Topic 1: Foundations

TOPIC 1: FOUNDATIONS

 Why understanding culture is important in

international business

 Cultural awareness

 cross-cultural business styles

 need for international competency

 Basic foundations of what business is all about

 Basic foundation of traditional economic systems

 Role of government in regulating economic activities

 Economic systems

 public/private ownership

 market equilibrium TOPIC 2: COMMUNICATIONS

 Why language is important to international business

 Social systems and interpersonal communication

styles

 High context/low context

 impacts on negotiating strategies

 Verbal and non-verbal dimensions cross-cultural

communication

 “Face” and Never Say “No”

 Gender and language TOPIC 3: CONCEPTS OF “VALUE”

AND “WEALTH”

 Attitudes cross-culturally toward time, work,

consumption, achievement, change, wealth, risk

 Religious attitudes towards development and business

 Cultural values: individual-collective, equality-hierarchy,

tough-tender, uncertainty-avoidance, and time dimensions

 Business definitions of value

 Risk versus return; timing of cash flows;

 expected versus required rate of return

 Shareholders and stakeholders

 Public versus private ownership

 Government and corporate responsibilities for addressing

social issues, e.g., the living wage, the environment, etc. TOPIC 4: SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF

SOCIETIES AND BUSINESS

 Family and kinship, networks and associations

 Organizational culture: anthropological and

management approaches

 Gender considerations:

 valuation of the masculine and feminine

 stereotypes about female and male temperaments

 hegemonic masculinity and organizational behavior

 Corporations and their evolution over time

 19th versus 20th centuries

 new models

 Developing global managers TOPIC 5: PRACTICAL AND POLITICAL

FACTORS IN A GLOBAL MARKET

 Why people trade

 Why countries trade

 Negotiating across cultures

 Building and nurturing alliances and maintaining

social relationships

 Trans-cultural trade: Business enablers and constraints

 Navigating bureaucracies; coping with culture shock

 Concepts of labor and capital in and between

 first and third worlds

 multinationals TOPIC 6: ENTREPRENEURSHIP

AND BUSINESS

 Need for entrepreneurs (and change through time)

 How the process and players differ cross-culturally

 Formal and informal sector; scale and size

 Local versus global

 Gender considerations in entrepreneurship across

cultures TOPIC 7: TRADITIONAL AND MODERN

CORPORATIONS: THE EVOLUTION OF

MULTINATIONAL BUSINESSES

 Non-western corporations

 What a modern corporation does

 Forms of business organization

 The evolution of multinational business

 Why multinational enterprises (MNEs) exist

 product life cycle,

 internalization

 value chain management TOPIC 8: MARKETING, AND ADVERTISING

ACROSS CULTURES

 Product decision-making across cultures

 Performance evaluations across cultures

 Marketing and consumer behavior by

 developed and developing countries

 gender and age

 urban and rural/ peasant markets

 Trends, symbols, and brand power in global markets TOPIC 9: ISSUES IN GLOBALIZATION

 Economic development: Can countries skip stages?

 Comparative advantage

 What MNEs can do better than governments

 Negotiations/relations between MNEs and

governments

 Global managers versus national managers

 Social/cultural issues and effects on local people

 MNEs may help or hinder peasants and developing

countries

 Integrating social concerns into private sector

decision making SOME EXAMPLES OF CASE STUDIES

ASIA  The New China Hotel in Bejing  Motorola Attempts to Increase Market Share and Profits in Japan

MIDDLE EAST  Kuwati-Chinese Business Partnership

EUROPE  Anheuser-Busch: Developing a Global Brand in Germany  Opening a Closed City (Ukraine)

LATIN AMERICA  Testing Solar Stove in Mexico  SSA Mexicana: A Korean Prescription for Success in Mexico

AFRICA  Selling Development in Somalia: The Food Monetization Program  Managing a Culturally Diverse Work Force in a Southern African Gold Mine