Wednesdays, 7:20pm - 10:00pm
Arlington Campus, room 257
Joe Fontana, J.D.
jpentum@aol.com
 

This course examines the international business environment and the challenges facing companies in conducting operations in an increasingly global marketplace. The course's core concept is that successful international management consists of four basic parts: 
 

1.  Managers need to understand the broad context of international business.  Specifically, that includes critical trends impacting international management and the legal and political forces driving international business. 

2.  Managers need to master the essential elements of effective interaction in the international area. That means learning how culture affects basic perceptions, developing skills in cross-cultural communication, and figuring out how to negotiate successful cross-border deals. 

3.  Effective international management means being able to recognize and take advantage of strategic opportunities. That often means deciding how best to enter foreign markets and then figuring out how to operate successfully in those markets. 

4.  International managers must motivate and lead people from a variety of cultures and be able to build effective international teams.

To accomplish our goal of examining these four core concepts, I have divided the semester into five sequences of three weeks each. Each sequence will concentrate on the core concepts and we will discuss them in accord with their listing above.  The fifth sequence will be used for oral reports; student and team conferences; and special lectures and discussions.

Text:  International Management by Dean B. McFarlin and Paul D. Sweeney--2003 edition. This text was just published and is available at the bookstore.  Make sure you have the latest edition!  Additional material will be distributed as the semester progresses.

Please note that at our first class I will distribute to the class an in-class writing assignment.  The assignment will not be graded. I use this exercise to judge the writing ability of the class.

General Note:  The first segment of each class will be devoted to lecture and discussion. The second segment (after a 10 minute break) will be devoted to in class team/and or individual assignments.  Note further that term papers will be required for this class. They can either be submitted by an individual student or a team (no more than three) students.  However, all students will participate in the in-class team assignments.  Instructions for term papers and team assignments will be distributed the first day of class.

Class Days: August 28; Sept.4; Sept. 11; Sept.18--Lecture and Discussion first four chapters of text.  Short in-class quiz on Sept. 25th. In class team assignments.

Class Days. Sept. 25th (quiz to be given); Oct 2 (no class); Oct 9; October 16, October 23. Lecture and Discussion Chapters 5 ,6,7. In class team assignments.

Class Days. October 30, November 6 (short quiz to be given this session), November 13, November 20. Lecture and Discussion Chapters 8,9,10. In class team assignments.

Class Days Nov. 27 (No Class; Thanksgiving break); December 4, December 11.  Lecture and Discussion Chapters 11,12, 13.  Team and Individual term paper oral reports
 
No further classes after December 11th.

Grading Protocol:

There will be four aspects to the determination of the grade in this class.

1.  Class Participation (10%)
2.  Two In-Class Quizzes (15% each for a total of 30%)
3.  Team In-Class oral and written reports. Each team member will receive the same grade for the written report (15%) and each team member shall recieve an individual grade for the oral report.(5%) Total: 20%.
4.   Individual and/or Team Term paper (40%) The Written paper shall count as 30% and the oral report (10%).

Total: 100%.

Please feel free to email me at the above address if you have any questions.