International Marketing

The course will provide a general, unifying framework to synthesize the valuable and practical
knowledge of the seminal articles about International Business Strategy published in the
Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review and California Management Review. The
course will show how this knowledge can be applied to real businesses engaged in
international expansion programmes, especially as they venture into high-distance markets.

At the end of the course the student: 1) will be able to understand the functioning and
strategy of multinational enterprises; 2) will be able to write a literature review on a relevant
topic in International Business Strategy or to use the acquired concepts, frameworks, and tools
in order to analyze the international strategy of a selected multinational enterprise;

8 CFU for both attending and non-attending students:

Part I: Core concepts

1) The strategy of international business and its conceptual foundations;
2) A unifying framework to analyse international business strategy;
3) The critical role of firm-specific advantages;
4) The nature of home country location advantages;
5) The problem with host country location advantages;
6) Combining firm-specific advantages and location advantages in a multinational network;

Part II: Functional Issues
7) International innovation;
8) International sourcing and production;
9) International finance;
10) Managing managers in the multinational enterprise;

Part III: Dynamics of global strategy

11) Entry mode dynamics 1: Foreign distributors
12) Entry mode dynamics 2: Strategic alliance partners
13) Entry mode dynamics 1: Mergers and acquisitions
14) The role of emerging economies;
15) Emerging economies multinational enterprises;
16) International strategies of corporate social responsibility;
17) International Strategies of corporate environmental sustainability;

• 1.  (A) Alain Verbeke International Business Strategy, second edition Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (UK), 2013 » Pagine/Capitoli: the entire book
• 2.  (C) Charles Hill International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace, 10th Global Edition McGraw-Hill, New York, 2014 » Pagine/Capitoli: Chapter 13
• 3.  (A) Robert M. Grant Contemporary Strategy Analysis, 9th Edition Wiley, UK, 2016 » Pagine/Capitoli: chapter 1
• 4.  (C) Peter Buckley International Business Strategy: theory and practice Routledge, New York, 2015

• Frontal lecturing, analysis of case studies, guidance to writing a literature review or other paper
  on a relevant topic in International Business Strategy.

• FOR BOTH ATTENDING AND NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS:
  Both written and oral exam: the student will submit (at least 72 hours before the exam to
  ernesto.tavoletti@unimc.it, as a .pdf named 'Name_Surname.pdf'), present and discuss a 6,000-
  9,000 words paper: a literature review paper (on a relevant topic in International Business
  Strategy) or a paper that uses the acquired concepts, frameworks and tools in order to analyze
  the international strategy of a selected multinational enterprise. The paper will be evaluated on
  the basis of its originality, relevance, rigor, completeness, and clarity. The exam aims at
  evaluating the student's ability in critical thinking, in writing a paper, in presenting and defending
  a paper.
  IN ADDITION TO THAT, FOR NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS ONLY (LESS THAN 80% OF LECTURES): a written text based on the contents of the textbook. The answers to the open-ended questions of the text will be evaluated on the base of their completeness, clarity, and rigor.

English is the only language for this course

English is the only language for this course