Required in stage
Optional in stage
First term
Second term
Both terms
Not organised
This year
Next year
Alternating years
External
Prerequisites
Taught by
Language of instruction
Duration
Identical courses
Cannot be taken as part of an examination contractAims
The number of registrations for this course is limited to 24 students. Students have to be present during the first lecture to be registered for the global virtual teams. Late registrations for this course are not allowed.
More information
The students in this course will have an opportunity to gain first-hand experience in international business collaboration and business consulting. Several companies present their real-life international business challenges. You will be working in an international team of 4-7 people for about eight weeks. Your team will have to select one of those challenges and suggest your solution to the company.
This course evaluates the following learning outcomes:
The student
1.a Analyses the environment in which an organisation is active and estimates the influence of environmental factors on the functioning of the organisation.
1.b Understands basic theories, basic terms and basic concepts of strategic management and uses them to critically evaluate the organisational strategy and make proposals to adjust the latter.
1.c Uses the analysis of a (business) economic problem to develop and propose a solution in line with the organisational strategy.
2.a Understands basic theories, basic terms, and basic concepts of each management domain, in particular with respect to the financial, operational, commercial and organisational activities, and can apply them when solving business problems.
2.d Within the different management domains, develops proposals for the implementation of a certain organisational strategy, critically analyses the consequences of them and, based on this analysis, formulates proposals to adjust the organisational strategy.
2.q Distinguishes and explains the different internationalisation strategies and processes of organisations.
3.a Detects the impact of regional, national and international environmental factors on corporate policies and estimates the complexity of operating in an international environment when putting together a strategy.
3.b Analyses price-setting and the various pricing strategies for the most important market forms.
9.a In a team and depending on the context, takes on management, executive or supportive tasks and as such contributes actively to a joint result.
9.b Listens to the opinion of others and constructively deals with various opinions and cultures.
10.a Uses the language of instruction to communicate orally and in writing with an audience of specialists and non-specialists, and such in a way that is correct on the level of grammar and vocabulary; uses a style that is common in a (business) economics context.
11.a Independently or in team, efficiently carries out a clearly defined assignment.
11.b Demonstrates creativity, takes initiative, assumes responsibility, and sets priorities when carrying out economic (business) assignments.
11.c Explains an economic problem in its context, combines data to solve this problem and uses the accumulated multidisciplinary knowledge.
Previous knowledge
For this course it is necessary to have sufficient prior knowledge of the course Strategic Management. It is also recommended to have sufficient prior knowledge of the courses Business Management, Bank and finance, Corporate Finance, Personnel and Organization and Marketing.
Is included in these courses of study
Activities
3 ects. International Business Game (B-KUL-Y50727)
Content
Introduction of the international business game
Familiarizing with the player’s guide and learning material
Business game
Presentation of final report.
Course material
Compulsory Course Material
The website of the international business game and Toledo are being used for this learning activity
Student training manual, Company challenge instructions
Format: more information
In the first week of the semester, a lecture will be organized to introduce the international business game. Students have to be present during the first lecture to register for the global virtual teams. Late registrations for this course are not allowed.
Before the project starts, students are required to review the training materials and take a readiness test. The test ensures that all participants are sufficiently familiar with how the international business game works, the task the teams will be working on, deadlines, available communication tools, and other project-related issues. If you fail, you are asked to review the training materials more carefully and to retake the test.
Students who successfully pass the readiness test are randomly assigned to global virtual teams (typically between 4 and 7 students, from different countries) and receive personal emails on the first day of the project with the names and contacts of their team members.
Students work in global virtual teams over a 2-month period. During this time, they have to meet weekly deadlines.
At the end of the project, student teams submit their international business proposals via TurnItIn, an online platform that checks submissions for plagiarism.
All students receive Global Collaboration Experience Certificates and the members of the best teams receive Best Team certificates.
Evaluation
Evaluation: International Business Game (B-KUL-Y70950)
Explanation
Features of the evaluation
See ‘Format: more information’ for more information.
Deadlines will be communicated on Toledo/ project website.
Determination of final grades
The international business game involves a series of tasks commissioned by a real-life international company that you and your global virtual team (GVT) must complete during a period of 10 weeks. The weekly progress reports are formative and are not graded. Each GVT team member will be evaluated by weekly peer evaluations in terms of effort, intellectual contribution, help with writing the report, and coordinating team efforts. The students also complete an online post-project survey that include-peer evaluations. If the student does not participate in one of the partial evaluations, the final grade of the course will be NA (not attended) for the whole course.
The final team reports are evaluated by the instructors using standardized rubrics. Each instructor evaluates the reports from the teams that had his/her students in them. The instructor evaluations of the team reports are then aggregated.
The result is calculated and expressed as an integer out of 20.
Grades will be determined as follows:
- Process assessment:
Completion of the pre-project training: Must pass to enroll
Weekly progress reports, 10 total, submitted individually by each student (completed fully and before the deadline): Must be completed to receive project grade
Post-project survey (completed before the deadline, % questions answered, check for response non-randomness): Must be completed to receive project grade
Peer evaluations (as evaluated by the other team members in terms of effort, intellectual contribution, help with writing the report, coordinating team efforts, other comments), reported weekly and post-project, average of all: 30%
- Product assessment:
Quality of the team report (as rated by the instructors): 70%
Second examination opportunity
The features of the evaluation and/or the determination of grades differ between the first and second examination opportunity. Students that did not pass the first examination opportunity will have to individually improve the final report of their global virtual team.
Students that did not participate in a global virtual team during the semester cannot take part in the second examination opportunity.
Information about retaking exams
See 'Explanation' for further information regarding the second examination opportunity.