MG447E      Half Unit
International Business Strategy and Emerging Markets (modular)

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

This course analyses the emergence of firms which operate on a global scale and their current and likely future interactions with emerging markets. Teaching will be based upon interactive lectures and a number of key international strategy cases. Lectures and case discussions in September will prepare students for the study visit to Cape Town in November and especially the company visits which represent a key component of the case content of the course.

Multinational firms have been an increasingly significant aspect of the corporate environment in developed countries since the 1960s and are responsible for a high proportion of global output, as well as the bulk of foreign direct investment. In the past few decades their activities have been increasingly focused to developing economies, notably those which have liberalised and entered a more rapid growth phase. These economies, emerging markets, include some important world economies including China, India, transition economies such as South Africa, and Latin American countries such as Brazil and Argentina. The new institutional economics has developed as a field to understand the impact of variation in institutions on economies performance. This course will focus on how the institutional characteristics of emerging markets affect the choices and behaviour of multinational firms, now and into the future.

We commence with the basic framework of analysis of the behaviour of multinational enterprises (MNEs), outlining models of the MNE which draw on transaction cost economics, the eclectic OLI paradigm of Dunning, Barney’s Resource Based View and entry mode choices for internationalization. We will then provide an analysis of economic performance and growth in emerging markets and the role of distance and institutions as determinants of FDI. Firm internationalization strategies based on the work of Pankaj Ghemawat will be explored. Other topics include the phenomena of emerging market multinationals and the importance of non-market and global taxation strategies for the MNE.  Finally, the course will focus on practical learnings and observations from our immersive visit to Cape Town South Africa, including the exploration of social entrepreneurship in emerging markets. 

Outline of Sessions: Session 1 Globalization, trade and GVCs Session 2: Models and Strategies of the Multi-National Enterprise( OLI/ Entry Mode) Session 3:  Institutions, Distance and Determinants of FDI, Session 4 Global Strategies in Emerging Markets,  Session 5 Non Market Strategies Session 6 Emerging Market Multinationals, Session 7 – Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship in Emerging Markets, Session 8 - Company visits in Cape Town South Africa, Session 9 Spillovers and the Impact of FDI in Emerging Markets, Session 10 The Impact of FDI and spillovers, Session 11 Student presentations.

Sessions are scheduled over 3 modules in both London and overseas. 

The teaching is highly participative and includes breakout discussions and group activities.

Essay

Students will be expected to produce 1 essay in the Autumn term.

• P. Ghemawat, Redefining Global Strategy, Harvard Business School Press,2007T.
• S Commander and Saul Estrin, The Connections World, Cambridge University Press 2022
• Cote, C., Estrin, S., Meyer, K. E., & Shapiro, D. (2020). Covid-19 and the dynamics of distance in international business. Academy of International Business Insights, 20(3).
• J. Dunning, “The Eclectic Paradigm”, Journal of International Business Studies, No. 1, 1988
• Khanna, K. Palepu and J. Sinha, “Strategies That Fit Emerging Markets”, Harvard Business Review, 2005
• Ramamurti, R., 2012. What is really different about emerging market multinationals? Global Strategy Journal, 2(1), pp.41-47.

Presentation (40%)

Course participation (10%)

Essay (50%)