COURSE OUTLINE
INBU 3730:
Special Topics in International Business
Instructor:
Telephone #:
E-mail address:
Office:
REQUIRED COURSE TEXT:
None required. Reading materials provided.
MARK ALLOCATION:
CSL activity 15%
Other projects 85%
COURSE DESCRIPTION
INBU 3730 – Special Topics in International Business
(3 credits) 3 hours lecture
This course provides an examination of selected topics in international business, including
opportunities in international venues through travel study. As this is a variable content
course, the specific topic will be announced each time the course is offered. Students may not
receive credit for this course more than once.
UNIVERSITY-WIDE LEARNING OUTCOMES
Mount Royal University has identified six university-wide learning outcomes that describe core abilities all students should develop during their time at the university, regardless of their academic program. These abilities help prepare graduates for a life of continuous learning, and have been identified as critical to success in the workplace of the 21st century. This course emphasizes and assesses Thinking
Skills, Communication and Group Effectiveness, and to a lesser extent, Information Retrieval and Evaluation.
Upon completion of this course, the student should be able to:
Learning Objectives Associated University-wide Learning Outcome Assessment Strategy
Demonstrate an understanding of, and use vocabulary, concepts and numerical expressions specific to global business.
Communication, Thinking Skills,
Information Retrieval & Evaluation
Term project
Demonstrate an understanding of the complex issues associated with globalization such as socio/cultural, ethical, political, and economic as they impact the Cook Islands
Communication, Thinking Skills,
Information Retrieval & Evaluation
Term project
Synthesize course content and resources to identify and solve comprehensive problems that require combining concepts and techniques, challenging assumptions, and generating and analyzing alternatives to arrive at an integrative solution.
Thinking Skills,
Information Retrieval & Evaluation
Term project
Demonstrate group process skills through participation in team assignment and presentation.
Communication, Group Effectiveness
Term project
Demonstrate commitment to group
effectiveness as expressed by team building, open and honest communication, personal accountability for the group’s success, and a willingness to work towards a common goal or purpose by learning from and sharing with the group members.
Communication, Group Effectiveness
Self-evaluation, Peer evaluation, for term project
NATURE OF INSTRUCTION
This course entails an international field trip and will engage students with ventures and organizations in the Cook Islands. Students are expected to abide by the MRU code of conduct, as well as best practices for business consultants. As the major project will involve self-directed learning in a foreign milieu students must be prepared to access external resources such as the library, the internet, etc. as part of the learning process prior to and during the trip.
GRADING STRUCTURE
Please refer to the University Calendar for a complete table of the accepted letter grades and their descriptions. In this course, all term marks will be awarded in percentages, which will be converted to letters for the assignment of the final grades using the following ranges.
F 0 - < 50%
D 50 - < 55
D+ 55 - < 60
C- 60 - < 63
C 63 - < 67
C+ 67 - < 70
B- 70 - < 73
B 73 - < 77
B+ 77 - < 80
A- 80 - < 85
A 85 - < 95
A+ ≥ 95
COURSE POLICIES
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
Students will respect the basic standards of intellectual integrity, including, but not limited to, refraining from plagiarism, cheating or copying someone else’s work.
“Plagiarism consists of using other people’s words or ideas without adequately acknowledging the source
of those words or ideas. Plagiarism can take many forms: stealing an entire essay and submitting it as
one’s own work; quoting parts of a source without acknowledging that source; quoting parts of a source
without quotation marks (even if the source is listed in the Works Cited list); too few in-text citations compared to the amount of information used; incorrect, incomplete, or missing documentation elements. Penalties for plagiarism can range from a reduction in the assignment grade to expulsion from the
university”-with thanks to Bill Bunn, Department of English, Mount Royal
In addition, students are expected to take an active role in encouraging other members of the academic community to refrain from academic dishonesty, and are asked to advise the professor if they are aware of any such violations. This provision applies to any work submitted as a group project. Students are strongly recommended to read the complete Code of Student Conduct, which can be found on-line at:
http://www.mtroyal.ca/CampusServices/CampusResources/StudentConduct/index.htm. CORRECTNESS POLICY
Virtually all readers of business documents expect correct grammar, punctuation, spelling, and word usage. Based on this expectation, all graduates of MRC’s Bissett School of Business are expected to be competent in this area. Therefore, the Bissett School of Business has established a minimum correctness policy for all written work submitted for business course credit. These standards apply to spelling,
grammar, punctuation, and word usage, but may also apply to other elements deemed important by your instructor.
