Course 2016-2017 a.y.

Classes: 31 (I sem.)

Instructors:
Class 31: ELISABETTA MARAFIOTI

Companies today confront an increasing array of choices of foreign markets, of international locations for value adding activities, and of different modes of crossing borders and managing activities across borders. This course aims to offer a comprehensive and up-to-date explanation of economic globalization, examining the role of transnational corporations, States, labour, consumers and organizations in civil society and the exchange and power relations between them. The central objective of this course is to deconstruct globalization and to understand the strategic management of transnational firms and the strategic issues and tradeoffs these companies face in a global context. In an increasingly complex world economy and society, the goal of this course is to provide a framework for formulating and evaluating these strategies by focusing students’ attention on some advanced topics in international business.
This course is not only pertinent for students who intend to pursue general management careers in multinational companies, but also to those interested in management consulting, investment banking, venture capital and other careers in a global context where accurate and concise strategic assessments are crucial.

After a brief introduction to basic international business concepts and theories examining how, and why, firms decide to expand their operations in foreign countries, the course is built around some specific themes and issues in the international strategies realm, chosen according to their economic importance, their future relevance and their academic interest.
The focus of the course is on:

• Emerging countries and emerging markets multinazionals: How, and why, firms decide to expand their operations in emerging countries? How the rise of emerging multinationals from these countries is affecting global industry dynamics? How different are they from developed ones, and do they require a different approach? What competitive advantages do they leverage as they internationalize? What role do acquisitions have?
• Offshoring, reshoring strategies and the reconfiguration of global value chains: how the global economy is being transformed through the operation of global production networks involving transnational corporations, states, interest groups and technology.
• Exit strategies: why do multinationals companies decide to exit from specific countries? What are the factors affecting their decisions? How difficult is the process? What are the consequences? What happens if they decide to re-enter in the future?
• Competitive advantage and multinational companies’ strategy sustainability: how powerful are transnational corporations and how are they affecting the social worlds? Why are they held responsible for threatening the rights of workers, consumers and citizens across the world? How can multinationals responsibly respond to such increasing accusations and redesign their strategy?

The philosophy of this course is to take full advantage of the diverse background and experiences of the students enrolled through active participation and class discussion.

For Non attending students:
Are evaluated on a final written exam based on additional readings.
Details regarding reading materials and assessment methods are given at the beginning of the course and are specified in the extended syllabus available in Prof. Marafioti's Personal Page (Teaching section) on the Bocconi website.

For attending students:
Attending students are evaluated on four components:

• Individual participation.
• Group presentation of assigned cases.
• Group projects.
• Final written exam.

The course exposes students to different kinds of materials: academic papers published in major scientific journals, official reports from international institutions, journalist articles from economics and business magazines, documentaries and television reports, etc.
The list of materials and the course pack are available at the beginning of the course.