COURSE OUTLINE INBU 3730: Special Topics in International Business

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1 COURSE OUTLINE INBU 3730: Special Topics in International Business Instructor: Telephone #: address: Office: REQUIRED COURSE TEXT: None required. Reading materials provided. MARK ALLOCATION: CSL activity 15% COURSE DESCRIPTION Other projects 85% 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 21 st century. This course emphasizes and assesses Thinking

2 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 Demonstrate an understanding of, and use vocabulary, concepts and numerical expressions specific to global business. Demonstrate an understanding of the complex issues associated with globalization such as socio/cultural, ethical, political, and economic as they impact the Cook Islands 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. Demonstrate group process skills through participation in team assignment and presentation. 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. NATURE OF INSTRUCTION Associated Universitywide Learning Outcome Thinking Skills, Information Retrieval & Evaluation Thinking Skills, Information Retrieval & Evaluation Thinking Skills, Information Retrieval & Evaluation Group Effectiveness Group Effectiveness Assessment Strategy Self-evaluation, Peer evaluation, for term project 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.

3 F 0 - < 50% D 50 - < 55 D < 60 COURSE POLICIES C < 63 C 63 - < 67 C < 70 B < 73 B 73 - < 77 B < 80 A < 85 A 85 - < 95 A+ 95 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: 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 Prior to the course students would be sent reading material providing:

4 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 crosscultural 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 8am Arrival Ta picking up at airport hopefully have truck for bags. 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 August 22 August 23 Students work with clients for part of day 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) Students work with clients for part of day (about 4 to 5 hours)

5 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 August 25 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. 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 August 31 Presentation to clients finish up work. 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 10 th, 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,

6 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%