International & Comparative Management

Business 162 - Fall 2008 - Edfelt

Course Description: An overview of management from an international perspective; includes issues, practices and problems of planning, organizing, control, staffing and directing in crossborder organizations. Explores similarities and differences in management environments, style and practice in different national and regional settings

Prerequisites: Upper-division standing or permission of instructor; introductory courses in management and international business are desirable [e.g., Bus. 160 (Introduction to Organization & Management) and Business 187 (Global Dimensions of Business)] but not required

Reader (Parts I & II): Supplementary readings, cases and handouts (Maple Press)

Handouts: Numbered handouts (yellowsheets) are in the Reader (bring to class on the date assigned); additional handouts (any color) will be distributed in class

Format: Includes lectures, readings, exercises and case discussions. Five bluesheet lists of topics, terms, concepts and discussion questions guide preparation for class and exams (Studysheets #1, #2, #3, #4, #5)

Written Assignments: For each class meeting, students will write up a single-page discussion of each assigned case and exercise in the syllabus (preferably word-processed); papers must be written prior to the class meeting for which assigned and be submitted when class starts; the papers are not individually graded, but each is read/retained and graded as a package (for each student) by the instructor, and counts toward "class participation." See guidelines for written assignments.

Examinations: Two mid-term exams plus a comprehensive final exam

Grading: 20% mid-term exam #1; 20% mid-term exam #2 ; 40% - final exam; 20% class participation; course will use grading criteria proposed by the California State University Academic Senate; [Note: All business students in the Management, HRM and IB concentrations must earn a minimum grade of C- in required concentration courses; for students in other concentrations, consult with your advisor]

 

 

Schedule of Topics


International Management (August 25 - October 6)

Aug 25 Introduction to the Course

Sep 01 Labor Day (campus closed)

Sep 08 Evolution of Management Thought and Theory

Sep 15 The Global Management Environment; Societal Culture and Management

Sep 22 International Corporate Planning; Control of International Operations

Sep 29 Organizing for International Operations; International Managerial Staffing

Oct 06 Exam #1


Comparative Management  (October 13 - December 8)

Oct 13 American (U.S.) Management

Oct 20 Management in Western Europe

Oct 27 Western Europe, cont.; Management by Democracy

Nov 03 Soviet/Russian Management; Latin America

Nov 10 Exam #2

Nov 17 The Legacy of China

Nov 24 Japan

Dec 01  Entrepreneurship in Comparative Context

Dec 08 Open

Dec 12-18 Final Examinations

 

 

Syllabus

Items below listed as Reader I are from Part I of the Reader (Supplementary Readings, Cases and Handouts). Cases/exercises are found either in the Reader or on the blue study sheets, and are so indicated below; all assignments must be read-studied-prepared prior to the scheduled class meeting. Numbered Handouts (yellow sheets) are in the Reader (bring to class on the date assigned); additional handouts (any color) will be distributed in class.


Aug 25 Introduction to the Course


Sep 01  Labor Day (campus closed)


Sep 08 Evolution of Management Thought and Theory

Reader I: Stefan Stern, "A Proselytiser for the Human Side of Business (Peter Drucker),"

Financial Times, November 20, 2005; The Emergence of Management (excerpts from Chapters 1

& 2 of Peter Drucker, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, Harper & Row, 1974);

Ralph Edfelt, "Management - A Conceptual and Contextual Overview" (recent working draft)

Exercise: Study Sheet #1, Question 4


Sep 15 The Global Management Environment

Reader I: Daniel Muzyka "Thriving on the Chaos of the Future," Financial Times, October 2, 2000; Peter Drucker, "The Next Society," The Economist (introductory pages to "A Survey of the Near Future"), November 3, 2001

Handout: #1

Exercise: Study Sheet #1, Question 5

 

.... ...Management and Societal Culture

Reader I: Edward Hall, "How Cultures Collide," Psychology Today, July l976; Morgan Witzel, "Guru Guide; Geert Hofstede; The Quantifier of Culture," Financial Times, August 29, 2003; Geert Hofstede, "The Business of International Business is Culture," International Business Review, v. 3, no. 1, 1994; John Bing, "Hofstede's Consequences: The Impact of His Work on Consulting and Business Practices," Academy of Management Executive, v. 18, no. 1, 2004

Handouts: #2, #3

Exercise: Study Sheet #1, Question 6


Sep 22 International Corporate Planning

Reader I: Developing International Strategies, pages 81 to 89; plus Michael Skapinker, "Corporate Strategy; How to Guess the Unguessable," Financial Times, October 4, 2001; Morgen Witzel, "Guru Guide; Henry Mintzberg; The Great Iconoclast," Financial Times, August 5, 2003

Handouts: #4, #5

 

...... . Control of International Operations

Reader I: Managing the Control Function ...,pages 92 to 96; plus Sidney Robbins and Robert Stobaugh, "The Bent Measuring Stick for Foreign Subsidiaries," Harvard Business Review, September-October l973

Exercise: Measuring Corporate Performance, p. 106


Sep 29 Organizing for International Operationss

Reader I: Julian Birkinshaw, "The Structures Behind Global Companies," Financial Times, December 4, 2000; Joann Lublin, "Division Problem; Place vs. Product: It's Tough to Choose a Management Model," Wall Street Journal, June 27, 2001

Handout: #6

Case: Mammoth Corporation (Reader I, p. 110)

 

...... . International Managerial Staffing

Reader I: Pages 111 to 119; plus Melinda Ligos, "The Foreign Assignment: An Incubator, or Exile?," New York Times, October 22, 2000; Jobert Abueva, "Return of the Native Executive," New York Times, May 17, 2000; Alison Maitland, "Overseas and Oceans Apart," Financial Times, March 26, 2001

Case: Mitsui KK (Reader I, p. 123)


Oct 06 Exam #1


Part II   Comparative Management (October 13 through December 8)  

Syllabus, Part II, forthcoming