General provisions

The course is offered to students participating in an exchange program, to students of regular programs as well as a separate course during the fourth year. Prerequisite is 60 points (90 ECTS) in Business Administration.

The Course Description is established by the board of the Department of Business Studies by mandate of the Faculty of Social Sciences. The course plan is valid from 2006-09-01.

Entry requirements

The following is applicable to Swedish students:

Qualified to be registered is any student who has studied both A-, B- and C-levels and who, at the time of registration, has obtained 20 points at A-level, 20 points at B-level and 15 points at C-level, including the degree project at C-level

Aims

The goal of this course is to improve your understanding of the interaction between multinational firms, local companies, and host country governments in market entry and expansion. The context is foreign market entry by multinational firms.

Content

The bulk of the course is centred around a negotiations simulation, FINS, which includes 3 multinational companies, 2 governments, and 4 local companies, and the World Trade Organisation played by the instructor. You begin by drafting a clear set of confidential goals (approximately 3-4 pages, excluding tables and graphs) for your company's production, marketing, finance, and human resource management; and, depending on your assessment of the other players in the market, how you think you could attain your goals.

Negotiations are open for about two weeks. In this time you implement your negotiation strategy, adjust for unforeseen developments, and arrive at final deals.

Finally, you write a post-game summary paper that you present to the class (approximately 5 pages; 5 minutes presentation per team). You attach the actual signed contracts that you negotiated.

Instruction

The course uses a combination of article presentations by students, case discussions, and FINS. You will be divided into teams for the duration of the course. Because of the high level of interactive activities, the course requires a high degree of engagement from the students. Your teams are competing with one another, so every member must contribute fully throughout. If a member does not work hard, fellow members are encouraged to "fire" him/her at anytime.

The instructor will provide web-links to articles, cases, and FINS materials.

Assessment

Evaluation is based on the 2 written papers (4.5 ECTS), article presentations and case discussions (1.5 ECTS), and FINS outcome (1.5 ECTS).

Attention Swedish students: only completed courses can be recognised in your degree