Upon completing this course, students will be able to:
- Define what international business is, why it is important, and why and how international business differs from domestic business. Appreciate the long and important history of international business and its role in the world’s development, and the dramatic internationalization of markets. Also, recognize the key arguments for and against the globalization of business, and the reasons for entering foreign markets.
- Describe the magnitude of international trade and how it has grown, and identify the direction of trade, or who trades with whom, and trends in such trade. Explain the theories that attempt to explain why certain goods are traded internationally, and the size, growth, and direction of foreign direct investment.
- Explain the importance of international institutions to business decision-makers and their firms. Explain the role of the United Nations as an institution and its relevance to international business. Also the purposes of the two global monetary institutions, the IMF and the World Bank.
- Define culture, discuss the sociocultural aspects of it as a phenomenon, and explain the significance of the cultural differences for international business.
- Describe how geographical features of a country or region create contextual differences that contribute to economic, cultural, political, and social conditions important to international business. Also, outline the nonrenewable and renewable energy sources and their broad business implications. Explain the major characteristics of sustainable business, and the concept environmental sustainability and its potential influence on business.
- Evaluate the importance to business of government stability and policy continuity, as well as, explain country risk assessment by international business and the changing sources and reasons for terrorism and the methods and growing power of terrorists. Also, discuss the types of trade restrictions.
- Discuss the complexity of the legal forces that confront international business, and the possibilities for international dispute settlement. Recognize the need and methods to protect your intellectual property, the risk of product liability legal actions, and how some of the U.S. laws affect international business operations.
- Identify forces that affect the quantity and quality of labor in a nation, and the major factors that may impact employment policies in an international setting, and the differences and trends in labor unions from country to country and worldwide.
