Global Business in Asia: A Focus on China

Introduction

This course focuses on the Asian Business context, with a particular emphasis on China in the global competitive landscape. The Asian region has experience a surge of inward and outward foreign direct investments. We discuss the Asian competitive landscape, and focus on the growth and internationalization of multinationals. This provides a particularly interesting context of global business, allowing us to examine transition economies that seek to encourage and support business activities while ensuring both social and economic growth.

Many of the largest multinationals in both Norway and China have significant state ownership. The countries thus combine focus on state control and global competition, albeit through very different governance systems. While state-owned firms have existed for centuries, they are often perceived as ‘newcomers’ to the international arena. Chinese firms and the Chinese business context has in particular received much scrutiny in international business literature, with the blurring boundaries of state and private market actors, and the changing institutional environment. We discuss the boundary conditions of existing theoretical perspectives for firms engaging in business activities in Asia, as well as for other newcomers to the competitive landscape such as emerging market multinationals and firms with alternative governance structures.

The sessions will be taught by faculty members at BI Norwegian Business School and BI’s partner institution in Shanghai Fudan University.

Course content

This course focuses on the Asian Business context, with a particular emphasis on China’s role and influence in the region and global competitive landscape. BI has a partnership in Shanghai with Fudan University, where our joint MBA program ranks among the world’s best part-time MBA programs, according to Financial Times. The course mixes lectures from local faculty at Fudan University and BI faculty, with guest lectures and company visits.

Key topics include (but are not limited to):

• The Asian Business context, with a particular focus on China (history, culture, politics).
• Macro-economic trends
• Internationalization in and out of China
• Asian innovation and entrepreneurship
• Intellectual property rights/patents in China
• Sustainability and the environment
• Marketing in China