Course Co-ordinator: Dr Henry Shi
Location: Room 10.25, Nexus 10
Telephone: +61 8 8313 9193
Email: henry.shi@adelaide.edu.au

Tutors: Kechen Dong (kechen.dong@adelaide.edu.au)
Zaheed Hasan (zaheed.hasan@adelaide.edu.au )

NB: Course related enquiries should initially be directed to your tutor.

Lecture Date - Weekly Lecture Topic in Textbook - Textbook Chapters

Week	Dates	Lecture content	Notes
1	25 – 29 Jul	Overview of international business (Ch 1)
2	1 – 5 Aug	The evolution of international business (Ch 2)	Tutorials commence
3	8 – 12 Aug	Regional economic integration (Ch 3)	Team formation complete
4	15 – 19 Aug	The international flow of funds (Ch 4)
5	22 – 26 Aug	International business environment (Ch 5)
6	29 Aug – 2 Sep	International business environment (cont.) (Ch 6-7)	Individual essay due
7	5 – 9 Sep	Market entry modes and decision making (Ch 8)
8	12 – 16 Sep	International business strategies (Ch 9-10)
Mid-semester break
9	3 – 7 Oct	International HRM (Ch11)
10	10 – 14 Oct	International marketing (Ch 12)	Team assignment due
11	17 – 21 Oct	Global value chain (Ch 13)
12	24 – 28 Oct	International finance, accounting and taxation (Ch 14-15)

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from the Course Planner at https://access.adelaide.edu.au/courses/search.asp

This is an introductory course in international business. The objectives of this course are to provide students with an understanding of the key concepts of international business and to provide an insight into the role of international business in a multinational organization. In meeting these objectives, this course will:


Knowledge and Understanding
1. Broaden their appreciation of international business topics in advanced markets and emerging markets as they relate to regional integration and globalisation and re-globalisation;
2. Enhance their understanding of how organizations go about entry and market location decisions;
3. Develop their necessary skills so as to be able to be involved in international operations within large and smaller firms;
4. Appreciate multiple perspectives of culture, business arrangements and organizational structure; and
5. Understand the ethics and environmental impact of global business activities.

Communication Skills Provide students with the opportunity for continuing development of good inter-personal and communication skills, which is widely recognized as important for Business graduates; and
Develop students’ abilities to analyse documentary material, to work in groups, and to write a group management report.

3.1 REQUIRED RESOURCES
Gaspar, J. E., Arreola-Risa, A., Bierman, L., Hise, R. T., Kolari, J. W., & Smith, L. M. (2015). Introduction to global business: Understanding the international environment and global business functions (2nd ed.). Cengage Learning: Melbourne, VIC. (ISBN 978-1-305-50118-8).

Recommended Resources:

There are a number of excellent introductory textbooks including the following:

Daniels, J.; Radebaugh, L. & Sullivan, D. 2010. International Business. 13th Edition - Global Edition, Pearson.
C. Hill (2013) ‘International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace’, 9th Edition,McGraw Hill International
Hill, C.; Cronk, T. & Wickramasekera, R. 2011. Global Business Today. 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill, Irwin.
Rugman, A. & Collinson, S. 2009. International Business. 5th Edition, Prentice Hall.
Wild, J.; Wild, K. & Han, J. 2008. International Business: The Challenges of Globalization. 4th Edition, Pearson: Prentice Hall.

The University of Adelaide offers a virtual library which is accessible via the University’s website. The University library web page is http://www.adelaide.edu.au/library/. From this link, you are able to access the Library’s electronic resources.

It is also recommended that you read relevant journal articles. In particular, you are encouraged to read the following journals:

International Business Review . Journal of International Business Studies . Harvard Business Review . Journal of World Business . Management International Review . Journal of International Marketing . International Marketing Review . Supply Chain Management: An International Journal . Journal of Business Ethics . Journal of Business Research . Strategic Management Journal . Journal of International Management . International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management

There is also a range of national or international websites where students can find business and economic data and the related publications:

. The Australian Bureau of Statistics . The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade . Local and international newspapers
. Economist.com www.economist.com . International Monetary Fund (IMF) www.imf.org . Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) www.oecd.org . The World Bank www.worldbank.org
. CIA World Factbook www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ . Global Edge www.globaledge.msu.edu
. World Trade Organization (WTO) www.wto.org Databases (available online via UoA library) Business Source Complete (EBSCO ) A very large database covering all aspects of business / commerce related subjects for over 1,200 journals some indexed back to 1886. containsa high percentage of active, peer-reviewed, business related journals Additional full text, non-journal content, includes financial data, books, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, SWOT analyses and more. Search tip - type "" (quotation marks if you need to find a phrase eg: "interest rates").

