MODULE HANDBOOK

Module Code: NBS 8060 Module Name: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STRATEGY

Semester 2

2012/2013

1. Module Information
Name of module: International Business Strategy Module code: BNS8060 Credit value: 10 Semester: 2 Lecture schedule: This course comprises of 18 hours of lectures. The lectures are between 3:30-5:30pm and in NUBS 1.03 Lecture outline: Thursday 7 February Thursday 14 February Thursday 21 February Thursday 28 February Thursday 7 March Thursday 14 March Thursday 18 April Thursday 25 April Thursday 2 May

2. Module Leader and Contact Details

Name of the Module Leader: Dr. Anna Tilba Dr. Anna Tilba is a researcher and a Lecturer in Strategy and Corporate Governance at the Newcastle University Business School. She recently joined NUBS from the University of Liverpool Management School where she obtained her PhD in corporate governance and where she was teaching Strategy both at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Anna was also a Director of Studies for one of the MSc Management programs at ULMS. She has a background in industry starting her career first working for a marketing firm and later on joining the Observer Group. Her research interests include corporate governance, institutional investors and corporate engagement. Anna has an emerging record of publications in top tier academic journals. She also reviews papers for such scholarly journals as Corporate Governance: An International Review, Organization Studies, European Management Review, Business History and her papers appear at various international conferences. Office: NUBS 8.21 E-mail address: anna.tilba@ncl.ac.uk Personal link: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/nubs/staff/profile/anna.tilba Tel: 0191 208 16 28 Lecturers: Dr Anna Tilba, Dr. Tom McGovern NB! Outside of teaching hours Dr. Anna Tilba can be contacted by e-mail in the first instance and appointments can be made.

3. Module Aims
The module aims to provide students with an advanced appreciation of the concept and practice of business strategy within an international, global context. The objective, through students' independent study and reinforcement from the lecturer, will be to provide a sound understanding of the problems, approaches and techniques associated with strategy and competition within an increasingly globalised context. The module also aims to broaden and deepen students 2

knowledge and understanding of the key issues and activities involved in internationalization of business strategy.

4. Intended Knowledge and Transferrable Skills Outcomes

After taking the module, students will be understand the differences between competing perspectives of strategy, the extent to which managers exercise strategic choice in practice, and the implications of internationalised competition for long-term decision-making and change. More specifically, by the end of the module students should be able: - To display a real understanding of contemporary issues, such as globalization, intercultural - awareness, power and politics and financialization. - Develop a sound appreciation for international business practices - Critically analyse strategic business and organizational behaviour in a global setting. - To identify key perspectives and ways of thinking about 'doing' international strategy. - To identify key activities and potential problems involved in strategic decision making. - Put the knowledge gained from the course to practical use, e.g. case study analysis, company - projects etc. - Enhanced critical reasoning, independent learning and research skills. Transferrable Skills Outcomes - Conducting research and applying theory to practice - To enable the use of various activities, frameworks and techniques associated with doing international business strategy. - To enhance students critical and analytical skills so that they can diagnose organisational situations and appreciate alternative choices and approaches for managing people and processes in and around organisations.

5. Teaching and Learning Strategies

LECTURES and ENGAGEMENT Each week, students will attend 2 hours of lectures. The emphasis is on the student to study the relevant literature and to augment their knowledge through their reading and active contribution to the module. The classes will be highly participative and students are expected to contribute through group work and questions. SOURCES A list of readings for each lecture, together with supporting case studies, will be provided. Students will be expected to have read these prior to the session. Key articles are indicated y an asterix. Articles available in the library catalogue / databases (e.g. EBSCO) under the authors name. Many of the cases used in the module and also essential articles in student friendly format can be found in Verbeke A. 2010. International Business Strategy. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, and Mintzberg H, Lampel J, Quinn J B and Ghoshal S, 2003. The Strategy Process, Concepts Contexts Cases, Fourth Edition, Prentice Hall.

Independent learning is a crucial part of the learning experience in Business Strategy. Students are responsible for their own learning. Lecture Notes: The lecture notes for the International Business Strategy course (NBS 8060) will be usually available on Black board before the lecture. To access the material you need to enter an identification number: your computer service number. The password is your student registration number. The help number is helpline@ncl.ac.uk or telephone extension 5999. The lecture notes and other materials on Blackboard are not a substitute for attendance at lectures or for personal study and reading. The notes provide a framework and guidance for your personal scholarship.

6. Assessment
Individual Essay: 100% Word Count: 3500 words Submission date: The essay must be submitted no later than 9am on MONDAY 29th April 2013 The essay must be submitted in two ways (all by 9am on the submission date): Submit one hard copy to the submission boxes in the Postgraduate Lounge (Room 5.07) Submit an electronic copy to Turnitin using the assignment link via Blackboard. In accordance with standard university procedures: Any work submitted after 9am on the day of the deadline will receive a capped mark of 50. Any work submitted over 7 days late will receive a mark of zero and no feedback will be provided. Marking criteria: Refer to the marking criteria in your degree programme Handbook.

