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CBL IBEC International Business and Economic Development*

Faculty
Cand.merc
Course Coordinator
Michael Wendelboe Hansen
Prerequisite/progression of the course
Bachelor degree – Knowledge of International Business theory literature is an advantage, but it is not a requirement. This course is an approved CEMS elective
Course content, structure and teaching
The course includes the following main elements:
  • Introduction: Mapping trends in foreign direct investment and international trade
  • Investment strategies: Investment motives and sourcing strategies in non-OECD countries
  • Global value chains: Global value chain configuration and developing countries: Equity versus non-equity based (outsourcing) internationalisation in developing countries
  • Effects and spillovers: Development impacts of foreign direct investment (FDI); Upgrading effects of linkages between TNCs and local companies in developing countries; FDI’s role in building and sustaining national competitiveness; Export processing zones and industrial development
  • Investment policy, regulation and strategy: Home and host country measures to promote investment by TNCs; the role assigned to TNCs in industrial development strategy. Global governance: Regulation of TNCs at the international level.
Dealing with the above-mentioned issues, the course will present the major theoretical and analytical contributions to the study of the interface between TNC strategies and host country development. Empirically, the course will draw on examples and cases of Danish and OECD based TNCs’ investments in developing countries and emerging markets.
The aim of this course is to provide the students with a comprehensive theoretical and empirical understanding of the complex interface between TNC business strategy and host country development strategy, emphasising TNC investment in non-OECD countries. One of the most significant economic developments of recent decades is the economic globalisation process as reflected in the rapid growth in international trade and the surge in foreign direct investment. This process is to a large extent driven by transnational corporations (TNCs) situated in OECD countries. A growing share TNC trade and investment activities are conducted with non-OECD countries, that is with Eastern European and developing countries. Evidently, TNCs are seeking to exploit the vast, but also precarious market and resource potentials of these emerging markets. Simultaneously, Eastern European and developing countries are increasingly embarking on economic development strategies aimed at attracting TNC investment as a means to access technology, capital, organisational and marketing know-how etc.
Learning Objectives
At the end of the course, and against the backdrop of the course literature in its entirety, students should be able to:
  • describe and critically discuss theories and approaches that address the complex interface between TNC business strategy and host country development strategy, with a particular eye to TNC investment in non-OECD countries
  • relate these theories to each other and identify similarities and differences
  • identify and explain specific patterns of TNC investment and sourcing strategies in non-OECD countries against the backcloth of empirical examples and cases
  • analyse development impacts of foreign direct investment (FDI), including the potentially upgrading effects of linkages between TNCs and local companies in developing countries
  • discuss and evaluate FDI’s role in building and sustaining national competitiveness
  • discuss and evaluate the role of regulative initiatives, such as global, regional and host country measures to promote investment by TNC, as well as the role assigned to TNCs in industrial development strategy.
Type of examination, exam aids and assessment
Individual oral examination on all material covered in the course - based on a three-page written synopsis which is to be handed in two weeks before the exam. The content of the synopsis is chosen by the student. It is not graded, but it serves as a starting point for the discussion. Duration: examination including grading: 20 minutes. Examination takes place in December/January.
Teaching methods
Classes will be a mixture of lectures with discussions, cases, and student presentations. Students are expected to make presentations during the course. Presentations will have a duration of no more than ten minutes. The course literature amounts to 800-1000 pages.
Recommended literature
Dicken, P., Global Shift: Transforming the World Economy, London: PCP, 2003. (Selected chapters)
Dunning, J. and Narula, R., Multinationals and industrial competitiveness, Cheltenham, UK, 2004
Wilkins, Mira, ‘Multinational corporations: A historical account’, in Kozul-Wright and Howtorn, Transnational corporations and the global economy, London: Macmillan Press, 1998
Hirst and Thomson, Globalization in question, Cambridge: Polity Press, 1999
Porter, M.E.(ed.), Competition in Global Industries, HarvardBusinessSchool, Cambridge, MA, USA, 1986
UNCTAD, World Investment report 2005, Geneva, 2006
Rugman, A. and Verbeke, “Multinational enterprises and public policy”, in Millar, C. et al, International business: Emerging issues and merging markets, London: Macmillan, 2000
Hansen, M.W. and Schaumburg Muller (ed.), Linkages between foreign investors and local firms in developing countries, Copenhagen Business School Press, 2006.
Suggested readings
Dicken, Peter: Global Shift: Transforming the World economy, London:Paul Chapman, 1998
UNCTAD, World Investment Report 1999: Foreign direct investment and the challenge of development, Geneva: UNCTAD, 1999.

Last updated by The electives office 26/04/2010