MMM174: International Business and Culture

Module code: MMM174

Module provider: International Business and Strategy; Henley Business School

Credits: 20

Level: Postgraduate Masters

When you'll be taught: Summer (vacation) semester

Module convenor: Dr Denise Tsang, email: d.tsang@henley.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 28 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

Despite its profound effect on competition, business culture continues to be an elusive concept for managers. This module focuses on the impact of business culture on competition. It comprises an interdisciplinary approach with perspectives from strategic management, human resource management, general social sciences and the humanities. It aims to introduce the business culture concepts at both macro and micro levels and gives students some first-hand experience in understanding the values of nations, industries and firms. After introducing students to frameworks that can be used to identify business values, it will explain the patterns of competition in relation to elements of business culture.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Explain and evaluate the principal relationships between different competitive advantages and different cultural systems; 
2. Discuss the main theoretical frameworks in relation to business culture; 
3. Critically discuss the principal interpretations of the development of international management; 
4. Develop practical solutions concerning challenges arising from different business cultures; 

Module content

The module will introduce real-world case studies that allows description and understanding of culture and competition in leading developed and emerging economies. Topics may include:

• The Culture and Values of Competition
• Business Culture and International Expansion
• Research-based competition among US technology clusters
• Global entertainment from Bollywood
• National heritage and French luxury goods
• Creativity and the intellectual property based British business
• New world wine as new competitors
• Guanxi and the growth of Chinese family firms
• Militarism and the Silicon Wadi

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, seminars and independent research

Study hours

At least 20 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 50% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Reassessment

Additional costs