BA 447 TOPICS IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS Instructor: Manolete V. Gonzalez

Ice breaker Name Major Either name one country, other than the US or the country of your birth, that you would like to learn more about and why

Exercise to identify issues Read Scenario Note taker?? Brainstorming Exercise –Open ended “discussion” –Eliminate redundancies and group related issues under a common heading –Vote on major issues/developments

Exercise - continued Brainstorming rules –All ideas accepted –Write on board –Criticizing – NO; clarification – YES –Piggy-back – YES

Exercise - continued On same sheet of paper (with your name, etc.,) write one issue you would be particularly interested in. Indicate when you are available to meet (be reasonable and try to be specific)

Introduction Course objectives: –investigate selected topics in international business –understand “unique problems, characteristics, and demands” on a multinational enterprise Approach: –Exploratory – identify possible topics/issues –Investigative – understand a few select issues –Focus: what may impact a multinational firm

Requirements Read and contribute –Text: The World Is Flat, Thomas Friedman –Readings: Economist, WSJ, etc. –Relevant websites Quizzes, assignments, and non-graded in-class writing Two part term project –Focus on one issue, investigate it, report on it –Focus on a multinational, understand its unique vulnerabilities, and identify relevant issues

Course Structure Friedman book to provide preliminary framework – notion of a flat world, what flattened it (technological, political, social), and how we can understand the nature of this flat world Suggests issues for further investigation

House Rules Read material before coming to class. We will discuss topics. Debate with each other if you wish. Seek clarification of assignments early and in class so all may benefit. Informal, but lets remember why we are here. Avoid distractions, e.g. shut off cell phones.

The World Is Flat Notes on the Friedman book

Round World For a long time, people believed the world was flat; adhering to this belief was convenient: –Dieties (or a diety) were above or below –Humans were in the middle –Royalties/priests could claim access to these dieties and therefore power over their subjects In the 16 th century, Magellan discovered that the world was round. (Columbus got as far as North America in 1492 and opened up the new world.) –Challenged traditional notions of religion –Challenged political status quo –Allowed more exploration

Flat World The notion of a flat world suggests a challenge to how we think of things –Globalization 1.0 ( ): after discovery that the earth was round, and big, exploration/expansion shrank the world –Globalization 2.0 (1800 – 2000): multinationals followed their countries –Globalization 3.0 (2000- ): individuals of diverse backgrounds able to collaborate and compete globally

Flat world – Southwest Airlines Globalization 1.0 – ticket agent issues you your ticket Globalization 2.0 – e-ticket machine replaced ticket agent Globalization 3.0 – you are your own ticket agent (get your boarding pass at home.)

Flat World Playing field has been flattened – traditional advantages accruing to one country or another are being challenged Other countries can compete for global knowledge work as never before intellectual work, intellectual capital, can be delivered, distributed, produced, and put back together again... with relative freedom in the way we do work

Amusing stories?