The Belgian Brewery Industry in a Global Context: Business, Economics, Innovation and Culture
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Course Syllabus BUS 102 The Belgian Brewery Industry in a Global Context: Business, Economics, Innovation and Culture NUMBER OF ECTS CREDITS: 6ECTS CONTACT DETAILS FOR PROFESSOR Instructor: Prof. Dr. Sven Van Kerckhoven Email: [email protected] Office hours: Monday 13.30-15.00 Course Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 14.00-18.00 COURSE DESCRIPTION Belgium is not only home to the world’s biggest brewers, but has in recent years also seen a rise of innovative micro-breweries and diversification of the beer market with potentially far-reaching implications for the business and economics of the brewery industry inside and outside the country. In November 2016, UNESCO even added ‘Belgian Beer Culture’ to the World Heritage List, highlighting the cultural importance and impact of the Belgian beer industry beyond pure business and economics. This course focuses on key principles and changes in the economics, marketing, production and innovation of the Belgian Brewery Industry in a Global Context. Taking the Belgian beer industry as a multi-faceted case study for studying core Business processes and developments in the field of the national and international beer market (including production, strategy, marketing and product innovation), this course also explores the impact of geography, culture and globalization on Belgian beer businesses and their business strategies. The course includes company visits, guest lecture series and experiential learning and provides unique insights into the major shifts and changes of major the economics and business processes related to the brewery industry. In cooperation with key experts, this summer course will also include the possibility of learning the nuts and bolts of the beer brewing process itself. 1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES See below COURSE MATERIALS Swinnen, J.M. (2011). The Economics of Beer. Oxford University Press Readings as in the course schedule (see later). ACTIVE LEARNING Learning should be an active experience. Students who passively listen to lectures, copy someone else’s notes, and limit their readings to the bare minimum are unlikely to develop their critical thinking potential and expand their personal knowledge system. This might not only pose problems during the course and the exams, but also during your later career. Students are strongly recommended to have an updated understanding of current events. Active learning will turn out to be enriching to the overall course and class discussions. ADDITIONAL COURSE POLICIES Use of Electronics: Computers are permitted to take notes. However, if you use your laptop for something unrelated to the course, you will not be allowed to bring it to any of the future classes. Mobile phones are to be turned off! If your mobile phone rings in class, please turn it off immediately. If you are caught talking on your mobile or texting during class you will be asked to leave the class immediately and lose all points for the day (including participation and assignments). Students are requested to read the chapters in advance, as well as prepare the additional texts/ business cases. This will give the students a clear idea about the concepts exposed during class and makes them benefit from the course to the maximum degree. Late assignments The assignments are due by the deadline specified by the instructor. Late submissions are subject to the explicit approval by the instructor. If not handed in on time, the student will face a 20% grade reduction per day late. Students should refer from behaving in ways inconsistent with academic honesty. Cheating and plagiarism are serious breaches of academic integrity and will be judged as such. Following the College policy, cheating and plagiarism cases will be communicated in writing to the Associate Dean for Students and submitted to the Student conduct Committee for disciplinary action. If you refer to someone’s work, appropriate references and citations must be provided. 2 Grammar, spelling, lay-out and punctuation are important during your career. Please do use the appropriate tools before submitting any assignment. Attendance Since this course builds heavily on the active participation by students, and since practical experiences will be shared during class hours, students are required to attend all sessions. Moreover, due to the applied nature of the course, some sessions might not be taken place at our premises. Complimentary, some courses might take place on different hours than the general class hours. These will be reduced to the bare minimum, but students should stand ready to make the necessary arrangements to attend these sessions. Attendance to these sessions is required. Writing Style APA formatting is required on all work. Academic Honesty Statement Academic dishonesty is NOT tolerated in this course. Academic honesty is not only an ethical issue but also the foundation of scholarship. Cheating and plagiarism are therefore serious