 1 / Tues: Intro to the course, Basic ideas, Movie: Story of Stuff
Thur: Reading assignment for Ch. 1;
9//2+4 / TTh / Highs & Lows: The realities of foreign investment and geopolitics / Tues: Whirlpool Case on WebCT
Thur: WebCT Reading: Waving Goodbye to Hegemony
9/9+ 11 / TTh / Intro, Globalization / Ch. 2 / Tues: Reading assignment for Ch. 2
9/16+ 18 / TTh / International Strategy / Ch. 11 &
pp. 108-119 / Tues: Reading assignment for readings
9/23+
25 / TTh / International Market Assessment / Ch. 12 / Tues: Reading assignment for Ch. 12
9/30+
10/2 / TTh / Review & Midterm / Tues: Examination
Thur: Discussion of research projects
10/7+9 / TTh / Organizational Participants in Int’l Business / Ch. 3 / Tues: Reading assignments for Ch. 3
Thur: Groups: Turn in Market Analysis Research Project initial memo
10/14+16 / TTh / Cultural Environment / Ch. 5 / Tues: Reading assignment Ch. 5
Thur.: Film: Year of Living Dangerously
Thur: Groups: Turn in preliminary site map for Market Analysis website
10/21+23 / TTh / Political & Legal Systems in National Environments / Ch. 6 / Tues: Reading assignment Ch.8
Thur: Groups: final deadline, Cultural Research Project Memo #1 due
10/28+30 / Political Forces / Ch. 7 / Tues: Cesar Chavez Day – no class
Thur. Reading assignment Ch.9
11/4+6 / TTh / Review & Midterm / Tues. review & examination
0-=pl;. / TTh / Legal & Financial Forces / Ch. 10 / Tues.: Reading Assignments Ch. 10
Thur: Reading Assignments, Ch. 11;
Thur: Groups: final deadline, Cultural Research Project Memo #2 due
11/18+20 / TTh / Labor Forces, Natural Resources / Ch. 8, 9 / Tues.: Reading Assignments Ch. 12
Thur: Reading Assignments Ch. 7
11/25 / T / Review & Midterm, / Tues. review & examination
Th: Thanksgiving
12/2+4 / TTh / Research Project Presentations; Website presentations, / Tues & Thur: Groups: Presentations of cultural research projects and market Analysis websites
12/10 / Website presentations, Wrap up / Groups: Presentations of market Analysis websites