Professional skills and expertise
The main aim of this module is to equip students with the strategic thinking skills and tools necessary for working in or supporting the top management in multinational companies.
On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:

• describe the basic concepts and theories of International Management and Strategic Management as well as the specifics of multinational corporations (MNCs)
• understand key strategic decisions that are made in MNCs
• design and organize a strategy development process for (international) business-level and corporate-level strategies
• analyze and define the strategic position of an organization (with a focus on creating and sustaining competitive advantages)
• develop and evaluate international portfolio and growth strategies for organizations
• explain the key phases, decisions, and challenges involved in international mergers and acquisitions (M&A) processes and international joint ventures (IJVs)
• identify the main steps that are necessary to implement a strategy

• use analytical and conceptual thinking approaches for evaluating strategic situations
• communicate about the key elements of a strategy of a multinational company in a succinct/concise way in written form

• evaluate the impact of digital technologies on the strategy of organizations

None

This module covers the following topics:
I. Fundamentals of International Management
• Overview of the key concepts of International Management and foreign direct investment (FDI)
• Specifics of multinational corporations (MNCs)
II. Developing strategies in an international context
• Basic concepts of strategic management
• The role of vision, mission, and corporate values
• Designing and implementing the strategic planning process
• Strategic analysis (macro analysis, industry analysis, company analysis)
• Strategy formulation (corporate level/portfolio strategy, cooperative strategy, business level strategy)
• Managing a business portfolio
• Evaluating and selecting strategic options
• The impact of digital technologies on the strategy of MNCs
III. Growth strategies
• Growth directions and strategies
• The role of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) as a growth strategy in multinational corporations (strategic evaluation of M&A deals, the economics and value creation of M&A, types of M&A deals, phases in the M&A process, the due diligence process, valuation for M&A)
• International joint ventures
IV. Strategy implementation
V. International business simulation
VI. Case studies in international strategic management

DePamphilis, D. M. (2014). Mergers, Acquisitions, and other Restructuring Activities. 10th ed. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Peng, M. & Meyer, K. (2019). International Business. 3rd ed. Andover: Cengage Learning. [Chapters 6, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17]
Rogers, D. L. (2016). The Digital Transformation Playbook: Rethinking Your Business For the Digital Age. New York, NY: Columbia Business School Publishing.
Sternad, D. (2020). Effective Management: Developing Yourself, Others and Organizations. London: Macmillan International Higher Education/Red Globe Press. [Chapter 7 "Managing strategy" and Chapter 8 "The execution challenge"]
Whittington, R., Regnér, P., Angwin, D., Johnson, G., & Scholes, K. (2019). Exploring Strategy, 12th ed. Harlow: Pearson.
Different strategy case studies

• Lecture and discussion
• Self-study
• Group work
• Case studies
• Discussions with practicing managers
• International business simulation

Integrated module exam (immanent examination character):

• Final written exam (80%)
  
• Preparation & reflection of discussions with practicing managers (10%)
  
• Case study preparation (10%)