International Relations

“While many aspects of international management are fundamentally the same as domestic management, once managers are required to operate across national boundaries they face differing problems and opportunities.” Kelly, P. (2009) International Business and Management. Cengage.

Identify three ‘differing problems and opportunities’ faced by international managers from the areas we have studied (below) and evaluate their importance to the competitive advantage of an organisation. Choose your three topics from three different columns.

Choose 3 topics from column 1-4. Each of your chosen topics should be from a different column. Your analysis should focus on just one or two aspects of each topic.
1 Strategic Planning	2 Behaving responsibly	3 Designing the organisation   OR   Managing digital information and knowledge	4 Culture & Leadership OR Managing Human resources   You can also refer to your Week 6 Contemporary HRM notes for this column.
Key topic questions.
For international managers how is entering an overseas market different to entering a domestic market?	How/why might the ethical behaviour of international managers be different to domestic managers?	For international managers how might global organisational design differ from domestic organisational design?	In what ways might culture and leadership style differ for international and domestic managers?
			OR
		OR
			How might managing human resources differ

		For international	for international and
managers how might	domestic managers?
managing digital
information and
knowledge globally
differ from doing so in
just one home country?

For each of the three topics chosen you should

• identify areas of difference between the international and the domestic manager to show

content and demonstrate your knowledge

• analyse each identified area in terms of challenge or opportunity. This analysis should be supported by referenced academic theory/comment.
• support your analysis with relevant business examples (application)
• include a mini conclusion for each topic that answers the key question for that topic. In doing so you should demonstrate judgement (evaluate) as to why managing in these areas is different for an international manager. The overall conclusion for your essay should consider the impact of managing internationally in these areas to organisational competitive advantage.

Some suggested reading

Griffin, R.W., and Pustay, M. (2014) International Business Global Edition. Pearson. Kelly, P. (2009) International Business Management. Andover: Cengage Learning.

Cole, G.A. & Kelly, P. (2015) Management Theory and Practice. 8th edn. Andover: Cengage Learning.

Taylor, S. (2011) Contemporary Issues in Human Resource Management. London: CIPD.

Additional reading – please also refer to the chapter references in both core texts

Journal : International Business Review WIDER READING

Luthans, F. & Doh, Jonathan, P. (2012) International Management, Culture, Strategy and Behaviour 8th ed. McGraw-Hill Irwin

Mead, R, & Andrews, T. G. (2009) International Management 4th ed. Wiley-Blackwell Peng, M, & Meyer, K. (2016) International Business. 2nd ed. Cengage

Porter, M. E. (1979) ‘How competitive forces shape strategy’, Harvard Business Review (March/April 1979) 57(2) 137-145

Don’t forget the additional sources included in the ’At a Glance’ schedule! LEARNING OUTCOMES being assessed

• Understand the need for a holistic approach to International management and leadership in a global business environment
• Recognise key aspects of management theory in an international context
• Develop an understanding of planning for international business and the need for responsible business behaviour around the world.
• Understand theories of change, and implementing and managing change in an international context
• Begin to evaluate management and leadership theories and concepts, and their relationship to international organisations, including a global leisure context.