Course 2020-2021 a.y.

This course is designed to develop a in depth understanding of modern globalization processes and their implications for corporate strategies.

• The first part offers an introduction to modern globalization and its characteristics in the light of the concurrent evolution of globalization and localization trends. It looks at the emerging geography of production and labor, introducing the concept of technological change as key enabling process of the global economy.
• After setting the stage, the course looks at the key actors involved, namely companies confronting daily with the opportunities and risks coming from doing (or not) business in the global market. It addresses all major strategic options for business development in an interdependent and open economy, including location decisions, knowledge generation and management strategies and human capital management practices.

• Understand the key features of the modern global economy, the processes at play and the actors involved.
• Identify the main challenges and opportunities for doing business in the global market.
• Analyze key strategic options for business development in the context of the global economy.

• Critically understand the main features of modern globalization in terms of new geography of production and labor.
• Analyze the implications of a vast array of corporate strategies for firm’s performance.
• Demonstrate organizational and teamwork abilities as well as presentation and communication skills.

• Face-to-face lectures
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
• Group assignments
• Interactive class activities (role playing, business game, simulation, online forum, instant polls)

• This course is designed to stimulate learning via active engagement and to combine frontal lecturing with interactive class activities.
• Students are required to actively participate in class by reading the assigned materials before each session, by contributing in class discussions and presentations and by working in teams.
• This course places its emphasis on the development of a critical understanding of the topics analyzed in class. With this aim, students are expected to approach readings with an open minded and personal perspective and to combine a variety of methods (quantitative and qualitative) of analysis.
• As part of this course evaluation, students will be involved in group presentations organized around a debate scheme, pitch making to support each side of the debate and voting for the most convincing position.
• To create an interactive learning environment, class participation is highly recommended.

Attending students are evaluated both on individual and team activities, according to the following scheme:

• Written Exam (60% of the final grade) is based on a mix of multiple-choice and open questions (short essays). The purpose is to verify students’ capability to approach critically the course content, to integrate the material covered in different parts of the course and to complement theoretical and empirical arguments.
• Group presentations (40% of the final grade) are organized around a debate scheme. Each student is allocated to a team of presenters based on the general topic of the debate (s)he choose and the position (s)he has to defend. Students are expected to present in favor of their position and to select one team member responsible for the final pitch. The rest of the class will vote for the most convincing position for an extra bonus of 1 point over the final grade. Debate topics are selected based on their relevance and such that they will not imply a right or wrong answer, but demand for developing a personal interpretation and point of view.

In order to pass this course, students are required to make a satisfactory attempt at all the assessment components. Grades are assigned according to the rules of Bocconi University (distribution curve).

Non attending students will be evaluated according to following scheme:

• Written Exam (60% of the final grade) is based on a mix of multiple-choice and open questions (short essays). The purpose is to verify students’ capability to approach critically the course content, to integrate the material covered in different parts of the course and to complement theoretical and empirical arguments.
• Take home essay (40% of the final grade) of 1000 words (bibliography excluded) to be handed in at the end of November. Students can choose among two different topics that will be made available by the end of October. The purpose is to verify students’ level of critical analysis, their capacity to integrate and select the different sources, their engagement with relevant literature and capability to identify and quote correctly relevant academic sources.

Non attending students will also refer to an extended reading list (10 additional academic papers with respect to attending students).

In order to pass this course, students are required to make a satisfactory attempt at all the assessment components. Grades are assigned according to the rules of Bocconi University (distribution curve).

Articles, book chapters and case studies uploaded on the e-learning platform.

Articles, book chapters and case studies uploaded on the e-learning platform.