LFU:online

The central objective of this course is to understand the strategic management of multinational companies (MNCs) in contemporary international business. Students will learn to explain the drivers and forms of internationalization; analyze how trade policies, institutions, regional blocs such as the EU and BRICS, and sustainability considerations shape international business decisions; apply core theories of internationalization, transaction cost reasoning, and the OLI framework; evaluate organizational structure, subsidiary roles, and control mechanisms in MNCs.

We will cover the following topics.

• Foundations and current trends in Global business

• History of Globalization

• International trade and Sustainability in global markets

• The role of the European Union, BRICS and Institutions in shaping Internationalization

• Theories of Internationalization

• Structure and Strategy in Multinational companies

• Financial and Accounting Control mechanisms in multinational companies

This class uses a mixture of lectures, case discussions, exercise sheets, and a final exam. It provides the theoretical and conceptual foundations for understanding internationalization and the strategic management of multinational companies. Particular attention is given to current challenges in international business, including trade policy, institutions, sustainability, organizational design, and control mechanisms in MNCs.

Students must indicate any sources, tools, or services they used to create (parts of) submissions (e.g., homework, exams, presentations). This extends, among other things, to all sorts of literature references (e.g., journal articles, books), as well as packages of statistical software (e.g., R, Python) and text-generation programs (e.g., ChatGPT). Failure to do so is considered as violation of good academic practice.