School of Management, Unit Catalogue 2009/10 |
MN30400: Comparative business and strategy |
 Credits:
| 6 |
| Level:
| Honours |
| Period: | Semester 2 |
| Assessment:
| CW 40%, EX 60% |
| Supplementary Assessment: | Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations) |
| Requisites:
| |
| Description: | Aims: To understand key differences, similarities, causes and effects of different patterns of business organisation and business dynamics in and across different national contexts. Learning Outcomes: On completion of the unit, candidates should be able to understand some of the nature of both domestic and international business in relation to the following: (i) The patterns and development of business organisation in different national contexts (ii) The institutional, cultural and systemic underpinnings of business structures (iii) The competitive advantages and disadvantages associated with different national contexts (iv) The firm-level strategic implications for both domestic and international companies of the evolving business environments in different national contexts. (v) How firm strategy interact with national and international institutional systems. Skills: Intellectual and practical ability to: (i) compare and contrast business environments across nations (TFA), (ii) analyse and interpret data to draw logical conclusions across a range of variables relating to business in different contexts (F), (iii) engage with theories and models as they apply to the changing national contexts in an international competitive environment (TFA) (iv) assess the dynamic interplay between firm competitiveness, strategy and national context (TFA). Content: The course introduces students to the core issues, themes and perspectives in comparative business and strategy. * Consideration of the Business Systems/Varieties of Capitalism approaches and how these relate to the strategic development of organisations, including a consideration of the evolution and prospective trajectories of selected national business and industry structures. * The interaction between national forms of business organisation and the global/international competitive process. * Institutional and cultural factors in relation to the international competitive processes. * Notions of national and locational competitiveness and the relationship between firm level and national/locational competitiveness. |