BBA 484: Global Strategies

Overview

This course addresses the development of an international or global strategy business plan for a company. In order to accomplish this plan, it is necessary to understand the difference between the two basic levels of strategy — that of competitive and corporate strategy — and then determine the differences in determining an international or global strategy and how that differs from a domestic plan. The course will then concentrate on the development of a corporate strategy. It will address topics such as influences of national culture in the appropriate business strategy for a global market; issues concerning the legal, cultural and economic factors in producing and distributing appropriate products; and the impact of those products in the local marketplace. Finally, this course considers various ways in which a company can determine a global strategy while organizing business activities according to the particular manufacturing and business marketplace.

Throughout the course, students will engage in a discussion applying each module's content to an organization's plan for expanding a market in an international environment. In the course project, students will prepare a plan to develop the most appropriate strategy for expanding the organization's product in a foreign environment.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Understand the nature of a corporate and competitive strategy, and the different approaches to their formulation in a global perspective.
• Select the most appropriate global strategy based on the market structure.
• Develop a plan to support the impacts to international product creation and assembly.
• Develop an action plan to support supply chains in a globalized economic world.
• Develop business financial and political strategies for expanding an organization's product on an international basis.
• Consider the impact of culture when developing an effective international strategy.
• Differentiate between the various organizational forms for an effective international corporate strategy.

Course Requirements

There is no textbook for this course. However, you will need to subscribe (20-week subscription) to BusinessWeek magazine. This special subscription will include both the print edition and online edition of BusinessWeek, as well as a number of premium online features. The section below contains a link for you to subscribe online. You need to subscribe immediately to receive your first issue of BusinessWeek in time for your first assignment that requires the magazine (Assignment 2.2).

Download and print the Welcome Letter that contains detailed directions on how to subscribe to the print and online editions of BusinessWeek. You will need a major credit card to complete the subscription (Visa MasterCard, Ames, or Discover).

Required Texts
BBA 484 texts are available from the JIU/MBS bookstore