Introductory description

This is for WBS students only.

The module will facilitate a comparative analysis within a structured
framework of the different cultural, societal, economic and political issues that students have experienced during their compulsory year abroad.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

• Diversity and cross-cultural management
• Human resource management across cultures
• Multinational organisations in action: institutional and marketing perspectives
• Doing business across borders: international business strategies
• Business, management and society: between theory and practice
• Social/ Political/ Economic/ Cultural comparisons across geographies
• Conducting research across cultures

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Write reports, analyses and other documents pertinent to international business with a high degree of accuracy, and with due regard to the formalities of conducting business within the country.
• Demonstrate an extensive knowledge of national structures and business practice and the contexts within which they operate.
• Discuss in speech and writing a range of historical, economic, political and educational topics.
• Discuss in speech and writing a range of historical, economic, political and educational topics.

Indicative reading list

Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism: Western conceptions of the Orient. Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin.
Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2016). ‘Changing organizational culture: Cultural change work in progress’ (2nd ed). Routledge.
Bhabha, H. K. (1994). ‘The location of culture.’ Routledge.
Brewer, P. and Venaik, S. (2014). ‘The Ecological Fallacy in National Culture Research’, Organization Studies, 35(7), pp. 1063–1086.
Delios, A. (2017). The Death and Rebirth (?) of International Business Research. Journal of Management Studies, 54(3), 391–397. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12222
Deresky H (2016). ‘International Management: Managing Across Borders and Cultures, Text and Cases’, Global Edition 9th Edition
Edwards, T. and Rees, C. (2006). ‘International Human Resource Management. Globalization, National Systems and Multinational Companies’, Pearson: Essex.
Frege, C. and Kelly, J. (2013). ‘Comparative employment relations, in the global economy’. Routledge: Oxon.
Fougère, M., & Moulettes, A. (2012). ‘Disclaimers, dichotomies and disappearances in international business textbooks: A postcolonial deconstruction’. Management Learning, 43(1), 5–24.
Hall P. and Sockice D. (2001). ‘Varieties of Capitalism’. Oxford University Press.
Hil, Ch., and T. Hult (2018). ‘Global Business Today’. 10th Edition. McGraw-Hill: New York.
Hofstede, Geert H. (2001). ‘Culture's consequences: comparing values, behaviours, institutions, and organizations across nations’. London: Sage Publications, 2001.
Holden, N. (2002) Cross-cultural management : a knowledge management perspective. Harlow: Prentice Hall.
Hoppe, M.H. (2004) 'Introduction: Geert Hofstede's 'Cultural Consequences': International Differences in Work-Related Values' Academy of Management Executive, 18, 1, pp. 73-4
Kirkman, B.L.; Lowe, K.B. and Gibson, C.B. (2006) 'A Quarter Century of 'Culture Consequences': A Review of Empirical Research Incorporating Hofstede's Cultural Values Framework' Journal of International Business Studies, 37, 3, pp. 285-320
Kluckhohn, F. R. and Strodtbeck, F. L. (1961) Variations in value orientations. Edited by J. M. Roberts. Evanston, Illinois: Row, Peterson and Company.
Kwek, D. (2003) ‘Decolonizing and Re-Presenting Culture’s Consequences: A Postcolonial Critique of Cross-Cultural Studies in
Management1’, in Prasad, A. (ed.) Postcolonial Theory and Organizational Analysis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp.
121–146.
Långstedt, J. (2018) ‘Culture, an excuse?-A critical analysis of essentialist assumptions in crosscultural management research
and practice’, International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 18(3), pp. 293–308.
Mcsweeney, B. (2002) ‘Hofstede’s model of national cultural differences and their consequences: A triumph of faith-a failure of
analysis’, Human Relations, 555(1), pp. 89–118.
McSweeney, B. (2013) ‘Fashion founded on a flaw: The ecological mono-deterministic fallacy of Hofstede, GLOBE, and followers’,
International Marketing Review. Emerald Group Publishing Ltd., 30(5), pp. 483–504.
Mead, R. and Andrews, T. G. (2009) International Management. 4th edn, International Management. 4th edn. Chichester,
England; Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Newman, K.L. and Nollen, S.D. (1996) 'Culture and Congruence: The Fit Between Management Practices and National Culture'
Journal of International Business Studies, 27, 4, pp. 753-79
Poulis, K., & Poulis, E. (2018). International Business as Disciplinary Tautology: An Ontological Perspective. Academy of
Management Perspectives, 32(4), 517–531.
Trompenaars, A. and Hampden-Turner, C. (2000) Riding the waves of culture : understanding cultural diversity in business / Fons
Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner. 2nd edn. London: Nicholas Brealey.
Venaik, S. and Brewer, P. (2013) ‘Critical issues in the Hofstede and GLOBE national culture models’, International Marketing
review, 30(5), pp. 469–482.
Venaik, S. and Brewer, P. (2016) ‘National culture dimensions: The perpetuation of cultural ignorance’, Management Learning.
SAGE Publications Ltd, 47(5), pp. 563–589.
Venkateswaran, R. T. and Ojha, A. K. (2019) ‘Abandon Hofstede-based research? Not yet! A perspective from the philosophy of
the social sciences’, Asia Pacific Business Review. Routledge, 25(3), pp. 413–434.
Whittington, R. et al. (2020) ‘Exploring strategy: text and cases’. Pearson Education Ltd.: Harlow, UK.
Articles from the quality press both in English and the target language (The Economist, Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, Focus, Wirtschaftswoche, Le Monde, El Mundo, La Repubblica etc.)
OECD Economic Surveys & ILO reports

International

This is a core module forming part of the final year for BSc International Business and BSc International Management helping students to reflect on their study or work abroad placement year.

Subject specific skills

Demonstrate an awareness of how to conduct research into contemporary international business and management issues.

Transferable skills

Demonstrate written and verbal communication skills.
Convey their understanding using a variety of forms of communication.
Identify problems and suggest resolutions through the appropriate use of analytical tools and information technology resources.
Demonstrate an awareness and sensitivity to diversity in terms of people, cultures, business and management issues.
Extrapolate from personal experience to the general.
Operate effectively in a variety of team roles, leading and following where necessary in order to achieve group goals.