COURSE NUMBER: EWMBA 299B-1* (this course is cross-listed with FT MBA)
COURSE TITLE: Global Strategy & Multinational Enterprise
UNITS OF CREDIT: 2 Units
INSTRUCTOR: Paul Tiffany
E-MAIL ADDRESS: tiffany@haas.berkeley.edu
CLASS WEB-PAGE LOCATION: bSpace
MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Monday: 6:10 pm – 9:30 pm
PREREQUISITE(S): EWMBA Core Curriculum
CLASS FORMAT: Cases and lectures (2/3 cases, 1/3 lectures)
REQUIRED READINGS: Required readings consist of a Course Reader (cases, articles, book chapters, and lecture notes). There is also a course text: A. Inkpen and K. Ramaswamy, GLOBAL STRATEGY: CREATING AND SUSTAINING ADVANTAGE ACROSS BORDERS (2005, Oxford University Press).
BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE:
A. Class Attendance and Participation: 15%
This portion of the grade is awarded for both attendance in class on a regular basis and participation in classroom discussion. As much of the course is built on case discussions, three of more unexcused absences will be grounds for a no-pass situation. Voluntary role will be taken during each class session.
Participation will be a function of quality more than quantity. However, it should be understood that the instructor would be unable to judge the quality of a student’s participation if that student does not contribute in class. The Instructor will reserve the right to engage in cold calling when necessary.
B. Case Write-Up: 25%
Students will select one from a list of approved cases and prepare a five-page write-up. This is an individual assignment. Please see the assignment description at the end of this syllabus; further specifics of the assignment will be provided in class.
C. Group Project: 60%
Student groups (of four to eight participants each) will select a firm that competes in a cross-border market and complete a comprehensive analysis of the firm’s perceived strategy. The student group will be able to make its own choice of a firm, with the approval of the instructor. Details of this assignment are provided at the end of this syllabus; however, this paper will be due two weeks after the last class of the semester, that is, by May 3rd. In order to facilitate progress, an early class meeting of the semester will be devoted to group formation and industry selection, and additional class time may also be devoted to work on this project. The composition of groups, and a tentative choice of a firm for analysis, must be submitted to the instructor by the fifth class meeting.
ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
GLOBAL STRATEGY AND MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISE is a two-unit course in management. It is designed to acquaint the student with the delineation of business policies by the firm that engages in cross-border transactions, and the development and implementation of a strategy that will allow the firm to achieve its cross-border goals and objectives. The pursuit of such ends usually occurs within a competitive context, in which other rival organizations seek similar if not the same ends (e.g., market share, profits, control of scarce resources, etc.). Accordingly, the essential drama of the marketplace is how one firm attempts to “win” vis-a-vis its rivals-- that is, how it develops and implements a competitive strategy for cross-border business transactions.
Yet while the development and pursuit of a successful strategy is common to all firms, the fact that this course is specifically concerned with global strategy and multinational enterprise adds a further dimension to the issue. We will necessarily have to review the political-economic context of host nations in which multinational enterprise competes, and determine how these differing situations effect the formulation of a given firm’s strategy. While MBA/EWMBA 299B is not a course in international economics or international political economy, we will nevertheless have to consider various concepts drawn from that domain. As well, the issue of “culture” is one that is more salient for the firm competing across borders: not all consumers behave in the same way or respond in similar ways to given market signals. Accordingly, the manager of the cross-border enterprise must, in general, have a greater appreciation of these differentiating variables if the firm’s plans are to succeed.
This offering of MBA/EWMBA 299B will be highly participatory, relying heavily on class discussions of cases and related readings. Students must be willing and ready to engage in classroom discussion of the subject matter if they expect to pass the course. In addition, a written group project will be required of all students. Details on the written assignment are provided at the end of this syllabus, and as well can be discussed in class. Finally, there will be a written in-class examination at the end of the semester to test your mastery of the core concepts of this course.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
PAUL TIFFANY currently teaches several courses at Haas including undergrad business & public policy and MBA competitive strategy. Tiffany also teaches strategy and global management at Wharton. He has been teaching at Haas since 1994, and at Wharton since 1983. Tiffany hold a MBA from Harvard, and a Ph.D. from Berkeley, and has extensive consulting/executive training for many firms world-wide. Author: THE DECLINE OF AMERICAN STEEL (Oxford Univ. Press), BUSINESS PLANS FOR DUMMIES (IDG Books).