Products and trade names guide (B2NB) by Dun & Bradstreet Search for products & services of Australian public and private companies, by company name, brand or UNSPSC code. Also details information on Australian companies. AusStats

Australian Bureau of Statistics website Everything on the ABS web site is accessible free of charge. Special access arrangements apply to Confidentialised unit record files (CURFs). Mint Global [Bureau van Dijk] Mint Global is the ORBIS database of over 50 million companies from around the world. Includes listed and unlisted companies. The information is presented in five modules: companies, news, market research, directors and scanned reports. Export data to spreadsheets.

Osiris [Bureau van Dijk] A fully integrated public company database ... Financial information [is included] on 57,000 listed and major unlisted/delisted companies worldwide (45,500 are non-US companies). The information includes: standardised and "as reported" financials (including restated reports), SEC filings,images of annual reports, corporate actions and dividends, detailed earnings estimates including recommendations, ownership, stock data, news and ratings ZEPHYR [Bureau van Dijk] containing M&A, IPO and venture capital deals with links to detailed financial company information.

ZEPHYR now contains information on over 600,000 transactions (as of December 2008). Up to 100,000 new deals are added per year. ZEPHYR has nine years of global coverage and includes deals involving European companies going back to 1997.

GMID (Global Marketing Information Database) GMID contains over a million demographic, economic and marketing statistics for 205 countries worldwide. The database also contains 6-year historic market size data for more than 330 consumer products in 52 countries, plus 5-year forecasts.

CEIC Macroeconomic, industry and financial time series database for global emerging and developed markets. product information SourceOECD A major source of international statistics and reports. Hint: click on Advanced search (under the Search for box) to add limits by date, field name or format (eg: statistics, working papers etc).

UN Comtrade Deliversinternational trade statistics. See also the Statistics database of the World Trade Organization. ViewsWire - Asia - E I U. Analyses (including Excel spreadsheets) for each countryunder the following headings:- Politics / News analysis, Background, Political structure, Outlook. Economy / News analysis, Background, Economic structure, Latest indicators, Outlook, 5-year forecast, 5-year summary, Country risk rating, Background Data. Finance/ News analysis, Outlook, EIU currency forecasts, Consensus currency forecast, Interest rate forecast, Equity prices, Euro exchange rate, Daily US dollar exchange rates Business / News analysis, Background, Business environment, Outlook, Corporate strategy, Industry overview Regulations / News analysis, Investment, Competition and price, Licensing and IP, Trade, Foreign exchange, Tax Country forecasts / Country Risk Summary / Country briefing (see also: ViewsWire in Factiva) World development indicators online (WDI) World Bank Obtain country time series indicator (spreadsheets) such as: consumption, savings, education, employment, banking, health, roads, agriculture, stocks, markets etc. (see the online help). WTO (World Trade Organization) Statistics database The Trade Profiles section provides standard information on the structural trade situation and trade policy measures of members, observers and other selected economies. The profiles are complemented with general macroeconomic indicators. The Time Series section provides a searchable database on international trade in merchandise and commercial services. Economist Intelligence Unit - Asia Provides independent, authoritative analysis and forecasts on country, industry and management analysis. Note: the Library provides access to other Economist Intelligence Unit titles via the Factiva database (click on Source and search for Economist Intelligence) GMID (Global Marketing Information Database) [Euromonitor] GMID contains over a million demographic, economic and marketing statistics for 205 countries worldwide. The database also contains 6-year historic market size data for more

Lecture slides will be uploaded to MyUni.

In addition, course communication and possible additional readings and links will be provided in MyUni throughout the course.

Lectures (2 hours per week) and tutorials (1 hour per week).

The University expects full-time students (i.e. those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. This means that you are expected to commit approximately 9 hours for a three-unit course or 13 hours for a four-unit course, of private study outside of your regular classes.

