International Business and Globalization

COURSE DESCRIPTION

How does international business drive economic globalization and affect people across countries? How do international business and current domestic and international political issues affect each other? What challenges and opportunities do firms face operating internationally? How corporate social responsibility can contribute to sustainable development? The course starts with an overview of economic globalization from a historical, political and sociological perspective, focusing on its most relevant aspects associated to international business: the role of states and international institutions (e.g., World Bank, IMF, EU) in the international economy; global economic crisis, socioeconomic development; inequalities within and across countries; international migration; domestic political debates referred to globalization. The second part of the course considers key topics of international business emphasizing their corporate social responsibility component: management across different national political environments, internationalization and alliance strategies, global marketing, and global R&D and human resources management. These topics are mainly studied considering how the strategies of multinational firms may affect national and global sustainable development.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of the course, students should have learned:

• key concepts and debates around globalization and international business management
• the role of international business as a globalization driver that affects people and politics across countries
• the challenges and opportunities that firms face operating internationally.