Course Details

1. Define globalization and international business and show how they affect each other.
2. Explain why companies engage in international business and identify various entry modes to foreign markets.
3. Analyse major causes of cultural difference and change.
4. Discuss cultural guidelines for companies that operate internationally.
5. Understand how political and legal systems affect the conduct of business.
6. Explain the idea of political risk and describe approaches to managing it.
7. Compare and contrast economic indicators.
8. Discuss theories of international trade and rationales of governmental policies.
9. Compare and contrast different regional trading groups including but not exclusively EU.
10. Explain the fundamentals of foreign exchange.

Chapter 1 - Globalization and international business:

The forces driving globalization.

Why companies engage in international business.

Modes of operations in international business.

Chapter 2 - The cultural environments facing business:                                     

Behavioural practices affecting business.

Dealing with cultural differences.

Chapter 3 - The political and legal environments facing business:    

Should political risk management be an active strategy?

Chapter 4 - The economic environments facing business:                                                    

Elements of the economic environment. Features of an economy.

Integrating economic analysis.

Chapter 6 - International trade and factor mobility theory:

Free trade theories. The statics dynamics of trade.

Factor mobility theory.

Chapter 7 - Governmental influence on trade:                                          

Conflicting results of trade policies.

Economic and non-economic rationales of trade intervention.

Chapter 8 - Cross-national cooperation and agreements:

WTO, EU. Cyprus entry to the EU.

Chapter 9 - Global foreign exchange markets:

How companies use foreign exchange. Major foreign exchange markets.

Chapter 10 - The determination of exchange rates:                         

IMF, Exchange rates arrangements. Determining and forecasting exchange rates. Business implications of exchange rate changes.

Chapter 11 - The strategy of international business:                                                                     

Industry, strategy and firm performance. Global integration versus local responsiveness. Types of strategy.

Chapter 12 - Country evaluation and selection:                                                                              

How does scanning work? What information is important in scanning?

Collecting and analysing data. Country comparison tools. Allocating among locations.

• J.D. Daniels, L.H. Radebaugh, D.P. Sullivan (2009) International Business: Environments and Operations, 12th edition. Pearson Prentice Hall

• Ball, McCulloch, Frantz, Geringer, Minor (2006): International Business: The challenge of global competition. McGraw Hill, 10th edition.
• Wild J.J., Wild K.L., Han J C.Y. (2006): International Business: The challenges of globalization. Pearson. Prentice Hall.
• Hill C. (2007): International Business: Competing in the global marketplace. 6th edition. McGraw Hill.

Lectures, discussions, presentation of case studies, movies, assignments. Power point presentations used in class, lecture notes and case studies are available to the students on the e-learning platform.