Course

International Business

Faculty
Commerce & Business Administration
Department
Business
Course code
BUSN 3400
Credits
3.00
Semester length
15 Weeks X 4 Hours per Week = 60 Hours
Max class size
35
Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Typically offered
To be determined

Overview

Course description
This course is a survey of the international business environment. The focus is on the nature of the international business environment -- financial, cultural, social, political and legal -- and the manner in which this environment has changed and continues to change. The focus of this course will be from the perspective of a small- to medium-sized business operations, and will be case-based.
Course content
  1. An overview of international business.
    • What is international business?
    • Business activities
    • The extent of internationalization
    • The evolution of international business
  2. Global marketplaces and business centres.
    • The structure of the world economy
    • The marketplaces of Europe, North America, Asia, and South America
    • Building global business strategies
  3. Formulation of national trade policies.
    • Rationale for trade intervention
    • Promotion of international trade
    • Controlling of unfair trade practices
  4. International co-operation and conflict.
    • The general agreement on tariffs and trade
    • The European union
    • Host country laws
    • The political environment
  5. International strategic management.
    • Components of international strategy
    • Scope of operations
    • Distinctive competence
  6. Environmental scanning and the SWOT(Strength/Weaknesses - Opportunities/Threats) analysis.
    • Control framework
    • Tactics
Learning activities

A combination of lectures, videos, Internet access, and supplementary materials will follow the order of the chapters in the text.  The textbook contains 11 cases, each of which will be assigned to and presented in class by students.  The focus of the course will be on the cases.  Each case will be fully analyzed, and examined in view of the various theories and their implication.

Means of assessment
Midterm   30%
Class participation   10%
Case presentations and write up         
   (Minimum - 5 cases)		   30%
Final exam   30%
   100%

Students may conduct research as part of their coursework in this class. Instructors for the course are responsible for ensuring that student research projects comply with College policies on ethical conduct for research involving humans, which can require obtaining Informed Consent from participants and getting the approval of the Douglas College Research Ethics Board prior to conducting the research.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the successful student should be able to:

 

  1. utilize international business theories, and their implications in business activities via a full analysis of business cases;
  2. analyze the extent of internationalization;
  3. describe the evolution of international business;
  4. describe reasons for international business growth;
  5. analyze the operations and the players in the global marketplace and various international business centres with focus on small to medium size companies;
  6. evaluate the impacts of trade policies on international trade and investment theory;
  7. analyze the international trade and patterns;
  8. examine the international monetary system and the balance of payments.
Textbook materials

Textbooks and Materials to be Purchased by Students

Griffin, Ricky and Michael Pustay.  text-decoration: underline; International Business: A Managerial Perspective, Latest Ed.  Toronto:  Addison-Wesley Publications Ltd.

Requisites

Prerequisites

ECON 3300 and FINC 3305 and FINC 2340

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

Courses listed here are equivalent to this course and cannot be taken for further credit:

  • No equivalency courses

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer details for BUSN 3400
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) KPU BUSI 2490 (3)
Langara College (LANG) LANG INTB 2XXX (3)
Simon Fraser University (SFU) SFU BUS 1XX (3)
Thompson Rivers University (TRU) No credit
University of British Columbia - Okanagan (UBCO) No credit
University of British Columbia - Vancouver (UBCV) UBCV COMM_V 2nd (3)
University of Northern BC (UNBC) UNBC COMM 2XX (3)
University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) UFV BUS 1XX (3)
University of Victoria (UVIC) No credit

Course Offerings

Winter 2025