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Cornell UniversityS.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management
NBA 5840: International Competitive Strategy
 Spring, 2009
Professor:
Gary Katzenstein, Ph.D.
Office:
Sage Hall 401F
Phones:
(607) 255-7469
Fax:
(607) 254-4590
Email:
gjk29@cornell.edu
Office Hours:
By appointment, or Wednesdays, 2-5pm
Prerequisites:
At least one course on Corporate Strategy
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Introduction:
Most influential companies do business outside their home countries. Few companieswho aspire to superior profitability are able to achieve this within the bounds of a singlenational market. For an increasing number of businesses, competing internationally is nolonger an option. Moreover, the actions of non-North American multinationals meansthat today more than ever, competitive activity must have a strong defensive element aswell.Success in international markets is not a result of luck, but of skill and persistence.Developing proficiency in international strategy translates into competitive advantage.Building competence in this area means understanding, at a sophisticated level, howcompanies succeed in the most demanding competitive arenas, which are usually foundbeyond their head office nation’s borders.The approach we will take in this course is practical and problem-oriented. It is intendedto enable you to acquire proficiency at strategy formulation and implementation in aninternational context. The course will do this by developing and applying concepts,analytical frameworks, and intuition to the strategic issues that face real-worldmultinational corporations, regardless of their size, industry or location.
The four fundamental issues addressed in the course can be stated as follows:
How can the firm take advantage of the global market place?
NBA 5840International Competitive StrategySpring Term, 2009
 
How does a corporation create economic value through its multimarket activities?
How must the corporation be structured and managed to realize the benefits of itsmultimarket activities?
When should those activities be undertaken inside the corporation, rather than accessedthrough contracts, joint ventures or strategic alliances?The course will offer analytical frameworks developed to address these questions andwill examine how these frameworks apply in concrete business situations.
COURSE FORMAT
The majority of class time will be devoted to the analysis and discussion of corporatestrategy and global competition cases. Short lectures (and selected videotapes) willalso be used to elaborate on key theoretical models and frameworks or to reinforcecrucial concepts. These lectures, however, will be subordinate to the case analysis.Cases provide a natural "test-bed" for theory and provide vivid examples that aidmemory of concepts.The case method also gives students a chance to deal with ambiguity. Most cases donot have obvious "right" answers. Managers must be able to function in situationswhere the right answer is not known, without falling into the trap of assuming thatany answer is as good as another. Some analyses and proposed strategies are clearlywrong, and some are clearly better than others. A popular phrase in case analysisclasses is "There are
no
right answers, but there are
wrong
answers." Case discussiontechniques provide a chance to learn the
meaning
of analytical rigor in situations otherthan open-and-shut problems
.
Preparing 
It is important you understand basic strategy concepts such as:
Industry analysis
General environment analysis
Competence
Value chain analysis
Generic strategies
Corporate and business strategy
These are the fundamental underpinnings of the field and should have been covered in yourcourses so far.
COURSE EVALUATION
Course grades will be determined by students’ relative performance on the following threecourse components:
Course Participation
30%
2
 
(2) Short Case Analyses (Indiv./Pairs)
35%
Company Strategic Analysis (Group)
35%
NBA 5840International Competitive StrategySpring Term, 2009
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