INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

The course applies management and business theories to the management of transnational firms (both large and small). The course draws upon the theory of multinational corporations and some significant case studies - in order to analyse firms’ international strategies, management structures and processes. It also analyses the international environment in which management activity takes place. On completion of the course, students should be able to: • Understand the various theories of firm international investments. • Identify the key determinants of entry mode, location choice, and other key strategic issues faced by multinational enterprises. • Evaluate alternative ways of organizing and managing the multinational enterprise. • Comprehend the reasons why firms may choose to vertically integrate across national borders, and also why they may choose to outsource and/or offshore activities. • Understand the special problems involved in conducting international business compare to domestic businessThis course applies management and business theories to the operations of transnational firms, both large and small. It focuses on the theories of multinational corporations and includes significant case studies to analyze the international strategies, management structures, and processes of these firms. Additionally, the course examines the international environment in which management activities occur. Upon completing the course, students should be able to: - Understand various theories related to international investments by firms. - Identify the key determinants of entry modes, location choices, and other essential strategic issues faced by multinational enterprises. - Evaluate alternative methods for organizing and managing multinational enterprises. - Comprehend the reasons why firms may opt for vertical integration across national borders, as well as the motivations for outsourcing or offshoring activities. - Understand the unique challenges of conducting international business compared to domestic business.

The International Business and Management course is an advanced management program focused on the international business context. While no specific prior knowledge is required to successfully complete the course and pass the exam, a basic understanding of business principles and management fundamentals at the undergraduate level is necessary. To gain a clearer and more precise understanding of the main topics covered in the course, the following readings are recommended: 1. "What Is a Global Manager?" by Christopher A. Bartlett and Sumantra Ghoshal, published in the Harvard Business Review, August 2003. 2. "AliBaba and the Future of Business: Lessons from China’s Digital Giants" by Ming Zeng, published in the Harvard Business Review, September-October 2018.

Knowledge and understanding: This course is intended to provide students both with knowledge and understanding of IB theories as well as the capability to use this knowledge in actual decision-making related to international managerial problems. The course is structured to develop know-how and skills that allow students to elaborate and employ original ideas in complex contexts of analysis. Knowledge and understanding acquired by students will be evaluated through teamwork mid-term assignments and an individual final written exam. Applying knowledge and understanding, Classes involve a combination of traditional lectures, presentations and discussion of teaching case studies in the IB domain. The course is highly interactive and aims at challenging students with teaching cases and hands-on exercises based on real managerial problems. Teaching cases are critical to the completion of the course as they give students the opportunity to apply the IB theoretical notions in actual contexts. To demonstrate the ability to apply knowledge and understanding students should engage in active class discussion of the assigned teaching cases and develop mid-term teamwork assignments. Last but not least, the above mentioned ability will be evaluated through the final exam. Making judgements: The multidisciplinary approach of this course aims at providing students with the ability to deal with complex IB managerial problems autonomously. Thus, students successfully completing this course will be able to manage challenging situation when in the workplace, demonstrating know-how and problem solving skills also in case of limited information available. Moreover, students will show an awareness of ethical and social issues related to international managerial decisions. Communication skills: Communication skills will be fostered through continuous and direct interaction between student and teacher. To this end, students are expected to make several presentations during classes both individually and in team (e.g. presentation and analysis of teaching cases, data, documents provided by international institutions). The goal is to stimulate students’ ability to communicate in front of an audience and boost their familiarity with communication techniques and tools. Learning skills: Given that international markets are characterized by highly dynamic phenomena, a critical goal of this course is to stimulate learning skills that enable the understanding of these phenomena. Students are asked both to apply notions previously discussed during classes and to investigate autonomously key IB phenomena before classes to improve subsequent in-class discussion. This mixed learning approach aims at promoting a self-learning process that will enable students to keep updating their knowledge more easily once the course is completed. These skills will be evaluated both by in-class exercises and final exam.

The main topic developed are the following: 1. Introduction to international management and multinational corporations (MNCs) 2. The determinant of the firm international activities 3. Market selection criteria and entry mode strategies. 4. Export and strategies and international alliances 5. Foreign direct investments: FDIs 6. The international strategies options 7. Localization choices: drivers and pull factors 8. The organizational structures of MNCs 9. Control in MNCs: case studies and best practices

Students will be asked to study the slides and the carefully read the following text: Economics of Strategy, D. Besanko; D. Dranove; M. Shanley and S. Schaefer, Sixth Edition; Chapter 3 and 4 (i suggest also to read chapter 2) Amplifon in the US: A Story of Customer-Centric International Growth, A. Majocchi& A. Zattoni, Luiss Business case. Downloadable here Students who will not attend classes and will not deliver the requested assignments can still sustain the exam but they should study the slides and the following texts (all compulsory). World Investments Report 2020 – (annual report). Downloadable from: www.unctad.org Chapter 1 World Investments Report 2011 – (annual report). Downloadable from: www.unctad.org. Chapter 4 pg. 124-147 Economics of Strategy, D. Besanko; D. Dranove; M. Shanley and S. Schaefer, Sixth Edition; Chapter 3 and 4 (Chapter 2 is also suggested as a reading) Bartlett, Christopher A. & Sumantra Ghoshal. 1987a. Managing across borders: New strategic requirements. Sloan Management Review, 28: 7-18. Bartlett, Christopher A. & Sumantra Ghoshal. Organizing for Worldwide Effectiveness: The Transnational Solution California management review, 10/1988, Volume 31, (1) How bundling benefit sellers and buyers by CDixon blog; Amplifon in the US: A Story of Customer-Centric International Growth, A. Majocchi& A. Zattoni, Luiss Business case.

Lectures will follow and expand the main topics presented in the book. The book will be integrated by the slides that will be available to students. Every lecture will present a mix of theory and business cases. The cases will illustrate real case examples of the theoretical concepts discussed in the class. The theoretical classes will allow students to improve their knowledge and understanding of the international business environment and of the main tools that managers can use to implement international strategies. The discussions of the assignments will allow students to apply this knowledge working autonomously and developing their skill to make judgments and to take decisions. Finally every students, working in small groups, will present in class at least once an assignment in order to develop their communication abilities. Students, organized in teams will also compete to develop solutions, in the form of proofs of concept, to address one challenge among the ones identified by a real company (Amplifon).

Students’ evaluation will be based on three different criteria: - Assignment (20% of the final evaluation) - a business case (40 % of the final evaluation) - final written exam (40% of the final evaluation). Students that will not attend the course should study both the slides and the texts indicate for non-attending students. The final exams on these text will count for 100% of the final evaluation.

To apply for the final thesis supervision students should prepare a 2-pages document that follows the guidelines (in term of references, sources and methodology) that are reported in a specific document that can be found in the Luiss Learn Course page. Then the instructor will interview the students to discuss the document they have produced and to verify that they have carefully read the following document: Guidance document for writing your Master Thesis