International Business
Module leader: Professor V N Balasubramanyam
Duration and timing: total of 24 hours, Summer Term
Overview
This elective is structured around present-day debates on globalisation, using a combination of lecture input and related class discussion. Major themes addressed include the forces that have driven globalisation, its costs and benefits for the trading countries of the world, formulation of strategy and management in a globalised world.
The aim is to give you an understanding of the intricate patterns of international trade and investment, centring on factors which contribute to the competitiveness of industries and nations in the global market. It also seeks to show you how an economist’s analytical tool kit can be applied to important problems and concerns. For example, how to assess the market potential for multinational enterprises in developing countries. How to best plan the mode of entry into a market. How to address the concerns of developing countries in the areas of environment and big business, labour standards and big business.
Drawing on examples from developed and developing nations around the world, many different issues will be covered – such as international trade, FDI, labour flows and concepts of economic distance, outsourcing and insourcing, the rise of the MNE, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions.
One of the sessions includes a World Trade Organisation simulation, where students represent individual nations and negotiate on their behalf. This forms part of the assessment for the module.
Assessment
Class-based test and WTO simulation