breaches of academic integrity. Following the College policy, cheating and plagiarism cases will be communicated in writing to the Associate Dean for Students and submitted to the Student Conduct Committee for disciplinary action. If you refer to someone else’s work, appropriate references and citations must be provided. Grammar, spelling and punctuation count, so use the tools necessary to correct before handing in assignments. The main issue is that material other than your own, or extensively based upon the research of others, must be clearly distinguishable from your own writing. A number of different cases must be considered, if you wish to avoid committing plagiarism. These are discussed below. Plagiarism 1. Blatant plagiarism is the word-for-word quotation of another person’s work without using either quotation marks or making an attribution (footnote). 2. A word-for-word quotation with an attribution but without quotation marks is also blatant plagiarism, because the reader is led to assume that the actual phrasing used is that of the paper’s author. 3. A word-for-word quotation with quotation marks but without an attribution are considered plagiarism, as the quotation marks indicate that these are not the author’s own words. 4. Paraphrased material must also be properly attributed. 5. Common knowledge or simple facts that can be looked up and still need to have a citation. 3 6. General rule is that all numbers such as, value, dates, and percentages must be cited. It can be assumed that these numbers are acquired somewhere, therefore sources should be cited. COURSE ASSESMENT Final Examination 50% Written Assignment 50% GRADING SCALE OF VESALIUS COLLEGE Vesalius College grading policy, in line with the Flemish Educational norms, is as follows: Grade Scale of 20 Scale of 100 A 17.0-20.0 85-100 A- 16.1-16.9 81-84 B+ 15.3-16.0 77-80 B 14.5-15.2 73-76 B- 13.7-14.4 69-72 C+ 13.1-13.6 66-68 C 12.3-13.0 62-65 C- 11.5-12.2 58-61 D+ 10.7-11.4 54-57 D 10.0-10.6 50-53 F Below 50 0-49 Letter Scale of 20 Scale of Rationale of grading grade 100 4 A 17.0-20.0 85-100 An excellent work, which demonstrates advanced knowledge of empirical background and theoretical/conceptual frameworks. The work is underpinned by an outstanding capacity for learning, mastering of relevant literature and ability to gather and independently assess relevant sources beyond required levels of reading. The proposed analysis draws on solid, critical and original analytical skills and ability to relate theoretical knowledge to empirical cases. The work is well communicated and demonstrates a pertinent and original ability to communicate complex dynamics. The bibliographic and referencing systems are correct. A- 16.1-16.9 81-84 A refined piece of work, which demonstrates advanced knowledge of both empirical background and theoretical and conceptual frameworks. The work is underpinned by a good learning attitude; ability to master relevant theoretical literature and coherent attempt to apply this literature to empirical phenomena. Strong critical ability and successful attempt to pursue an original analysis. Adequate reading levels and ability to communicate key findings in an effective way. However, weaknesses can be identified in terms of language, referencing, depth of sources, profundity of analysis and/or organisational structure. B+ 15.3-16.0 77-80 A good piece of work, sustained by adequate analytical skills. It demonstrates good level of understanding of the relevant theoretical literature and critical ability to apply these frameworks to the topic at hand. Written and oral expression is overall correct, the referencing and bibliographic systems are overall correct. The work could be further improved (minor flaws in the structure of the argument; minor theoretical lacuna), but it remains nonetheless a good piece of work. B 14.5-15.2 73-76 An adequate work, which overall meets the requirement of the assignment. It demonstrates a fairly good level of knowledge of both empirical background information and provides some analytical framework. The work meets the requirements of the assignment in terms of mastery of the literature and learning outcomes. Language, reference and bibliographic systems are generally correct although perhaps with some weaknesses. The work could be significantly improved (e.g. flaws in the organisational structure; limited number of sources; clarity and accuracy of language; theoretical/conceptual lacuna; sub-optimal focus/coherence of argument). B- 13.7-14.4 69-72 The work meets the basic requirements specifically demanded for the assignment. It shows the attempt to relate with relevant theoretical literature and to apply theoretical frameworks to the analysis of real- life cases. The work, however, does not adequately engage with the critical assessment of either relevant theoretical frameworks or the topic at hand. The work is marked by some combination of flaws in the organisational structure of the paper; theoretical/conceptual lacuna; sub-optimal focus or coherence of the argument; clarity and accuracy of language and/or inappropriate selection of sources.