INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

In line with Dublin Descriptors, the corse in International Business pursues the following learning goals:

1. Knowledge and understanding: The corse in International Business aims to provide students with the theoretical knowledge required to formulare decisions regarding international firms and their internationalization processes, as much as the marketing policies to employ abroad. 

2. Applying knowledge and understanding: The corse in International Business aims to help students develop the capabilities to apply concepts and analytical instruments in real international, entrepreneurial contexts. In particular, the course aims to develop knowledge regarding the formulation of global competitive strategies, the firm's internationalization process, the new markets' entry strategy. The approach is inductive; starting from concrete experiences and real cases analysis, students will be able to recall the concepts examined during the course and apply them to the various contexts through the preparation of an international marketing plan. 

3. Making judgements: students will acquire authonomy of evaluation with regard to the main strategy and market implications connected to the different international decisions adopted abroad. 

4. Communication skills: The corse in International Business is also meant to develop communication skills related to the use of a technical language/jargon typical of the international business domain. 

5. Learning skills: Content learning is favored by the use of experiences and real examples, and by the use of the main theoretical models created by management academics. 

Class lectures, working groups and class analysis of case studies. 

The course is organized in 30 lectures lasting for about 2 hours each, and an additional lecture lasting for 3 hours. 

To get acquainted of the themes treated during the course, please refer to the syllabus section named "programmazione". 

The course treats the strategic management of firms that aim to internationalize their business and the definition of an international marketing plan. In particular, the course focuses on 3 macro-arguments:

1. The expansion strategies at international level and the management of international firms;

2. The management of operations at international level and the segmentation of foreign markets-countries;

3. The international choices in terms of politics and marketing plans.

All these themes will be treated in sequence to provide students with the most basic instruments to build an international marketing plan. 

Bursi, Galli, “Marketing Internazionale”, McGraw-Hill Education - Italy 2012.

1. The last available Rapporto ICE, “L’Italia nell’Economia Internazionale Capp 1 e 2 https://www.ice.it/it/sites/default/files/inline-files/BOOKLET_2807_1955_low.pdf.

2. Supplementary material posted by the instructor (avalilable at Studium - Documenti http://studium.unict.it or at the DEI's library).

For students who do not attend classes, the final exam will be in written form and may consist of true/false questions, multiple answers' questions, semi-open questions, fully opened questions, analysis of case studies or parts of an international marketing plan. Moreover, if considered appropriate, the instructor may decide to add an oral exam (in that case, the weight of the final grade will be 50%, while the rest will originate from the grade achieved in the written exam). 

For students who will attend classes, the final exam will be a final test at the end of the course (weight 50% of the final grade) that can be structured in true/false questions, multiple answers' questions, semi-open questions, fully opened questions. Moreover, students may decide to participate in groups to the creation of an international marketing plan (weight 50% of the final grade) to be done during the course and present by the end of it or, in any case, within a specific date preceding the first session of exams following the end of he course. Students are obviously free to be part of such an in initiative created specifically for those attending classes permanently. Otherwise, students can go to exams as any other who does not attend classes.  

In general:

The written exam will be given in any exam appeal (booking for the exam though is compulsory), and will be focused on the various themes treated during lectures, as clarified in the text and in the syllabus.

The assigned lectures, corporate testimony, and the material distributed in class will be possibile arguments of the final exam. 

Even though the following are simple examples, the following are potential questions that can be submitted at the final exam:

1. Firms' expansion strategies on foreign markets

2. The selection of the target market

3. The international marketing plan

4. Marketing decisions at international level

5. Product decisions in foreign markets

6. Distribution decisions in foreign markets

7. Communication decisions in foreign markets

8. Price decisions in foreign markets

9. The creation of a budget related to the international expansion

10. Evaluations of economic viability of international marketing decisions

11. The contracts in international transactions

12. Effects on customs deriving from international decisions.