Essay Question:
Using an organisation of your choice, critically evaluate [1] the way entry strategy for the launch of a product or service into a new international market is formulated and implemented in the organisation in dealing with its competitive environment; [2] the success of these actions; and [3] how strategic decision-making and strategies can be improved. NB! Wikipedia: Due to the unreliable nature of Wikipedia, please DO NOT use this website as a basis for reference in any piece of assessment a standard University deduction will be applied to students not adhering to this policy.

7. Lecture Programme1
University of Newcastle Business School adheres to the ideal of research led teaching. This means that our aim is not only to transmit standard information and textbook knowledge to you, but to try and equip you with the most recent insights and developments in the fields that we, your lecturers, study at the moment. The benefits of this approach are that you will get unmediated exposure to theories and studies, but also to trends and problems that occupy researchers in strategy, organisation studies, and management so that you can gain understanding of the role of research in this discipline. This also means, however, that any specific module cannot attempt to cover all aspects of the topic, but will instead try to pick a number of key themes and deal with those in detail, going beyond the general statements and summaries you tend to find in textbooks. In this module, the focus lies on the development of knowledge and understanding of multi-level processes involved in organisational and managerial practice, following the programme outlined below.
Week 23

7 February

Module Introduction. Globalising Business Formulation

Recommended Reading:

AT

and

International

Strategies

Peng, M. and Meyer, K. (2011) International Business, Cengage Learning EMEA. Dicken, P. (2007) Global Shift: Mapping the Changing Contours of the th World Economy, 5 Ed., London: Sage. Hall, P.A. and Soskice, eds. (2001) Varieties of Capitalism, Oxford University Press. Brouthers KD, Brouthers LE. 2000. Acquisition or Greenfield Start-up? Institutional, Cultural and Transaction Cost Influences. Strategic Management Journal 21(1): 89-97 Erramilli MK, Rao CP. 1993. Service Firms' International Entry-Mode Choice: A Modified Transaction-Cost Analysis Approach. Journal of Marketing 57(3): 19-38 He X, Wei Y. 2010. Linking Market Orientation to International Market Selection and International Performance. International Business Review In Press Madhok A. 1997. Cost, Value and Foreign Market Entry Mode: The Transaction and the Firm. Strategic Management Journal 18(1): 39-61

Week 24

14 February

Strategy: Where are we now? Co-operative Strategies: Strategic Alliances

Recommended Reading: Case Study: The Renault-Nissan Alliance Buckley P J and Glaister W K (1996) Strategic motives for UK international alliance formation, Journal of Management Studies, 33(3): 301-32.

TM

The timetable may be subject to change.

Child J and Yan Y (2003) Predicting the performance of international joint ventures: an investigation in China, Journal of Management Studies, 40(2): 283-320. Hamel G (1991) Competition for competence and inter-partner learning within international strategic alliances, Strategic Management Journal, 12: 83-103. Week 25

21 February

Guest Lecture on Mergers and Acquisitions presented JW by NUBS Director, Prof. John Wilson
Recommended Reading:
Cartwright S and Cooper CL, Managing Mergers, Acquisitions and Strategic alliances: Integrating People and Cultures, Oxford: ButterworthHeinemann, 1996. Child J, Faulkner DO and Pitkethly R, The Management of International Acquisitions, Oxford: Oxford University press, 2003. Lubatkin M (1983) Mergers and the performance of the acquiring firm. Academy of Management Review, 8: 218-225. Kitching J (1974) Winning and losing with European acquisitions. Harvard Business Review, 52: 124-136. Barney JB (1990) Management objectives in mergers and acquisitions. Strategic Management Journal, 11: 79-86. Chatterjee S (2009) The keys to successful acquisition programmes. Long Range Planning, 42: 137-163. Hayward MLA and Shimizu K (2006) De-commitment to losing strategic action: Evidence from the divestiture of poorly performing acquisitions. Strategic Management Journal, 27(6): 541-557.

Week 26

28 February

Strategizing Around the World: A Practice Approach to AT Strategy

Recommended Reading:
Balogun, Jarzabkowski, and Siedl, D. (2002) Strategy as Practice Perspective. In: Strategic Management. A Multi-perspective Approach (Chapter 13), pp 196-211 Whittington, R. (2002) The Work of Strategizing and Organizing: For a Practice Perspective, pp. 119127. Nicolini, D. (2009). Zooming In and Out: Studying Practices by Switching Theoretical Lenses and Trailing Connections. Organization Studies 30(12): 1391-1418. Nicolini, D., Gherardi, S. and Yanov, D. (2003). Knowing in Organizations: A Practice-Base Approach. Armonk, NY: M.F. Sharpe. Schatzki, T. R. (2005). "Peripheral Vision: The Sites of Organizations." Organization Studies 26: 465-484.

Week 27

7 March

Power and Politics

Recommended Reading:
Case Study: The Tobacco Firms Bachrach P and Baratz M (1962) The Two faces of Power. The American Political Science Review, 56(4): 947-952.

