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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2016/2017

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Business School : Common Courses (Management School)

Postgraduate Course: Doing Business Projects in Emerging Markets (CMSE11130)

Course Outline
SchoolBusiness School CollegeCollege of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits15 ECTS Credits7.5
SummaryThis course is specifically designed to provide practical as well as analytical tools for students to engage with real business issues in considering and planning operations in the contexts of emerging markets. Two major perspectives are highlighted. One addresses the issues for companies from industrialised countries seeking to enter and/or operate effectively in emerging markets. The other addresses the challenges facing domestic enterprises within emerging economies (and developing countries more generally) in seeking to build global competitiveness.
Course description This course encourages students to focus on various 'challenges' in these two areas, which are embedded in our social and economic activities and deeply rooted in us. They have been the major causes of today's problems in international business conduct. However they are often neglected or overlooked.

The first set of the challenges:- for example, the advancement in technology, such as various digital platforms newly emerged for business conducts cross national and geographical boundaries; new initiatives to promote sustainable development, which challenge the economic norms and philosophy of development that our conventional businesses were and have been based upon; and new institutions, such as diverse types of NGOs, none-profit making organisation, which are involved in business regulations and surveillance, etc.

The other set of the 'challenges' is related to our 'presumptions' - the meanings and values of the things we do and products / services we produce and use routinely. Every individual and society are so much so bonded and constrained by the environment which they develop and within which they grow. Because of this, our presumptions are hidden and often lead to misfits of products/services and misalignment in business conducts cross culture and nations.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements For Business School PG students only, or by special permission of the School. Please contact the course secretary
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2016/17, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  None
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 150 ( Lecture Hours 20, Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 6, External Visit Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 3, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 119 )
Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) Group Meetings 10x2hrs, Independent Research 10x5hrs, Data Collection 17hrs, Presentations 32hrs
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 70 %, Practical Exam 30 %
Additional Information (Assessment) - A written group project report, not exceeding 10,000 words - 70%
- A group presentation (maximum 20 minutes) and questions and answers (around 20 minutes) - 30%
The total mark is subject to 25% adjustment based on peer evaluation.

Two presentation sessions include the interim group presentation during week 7, and final presentations in week 10-11. The former is not assessed, however feedback comments will be provided. The latter will be formally assessed.
Feedback Week 2-10 Informal feedbacks will be provided by teaching staff according to the needs of individual groups, which could be in different forms.
Week 5 Oral comments on TOR document
Week 7 Interim student presentations; oral comments by teaching staff during the presentation sessions
Week 10-11 Formal feedback to final group presentations and written project reports will be provided.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. be familiar with the specific challenges / opportunities facing foreign investors seeking to operate in a selected emerging market; and/or the issues facing enterprises in developing countries seeking to grasp opportunities to compete globally, including problems that may surround their struggles to absorb advanced technologies from developed countries
  2. have enriched knowledge of the general issues faced by business operations cross national and cultural boundaries and the challenges in the globalisation context.
  3. obtain detailed understanding of diversity and complexity of business environment, i.e. how a market is socially embedded and constrained by its historical development path, the broader social, economic and political settings and the insertion of exogenous pressures from regional and international systems.
  4. become more aware of the dynamics in politics, culture and technology at the global level that have enormous impacts on international business.
Reading List
There is no required reading for the course. However, there are a few suggested books, which may be useful to some students in doing their project. These are available on Learn.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Cognitive Skills:
- Display a critical appreciation of the key issues involved in doing business project in emerging/developing markets and recognise wide ranges of 'presumptions' hidden in current management theories, models and practices, which may have blocked our sights in emerging business opportunities and /or challenges. This will involve developing skills for identifying wide range of culture related 'presumptions' and applying diverse lens to overcome the obstacles. of the theoretical challenges in the field of International Business: i) the abstract and generic character of many concepts, models and theories in the international business field; ii) the limits of single-discipline based approaches; and, iii) the dominant position of Western perceptions and rationales.
- Demonstrate ability in doing a business project, by acquiring and applying specialist knowledge as well as deploying concepts and sources incisively and with sensitivity to the particular contexts under examination.
- Demonstrate skills in interdisciplinary analysis, drawing upon different empirical sources, analytical perspectives and disciplines in proposing responses to match the complexity of the issues under examination.

Transferable skills:
- Appreciate a set of practical skills for managing business project, in particular, scoping, mapping and defining objectives.
- Be able to deal with business clients (companies) appropriately and effectively understand business stakeholders and communicate with them, present yourself to them and manage their expectations.
- Be able to work effectively in a multi-cultural team, recognising and understanding barriers/obstacles in communication with people from different cultural backgrounds and developing useful skills, drawing benefit from discovering and accommodating different perspectives, and making best use of diverse strengths of individual team members.
- Be able to present your work (in oral and written forms) clearly and succinctly while being persuasive.
- Be able to work independently as well as in groups in designing research, searching for information and data, interpreting data appropriately, managing time and contributing to a specified group project.
KeywordsIBEM-DBP
Contacts
Course organiserDr Xiaobai Shen
Tel: (0131 6)50 3819
Email: Xiaobai.Shen@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMr Peter Newcombe
Tel: (0131 6)51 3013
Email: Peter.Newcombe@ed.ac.uk
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