Course Description
The course is an introduction to the contemporary business experiences in China and with Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs). Increasingly, China has been growing into one of the world’s largest market for multinational businesses around the world. At the same time, Chinese enterprises keep accelerating their process of going overseas. As a result of that, they are competing fiercely, in multiple countries, with other leading MNEs that are mainly from advanced economies. To have a grasp of the distinctiveness of the challenges and opportunities in China and with Chinese MNEs, we will discuss about some of the complex business cases. The cases will cover the overarching theme of firm and contextual heterogeneity, and will prepare you for addressing key gaps to our knowledge on this topic. We will first explore different types of Chinese MNEs, and then examine how Chinese MNEs internationalize. As we become familiar with the distinctive characteristics of Chinese MNEs and their environments, we will investigate the business strategy and management of MNEs from advanced economies in China.
Learning Outcomes
The aim of the course will be to prepare participants to work in China and/or with Chinese MNEs. An important objective is to develop your ability to understand institutions, competitions, and collaborations in and with China. By the conclusion of the course, participants should be able to (a) have a better understanding of the contemporary business environment of China, (b) develop the ability to analyze complex business cases in the multinational contexts, (c) evaluate and develop solutions for the context specific challenges that foreign companies face in China, and (d) provoke meaningful inquiry on what we still know little regarding this topic.
Elective