How does international business activity affect people across countries? What challenges and opportunities do firms operating internationally face? How does economic globalization constrain national democracies? How corporate social responsibility can contribute to sustainable development?

The course starts examining key international economic institutions and their socioeconomic effects on developing and developed countries. It considers the history and current structures of international trade and finance, the causes of global economic crises, and the role of states, multinationals and intergovernmental institutions in current economic development trends, inequalities within and across countries and international migrations.

The second part of the course considers key topics of international business emphasizing their corporate social responsibility (CSR) component: management across different national political environments, internationalization and alliance strategies, global marketing, and global R&D and human resources management. This set of topics is mainly studied considering how the strategies of multinational firms may affect national and global sustainable development.

Assessment

The assessment of the students is based on the following components and percentages:

1. Individual essay (take-home) on international economy and politics (40%)
2. Group essay (take-home) on international business management (40%)
3. Group case study presentation (5%)
4. Active class participation (15%)

Competences, learning outcomes and teaching activities (PDF)