IN-620 International Business (Autumn 2020)

PhD candidates. Applicants with relevant scientific background can be considered if the resources are available.

· Students are required to read all the required articles before class and be ready to discuss them in detail in a Q&A investigative fashion.

· Suggested readings: Author resources papers in: http://aom.org/Publications/AMJ/Author-Resources.aspx

On successful completion of the course/programme, the candidate should be able to

· Learn the main streams of research and theories of international business and assess these in relation to their own research

· Provide a critique of the IB literature through reading, reviewing, synthesizing, and writing

· Review and analyse an academic article in international business for a refereed journal

· Design a course paper focusing on

o Introduction, make your contribution clear beyond the research gap

o Review the literature on the dependent variables

o Identify the appropriate theory or model or combination thereof

o Justify your test or extension

o Develop 2 to 3 related hypotheses

o Write the methods section, including data collection plans

o If available, present preliminary results

This is the main course for candidates taking the specialization in International Business. It is a very demanding course aiming to rapidly bring candidates up to speed on the international business literature. International business is a multidisciplinary subject covering all the functions of business across borders and embedding multiple-theoretical foundations from several social sciences, including sociology, economics, political science, psychology, etc. The international business literature also has multiple levels of analysis, including individual, group, company, agents, stakeholders, business groups, industries, countries, country blocks, and global forces. The course will provide both a broad overview of the international business field as well as a deep dive into selected areas. Major theories of international business will be reviewed, analysed and discussed in class to demonstrate the breadth of international business research, and different disciplinary

approaches will be emphasized to provide depth in selected areas. The majority of the readings are from the Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS) and other leading IB journals. We will focus our readings on JIBS decade award winners and articles https://aib.msu.edu/awards/jibsdecade.asp. Students are expected to do readings PRIOR to class and evaluate relevant and specific know-how.

Grading: Pass/Fail - where Pass must be equivalent to the letter grade B or better, and a successful completion of the following things:

1. Attendance of all and ACTIVE participation in all lectures

2. Completion of all assigned tasks for each class

3. Review of an academic article

4. Writing of an academic paper (front part)

The candidates must receive a "pass" in all 4 categories to obtain course credits.

Grading: Pass/Fail - where Pass must be equivalent to the letter grade B or better, and a successful completion of the following things:

1. Attendance of all and ACTIVE participation in all lectures

2. Completion of all assigned tasks for each class

3. Review of an academic article

4. Writing of an academic paper (front part)

The candidates must receive a "pass" in all 4 categories to obtain course credits.