Workload distribution
The student workload is estimated in 3.5-4 hours of individual and/or group work for each class hour.
The course is scheduled in three Modules (21-23 February, 13-14 March and 28-29 March) with an intensive format of 5-hour class per day. Students are expected to prepare the assigned material for each module in advance. Further, between modules students will have to prepare a team assignment.
COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO PROGRAM
The course aims at addressing the five CEMS MIM's Learning Outcomes: "Internationalism", "Business embeddedness", "Responsible citizenship", "Reflective critical thinking" and "Comprehensive leadership".
Course Learning Objectives
The course's overall objective is to develop students' ability to identify the main challenges and courses of action for implementing global strategy as well as their skills for leading in the diverse and multicultural context of contemporary multinational companies (MNCs).
Regarding specific intended learning outcomes, students at the end of the course will:
- Be knowledgeable and able to apply the most relevant frameworks and tools that support top managers in implementing global strategy and leading global companies
- Understand the main characteristics of the different types of global managers (their roles and the skills needed)
- Understand how cultural diversity may affect leadership approaches as well as being more aware of the impact of own culture and the importance of understanding other people's cultures (national and corporate ones).
- Understand the challenges of fostering collaboration among units and leading culturally diverse teams in MNC environment characterized by distance-based interactions
- Have developed a deeper sense of the different avenues to pursue a global career
CONTENT
1. Course content 1. PART ONE: Leadership Challenges of Implementing Global Strategy
* A framework for global strategy implementation
* The different types of global managers
* Embracing the country manager role: cross-cultural challenges
* Headquarter-Subsidiary roles in implementing global strategy
* Embracing the business and corporate manager roles: the challenges of leading multicultural teams and fostering collaboration among subsidiaries
2. PART TWO: International careers and leading global teams
* A framework for leading global teams
* Challenges of global teams
* A guideline for expatriate careers
3. PART THREE: Managing change in global organizations
* The role of organizational design in implementing global strategy: Informal coordination mechanisms and leadership development in global companies
* Managing transformational change in a large foreign subsidiary
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Methodology
The course follows an interactive learning approach blending theoretical and applied knowledge. The sessions involve different formats including in-class case discussions and debates, role plays, interactive lectures, team presentations and guest speakers.
The course emphasizes the study of real life situations and case studies. Hence, it is crucial to read and prepare the cases in advance as well as read carefully the assigned readings before each class. Overall, students have the opportunity to look at and discuss global strategy implementation issues in a broad range of companies from different industries and countries.
Bibliography
See the syllabus for detailed bibliography. Recommended books and articles include the following:
BOOKS
- Gehrke, Bettina & Marie-Thérèse Claes (2014). Global Leadership Practices. A Cross- Cultural Management Perspective. New York: Palgrave MacMillan
- Steers, Richard M. & Osland, Joyce S. (2020). Management across Cultures: Challenges, Strategies, and Skills (4th edition). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press
* Morschett, D. et al. (2015). Strategic International Management (3rd edition). Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler.
ARTICLES
* Bartlett, C. A., & Ghoshal, S. (2003). What is a global manager? Harvard Business Review, 81(8), 101-108.
* Brett, J., Behfar, K., & Kern, M. C. (2006). "Managing Multicultural Teams?. Harvard Business Review, 84(11), 84-91
* Edmondson, A. C. (2012). Teamwork on the Fly. Harvard Business Review, 90(4), 72-80
* Meyer, E. (2017). Being the Boss in Brussels, Boston, and Beijing: If You Want to Succeed, You'll Need to Adapt. Harvard Business Review, 95(4), 70-77.
* Neeley, T. (2015). Global teams that work. Harvard Business Review, October, 75-81
* Sull, D., Homkes, R. & Sull, Ch. (2015). "Why Strategy Execution Unravels - and What to Do About It?, Harvard Business Review, March, 57-66
