International Business Operations and the Multinational Corporation

ITRN 612.001

Spring 2001

Mr. Volpe

Arlington 269

Saturday, 9:30 am – 12:15 pm

Required Text: John D. Daniels and Lee H. Radebaugh, International Business: Environments and Operations (latest edition), Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

Other readings will be recommended during the course of the semester. Students also should visit my web site (see below for address) for class lectures pertaining to ITRN 612, and also to topics pertinent to international business issues. This applies particularly to syllabi/lectures for Trade and Microeconomics for International Commerce, for Advanced Management in International Business and Policy, and for Special Topics in International Business. Videos on various aspects of multinational corporate activity will also be shown and discussed. Several guest speakers who are experts in their fields will supplement the text/outside readings and classroom lectures.

Reading Schedule: There are twenty chapters in the textbook, all of which we will complete. Since there are more chapters than there are class meetings, we will, of necessity, be spending some weeks discussing more than one chapter at a time. I plan to spend more time on chapters dealing with how international business takes place, covering subjects such as marketing abroad, supply chain, human resource, strategic and financial management, controlling the international business, accounting, international taxation, joint ventures and acquisitions and the like that students are probably less familiar with, than on those chapters (trade theory and policy and monetary theory and policy) that discuss the environment within which international business operates. Students should be thoroughly familiar with these topics from their ITRN 503 and ITRN 504 classes.

Exams/Class Grade: There will be two examinations of equal weight during the course of the semester, a mid-term (given about halfway through the semester) and a final. These exams, which constitute 70% of the final grade, will include information from the text, outside readings that may be assigned, lectures, guest lecturers and videos, and will consist of both essay and multiple choice questions. The final grade will be the average of these two examinations, plus the term paper discussed below.

Class Attendance and Class Participation: Attendance and participation are important, as there will be a number of cases, small class exercises and projects that will aid in understanding the subject matter under discussion. Class attendance and participation will be considered in determining the final grade, particularly in those borderline (C to B, or B to A) situations.

Term Paper: Students will be required to choose a topic, in consultation with me, pertaining to multinational corporate activity, and write a paper on the topic. The paper is expected to be of a quality and length that meets acceptable graduate school standards. The term paper will constitute 30% of the final grade.

In researching and writing the term paper, students are encouraged to interview subjects wherever possible (assuming the topic chosen lends itself to the interview method). Students are also encouraged to consult the major journals in the field of international business and in related fields. Those international business journals of value include: Harvard Business Review; Columbia Journal of World Business; Journal of Marketing; Journal of International Business Studies; Sloan Management Review; Journal of Business Strategy; Strategic Management Journal; Human Resource Management; Journal of Marketing Management; Journal of Management Studies; and Financial Management. You may also profit from consulting the following: Quarterly Journal of Economics; Journal of Finance; American Economic Review; National Tax Journal; World Development; and the Journal of Banking and Finance. Also, please make liberal use of Internet sources.

PLEASE AVOID USING THE DAILY NEWSPAPER AS YOUR PRIMARY OR ONLY SOURCE OF RESEARCH ON THE TOPIC YOU HAVE CHOSEN.

I can be reached at: Phone: 703-993-8233

Fax: 703-993-8215

E-mail: Fox Lobby @AOL. com

Web site Address: http://mason.gmu.edu/~jvolpe