The course develops a better understanding of the MNE and its challenges and opportunities in a globalized world. Given the complexities of managerial decisions of MNEs, there is no “silver bullet”. However, the course provides students with a better understanding of a firm’s external and internal factors that need to be taken into account. The course is less structured than the courses you have been taking during your studies in Maastricht so far, in order to get accustomed to the unruly reality we live in. You are provided the possibility to work in a team, to define the right problem statement, to apply knowledge to a real life companies, to orient yourself to the labor market and to discuss social responsibility. The specific objectives are:
1. to understand a number of crucial theoretical, empirical and managerial issues in international business strategy;
2. to develop the ability to apply theory to real world companies and to find possible solutions;
3. to develop skills to understand and analyze information from real life companies from their annual reports and economics press, and combine it with the theoretical insights obtained;
4. to develop the ability to critically assess the usefulness of competing or complementary theories and to decide yourself what is important;
5. to develop a helicopter view on study material;
6. to develop skills working in international teams;
7. to manage time;
8. to employ academic writing skills.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE INFORMATION ABOUT THE TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT METHOD(S) USED IN THIS COURSE IS WITH RESERVATION. A RE-EMERGENCE OF THE CORONAVIRUS AND NEW COUNTERMEASURES BY THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT MIGHT FORCE COORDINATORS TO CHANGE THE TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT METHODS USED. THE MOST UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION ABOUT THE TEACHING/ASSESSMENT METHOD(S) WILL BE AVAILABLE IN THE COURSE SYLLABUS.

The topics covered in this course can roughly be grouped into three categories:
FOUNDATIONS: Globalization drivers, internationalization, entry strategies, foreign direct investment and the multinational enterprise.
STRATEGY: International business strategy, strategic tasks, services versus products, and global, multinational and transnational strategies
ORGANISATION: Cross-border management of business functions; transnational leadership, transnational company’s value system as well as inter-firm relationships.

To be announced.

Basic understanding of the development and implementation of firms’ strategies.