Students in this course are expected to attend all lectures throughout the semester plus one tutorial class each week. Please NOTE tutorials begin in Week 2 of Lectures. There is no tutorial in Week 1.

Lecture Timetable

Week 1	Overview of international business (Ch 1)
Week 2	The evolution of international business (Ch 2)	Tutorials commence
Week 3	Regional economic integration (Ch 3)	Team formation complete
Week 4	The international flow of funds (Ch 4)
Week 5	International business environment (Ch 5)
Week 6	International business environment (cont.) (Ch 6-7)	Individual essay due
Week 7	Market entry modes and decision making (Ch 8)
Week 8	International business strategies (Ch 9-10)
Week 9	International HRM (Ch11)
Week 10	International marketing (Ch 12)	Team assignment due
Week 11	Global value chain (Ch 13)
Week 12	International finance, accounting and taxation (Ch 14-15

Tutorial Timetable 

Week 1	No tutorials
Week 2	Tutorial induction: course requirement and assessments
Week 3	Team formation; “Interpreting Global Business News” (p.56)
Week 4	Case study: “The EU Sans Frontiere?” (p.84)
Week 5	Case study: “The Asian Currency Crisis” (p.107)
Week 6	Interpreting Global Business News” (p.139)
Week 7	Interpreting Global Business News” (p.164)
Week 8	Interpreting Global Business News” (p.215)
Week 9	Interpreting Global Business News” (p.238)
Week 10	Team presentations
Week 11	Team presentations (cont)
Week 12	Review and exam prep

SGDE is available in the Group assignment with research skills developed as a process of developing an international company, and reporting on the research analysis required to analyse the external market factors and the necessary product adaptation given the nature of the host market.

You will also develop individual problem-solving skills in the weekly tutorials where you do a situational analysis of a real-life international business problem, identify the problems and focus on the main problem of the case study, and then extend your analysis skills by developing a number of short term and long term solutions that address your main research problem. This is a weekly SGDE.

Assessment Task	Task Type	Due	Weighting	Learning Outcome
1	Tutorial participation	Ongoing from Week 3	5%	3,4,5,6
2	Individual essay	17.00, Friday, 2 Sep	15%	1,3,5,7
3A 3B	Team-based business report Team presentation	17.00, Friday, 14 Oct Weeks 9-10	20% 10%	1,2,3,6,7
4	Examination	TBA	50%	1,2,3,7

5.2 requirements
TUTORIALS For tutorial sessions, hand-ins of student preparation work to the tutor is required. The case analysis MUST be TYPED. Marks will be allocated for class participation and contribution to class discussion. To be eligible for the 10% tutorial contribution mark, students are required to achieve “satisfactory” for at least 8 tutorial hand-ins. Students failing to fulfil this requirement will be awarded 0% for this assessment item.
EXAM To gain a pass, a mark of at least 50% must be obtained on the examination as well as a total of at least 50% overall. The final examination will comprise of a case study and discussion questions. Students not achieving the minimum exam mark will be awarded no more than 49.