TM

Carter C, Clegg S, Kornberger M (2010) Re-framing Strategy: Power, Politics and Accounting. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal , 23(5): 573-593. Clegg, S., Carter, C., Kornberger, M. and Schweitzer, J. (2011) Strategy Theory & Practice, London: Sage, Chapter 9.

Week 28

14 March

Strategic Decision Making

Recommend Reading:
Case Study: Deciding Nuclear Armageddon Allison, G.T. (1969) Conceptual models and the Cuban missile crisis. American Political Science Review, 63(3), 689-718. Clegg, S., Carter, C., Kornberger, M. and Schweitzer, J. (2011) Strategy Theory & Practice, London: Sage, Chapter 8. Lindblom, C.E (1959) The science of muddling through. Public Administration Review, 19(2), 79-88. Starbuck A (1983) Organizations as Action Generators. American Sociological Review, 48 (February): 91-102. Vaughan, D. (1997) The Trickle-Down Effect: Policy Decisions, Risky Work, and the Challenger Tragedy. California Management Review, 39(Winter): 1-23.

TM

Week 33

18 April

Governance and the Impact of Financial Intermediaries AT on Strategy

Recommended Reading:
Barker, R. (1998). "The Market for Information Evidence from Finance Directors, Analysts and Fund Managers. Accounting and Business Research 29(1): 3-20. Coffee, J.C. (1997). "The Folklore of Investor Capitalism." Michigan Law Review 95 (6): 1970-1989. Coffee, J.C., (2006). "Gatekeepers: The Role of the Professions in Corporate Governance." Oxford: Oxford University Press. Cox, P., S. Brammer, and Millington, A. (2007). "Pension Fund Manager Tournaments and Attitudes Towards Corporate Characteristics. Journal of Business Finance & Accounting 34(7) & (8): 1307-1326. Davis, G. (2008). "A New Finance Capitalism? Mutual Funds and Ownership ReConcentration in the United States. " European Management Review 5(1): 1121. Davis, S., Lukomnik, J. and Pitt-Watson, D. (2006). "The New Capitalists: How Citizen Investors are Reshaping the Corporate Agenda. " Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press. Dore, R., W. Lazonick, and OSullivan, M. (1999). "Varieties of Capitalism in the Twentieth Century." Oxford Review of Economic Policy 15(4): 102120. Holland, J. B. (1995). "The Corporate Governance Role of Financial Institutions in their Investee Companies. Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (ACCA), Research Report 46, November. Holland, J. B. and Doran, P. (1998). "Financial Institutions, Private Acquisition of Corporate Information, and Fund Management, The European Journal of Finance 4: 129-155.

Holland, J. B. (2006). "Fund Management, Intellectual Capital, Intangibles and Private Disclosure. Managerial Finance 32(4): 277-316. Ingley, C. B. and N. T. v. d. Walt (2004). "Corporate Governance, Institutional Investors and Conflicts of Interest." Corporate Governance 12: 534-551.

Week 34

25 April

Financialization, Risk and Accountability

Recommended Reading:
Clegg, S., Carter, C., Kornberger, M. and Schweitzer, J. (2011) Strategy Theory & Practice, London: Sage, Chapter 11. Kerr R and Robinson S (2012) From symbolic violence to economic violence: the globalizing of the Scottish banking elite. Organization Studies, 33(2): 247-266. Tett, G (2009) Fools Gold: How Unrestrained Greed Corrupted a Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe. London: Simon and Schuster. Tett, G. (2010) silos and silences: Why so few people spotted the problems in complex credit and what that implies for the future. Banque de France, Financial Stability Review, 14, 121-8. http://www.banqueFrance.fr/gb/publications/telechar/rsf/2010/etude14_rsf_1007.pdf Vitols, S. (2009) The growing crisis in private equity: binding regulation and an action plan are needed, ETUI Policy Brief, European Economic and Employment Policy, 3/2009. http:www.etui.org/research/Media/Files/EEEPB/2009/3-2009/ Watt, A. and Galgczi, B. (2009) Financial capitalism and private equity a new regime? Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 15(2), 190-208.

TM

Week 35

2 May

Concluding Session

AT/ TM

8. Electronic Resources
There is no formal requirement that students consult specialised journal articles in addition to the main reading list given. However, if you do wish to engage in more detailed and advanced reading it is recommended that you browse through recent and past journal articles held in the Library. The following are excellent journals designed in part to help bridge scholarly research and practice. They are accessible, relevant, less overtly theoretical but academically respected: Academy of Management Review Academy of Management Journal Administrative Science Quarterly British Journal of Management Human Relations Journal of Management Studies Management Learning Organisation Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes Organization Studies Human Resource Management Journal 8

Strategic Management Journal Long Range Planning The following are excellent journals designed in part to help bridge scholarly research and practice. They are accessible, relevant, less overtly theoretical but academically respected Academy of Management Executive (now The Academy of Management Perspectives) Harvard Business Review Sloan Management Review California Management Review

Document last revised Name: Dr. Anna Tilba Date: 1 February 2013 Updates will be provided on Blackboard e.g., changes to the lecture programme or references to useful literature which has appeared since the Handbook