LATE DELIVERABLES
Late projects will receive a reduced grade of 10% for each hour that the project is late. ATTENDANCE &PARTICIPATION
The workshops offered during the January to April period are designed to familiarize students with course concepts , an overview of the socio-economic and cultural parameters of the Cook Islands, and project requirements. Students are expected to attend all of the sessions.
PRE-COURSE WORKSHOPS AND PREPARATION
An economic, social, and political, and cultural overview of the xxxxxxxx. The readings would be introductory in nature to provide a broad understanding of the environment, and would highlight not only positive trends for the islands, but some specific education, social, health care and economic/venture challenges,
Organization material - travel agenda, events that are organized for the students (and faculty) such as cultural events, accommodation, transport, and code of student conduct,
Readings to provide an introduction to international business, with an emphasis on cross-cultural management,
The term project: Details regarding community contacts, potential assessment methodologies, and course rubrics will be provided. Business students will be working in teams of two people, and may wish to establish their teams, and operation philosophy, prior to the trip.
The CSL project: details TBA
Workshops will be held to cover the following: TBA
SAMPLE AGENDA
Students will gain an understanding of the socio-economic factors that impact the community by viewing the local economy, understanding historical events that impacted society, and by experiencing key cultural factors.
August 19 6:30 am Arrival – Ta picking up at airport – hopefully have truck for bags.
8am Check-in – Our team will rest until 1. The students, I, and my sister Elly will join TA to see a few sites. I need to run in to pay for the van, and also we need to go to the grocery store around 4 pm to allow people time to get food, and give students time to look around the resort before it gets dark.
August 20 9am Day tour of Island – back by 4:00 so students have time to see resort And swim before it gets dark. We would like to see/do:
Cook Islands Library and Museum: Examples of Maori handicrafts are on display including an old-style canoe,
Arai-Te-Tonga : Located about 2 miles east of Avarua, The Arai-Te-Tonga Marae is the most important marae on Rarotonga and was where many ancient religious ceremonies were once held.
Meet with representative from Chamber of Commerce, or the clients that they are going to work with.
August 21 Students work with clients for part of day
August 22 Fishing trip for ½ day (five hours) – do not want full day trip Max cost $150 per person. Want an early start, as students will likely see client of do some work later in the day. Fishing people confirmed so far: Jeff, Garrett, Elise, and 2 or 3 students. One student will dive – we can arrange at resort ( max 150)
FEAST NIGHT: There will be 10 of us – students (4) and family (6) and you if possible for 11. We would like to see one of the villages, be picked up by bus, see the village, feast, see the cultural activity, then bus back to resort. 5pm to 10 pm. Max $90 each.
August 24 Punanga Nui Cultural Market: produce and crafts including pearls, Saturday morning. Ta to join us to negotiate with pearl suppliers. Students get rest of day off.
August 25 The Avarua CICC church (or anther church): built in 1853 and renovated in 1995: Service in Maori, with choral singing. Sunday morning. Students get rest of day off. (Note churches are not air conditioned).
August 26 to 30 Students work on project 4 to 5 hours a day. Potential presentation at Chamber, and 1.5 hour visit with high school students one day. Ta will organize a day it takes 4 hours) to hike the needle (top of the island).
August 30 Presentation to clients – finish up work.
August 31 Flight leaves late – will leave for airport around 9 – will drop off car. Students have no duties that day. Vic will try to delay checkout as late as possible.
Sample Report
The primary learning from the course is done during the field trip; the instructor will be working with students throughout the trip. The report is a summary of your experiences.
Length: 12 pages Max (single or double)
Can be done individually or with another person (prepare last question individually) Term Project due noon Sept 10th, leave at Bissett front office on second floor
1. Discuss your perception of the socio-economic, cultural, and environmental (SECE) conditions of the CI, and how the conditions impacted the community. For example you could comment on your interactions with locals including: the client (s), people you met at the high school, or any others that contributed to your insight regarding the culture and economic conditions.20% 2. Describe the nature of your engagement in the community (what did you do). Address: The assessment methodologies you employed to determine the problem, and the discussion
with your community partner undertaken to determine a course of feasible and realistic action, How the CI culture impacted interaction with your community partner, reference the
parameters of cross-cultural interactions provided in your reading materials (you can use Hofstede).
Describe the actions and processes you undertook to address/resolve/clarify the issue/needs identified. 40%
3. Summarize the recommendations you provided to your community partner: include material provided to your community partner in the appendix of the paper. Identify the outcomes you,
and your community partner, anticipate as a result of your work with them. Identify if you are providing additional materials or contact after the project is completed. 30%
4. Discuss how the trip impacted you personally; what did you learn about the CI and yourself? 10%