5.3 Assessment Detail The assessment components are as follows:
Assignment: International Business Report 30% Group Assignment Details: “External Environment Analysis (Country Choice) and Entry Strategy (Mode) and Implementation Recommendations” Task Students, working in teams of three to four, will develop and submit an international business report for entry into a new country (market) with a product (or a product line) through a division (or strategic business unit) of an Australian-based company. You are to undertake research into the prospects of an SME, an international new venture or one of the top 100 MNEs based in Australia, with the aim of recommending the relative merits of entering a selected overseas country with a product and the chosen entry mode and provide a logical recommendation for your choice of country destination, product and entry mode, with a minimum investment of $A5,000,000 or more.
The Full Report will cover two broad aspects. First, an External Environment Analysis of the Selected Overseas Country (destination) and second, an Analysis of the Entry Strategy (Mode), should be included in your report. Your Conclusion will clearly justify your Recommendations of Country Choice and Entry Mode. You are to provide an international business report of approximately 3,500 words.
1. The objectives of this report are:
o to familiarise you with the international business planning process. That is, to learn (theory and concepts) by doing and to develop skills in developing international business plans; and o to provide you with a vehicle for enhancing your analytical skills, report writing skills, and interpersonal understandings (via working in teams).
2. External Environment (Country Destination) Analysis.
You are to provide a written external environment analysis (political, economic, social, technological, environmental, ethical and legal environment) of the selected international market (country) and region (e.g. European Union, Asia, Africa, NAFTA, Latin America) for the product (product line) you have chosen.
The factors needed for undertaking the analysis are broadly set out in the Lecture Topics 1, 2, 3 and 4. For the first aspect of the report, the external environment analysis, you are required to complete this in the business report style-format discussed below (Typing only. Handwriting is unacceptable). The report should be a synthesis of all of the work you have completed for the external environment analysis.
You should provide appropriate evaluation of all relevant investment considerations given the company‘s own circumstances and the current economic and market conditions. Justifications for the recommended course of actions and decision must be presented. You must use the latest available economic, industry and company information to complete your analysis. Please note that it is to be written in a business report style that is appropriate for senior management. That is, you need to think carefully about the structure of the report. It needs to be interesting, informative and persuasive as the aim is to highlight key external environmental international business challenges that the company is likely to face in the selected foreign market over the next few years. This aspect of report writing will be discussed in class.
3. Entry Strategy (Mode) and Implementation Recommendations.
In a similar format to that described above you are required to provide the second aspect of the report based on the foreign market entry (mode) strategy via foreign direct investment (FDI) or exporting (or licensing) and implementation recommendations for the chosen product line in the selected foreign market. The factors needed for evaluating entry modes and why they should be selected along with any required adaptations for the product, product line, strategic business unit or entire company are broadly set out in Lecture Topics 7 and 8. This second aspect of the report is essentially a set of international business strategy recommendations based on the external environment analysis presented in the first part of the report. It is therefore a communication vehicle aimed at persuading senior management to act on these recommendations. Accordingly, once again considerable thought is required to the structure and style of the report. The requirements will be elaborated in class.
4. Team Members’ Contribution
It is important that all team members contribute equally (in terms of quantity and quality of input) to the Report, and with the objective of facilitating teamwork and in discouraging a free ride and recycling of previously submitted work the following two requirements are stipulated:
· A team statement as to the contribution of each member. This should include a summary of the breakdown of the tasks undertaken by each team member. This statement is to be included as an appendix of the submitted report.
· A declaration that the work contained in the report was obtained from identified secondary and/or primary sources and that it does not include work submitted previously by other students in any other context. This declaration is to be included as an appendix in the report.
5. Your report must include:
I. Coversheet. Course Code, Course Name and Name and ID Number of each contributing member MUST be clearly mentioned in the Coversheet. Each contributing group member MUST sign the Coversheet before submission. You can get the formatted Coversheet from the Ngee Ann-Adelaide Education Centre. II. Executive Summary (one page only). Please see pages 20-21 of the PDF file obtainable through the link https://business.adelaide.edu.au/documents/CSG_business_Web_final.pdf to see what an executive summary should include. Also NOTE that an executive summary is not a replacement of the introduction part. III. Introduction, which must include a statement of the purpose of the report. Since your recommendation is to be based on multiple, potentially conflicting, criteria (financial, political, economic, cultural/social, technological, environmental andlegal merits), you should also include an explanation of how you are going to use these criteria in reaching your decisions (for example, only one criterion might be applied as a hurdle requirement, or both criteria might be equally important in your final decisions, etc). Your introduction must also include an explanation of the scope of the report and your methodology (how you obtained your data and whether it was primary or secondary data).
IV. Body (Discussion), which must include a research-based comparative critical analysis of the country selection and entry mode choice for your company based on criteria (i) – (vii). Remember, you should be aiming to present logical arguments as to why the selected country destination and market entry choice of the company is better than another country destination and market entry mode and hence should be chosen. V. Conclusion/Recommendation, which must clearly state the action to be taken and summarise the reasons for the final choice of the country destination and market entry choice of your Singaporean-based company. VI Reference List In undertaking this task, you will not be expected to use sophisticated analytical tools. It is sufficient if you provide common-sense analysis of the international business entry strategy of your chosen company based on the given criteria and by using concepts and principles discussed in this course.
The length of the report should approximately be 3,500 words (excluding executive summary, table of contents, references, relevant statistical data in appendix, etc).
A ‘table of contents’ page indicating sections, sub-sections, tables and diagrams is required (words not counted) for the report.
Proper footnotes and reference citing all sources of data or quotation is essential, (words not counted) for the report, and the report will be returned without a grade if insufficient. Loss of marks will result for insufficient referencing as is deemed as plagiarism.
Tables and figures should be clearly labelled and unit of measurement indicated, (words not counted) for the report.
It is essential that grammar and spelling are of high standard and will affect the overall grade if they are not. The student Hub on the Ground Floor provides advice on language and learning advisors.
VII Appendix of each Team Members’ Contribution
Contribution in Tutorials (10%) For tutorial sessions, hand-ins of student preparation work is required. A copy must be handed to the tutor in the tutorial. Students should retain a second copy for note taking during the tutorial. These will not be graded, but will each be assessed as one of: · Satisfactory (made a satisfactory attempt to answer all questions and applied relevant theory) · Unsatisfactory (did not attempt all questions & failed to demonstrate an understanding of relevant theory) · Not submitted. Hand-ins (minimum 1 page length and typed) will be collected from the first tutorial (in Week 2 –Lectures) till the final tutorial in Week 12 (Lecturers) inclusive. Tutors will not annotate your hand-ins with comments. It will be your responsibility to keep notes of what you learned from attending the relevant tutorial. Marks will be allocated for class participation and contribution to class discussion. To be eligible for the 10% tutorial contribution mark, students are required to achieve “satisfactory” for at least 8tutorial hand-ins. Students failing to fulfil this requirement will be awarded 0% for this assessment item.
Sample answers will not be issued - given that for ‘live’ cases (very recent current events). There is never one perfect solution!
NOTE: Marks will not be earned by mere attendance at tutorials or by preparing answers to the Case for tutorials. Marks will be allocated for class participation and contribution to class discussion.
Final Exam 60%
Exam Period: November 2014
To gain a pass, a mark of at least 50% must be obtained on the final examination as well as a total of at least 50% overall. The final examination will comprise of a case study and discussion questions. Students not achieving the minimum exam mark will be awarded no more than 49.
There will be a 3 hour exam which will include a comprehensive case study/current event article and discussion type questions (Closed Book).The date of the exam will be communicated to you by the University’s Central Student Administration.

5.1 Submission
Students must retain a copy of all assignments (Business Report) and tutorial activities (Cases) submitted.
All Group and Individual assignments must be attached to an Assignment Cover Sheet which must be signed and dated by the student(s) before submission.
Markers can refuse to accept assignments which do not have a signed acknowledgement of the University’s Policy on Plagiarism: www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/230/.


Assignment Guidelines including Referencing Details
A copy of the Postgraduate Programs: Communication Skills Guide will have been given to you at the beginning of your program. This guide will assist you structure your assignments. A copy of the guide can also be downloaded from

http://www.business.adelaide.edu.au/current/download/2009/CommSkillsGuide.pdf

This publication also provides guidelines on a range of other important communication skills including writing essays and management reports, making oral presentations, etc.
In preparing any written piece of assessment for your postgraduate studies it is important to draw on the relevant ‘literature’ to support critical analysis. Also essential is to reference the literature used. Correct referencing is important because it identifies the source of the ideas and arguments that you present, and sometimes the source of the actual words you use, and helps to avoid the problem of plagiarism. (Further information on plagiarism is provided later in this course outline.)
The Harvard system is widely used in the Business School. Guidelines for the use of this style of referencing can be found in the Communication Skills Guide.

Further assistance with referencing is available from the Faculty’s Learning Support Advisors. The contact details are provided on page 6 of the Communication Skills Guide.

Late Assignment Submission
Students are expected to submit their work by the due date to maintain a fair and equitable system. Extensions will generally only be given for medical or other serious reasons. All requests for extensions must be emailed to the lecturer in charge of the course before the due date. Each request will be assessed on its merits. A late assignment (without prior arrangement) will be penalised by a 5% mark reduction for each day that it is late. It includes the weekend.


Return of Assignments
Lecturer has an aim to mark and return assignments to students within three (3) weeks of the due date with written feedback. Students are responsible for collecting their marked assignments from the Student Hub desk. The marked assignments will be available at the Student Hub for two (2) weeks. The remaining assignments will only be posted out to the students, if the correct mailing addresses are on the assignments.