Undergraduate International Business 2026-2027

Using Economics as a viewpoint, this course investigates the big issues and key questions facing international business in a global economy and seeks explanations using a variety of real world tools, models and concepts. Issues covered include technology and automation, innovation and the networked economy, scarcity and choice, globalisation, inequality, the firm (its owners, managers, employees and customers), markets and public policy, financial instability and environmental issues.

The purpose of this course is to introduce you to the external global context in which businesses operate. It explores the political, economic, sociocultural, technological, ethical and market influences on business. It also explores how businesses interact to the global environment through innovation, strategy, operations and marketing.

This course provides the theoretical structure to bring together the learning of 1^st and 2^nd year courses placing the students as International Manager. Being an International Manager I looks in depth into the theoretical concepts of international business and prepares them to the more experiential subsequent course entitled Being an International Manager II.

This course uses four interrelated topics to illustrate how to be an International Manager. The course integrates the concepts covered in Being an International Manager I from the viewpoint of the manager and the challenge she/he faces as well as the implication for the manager, taking a more applied and embodied viewpoint. In other words, while Being an International Manager I addresses what is international business, Being an International Manager II responds to how to be an International Manager.

Students in this course conduct independent research under the guidance of a supervisor. They can select their own dissertation topic or choose one of a range of topics offered by staff within Business Management. Students undertake a qualitative and/or quantitative piece of empirical research and produce a dissertation at the end of the process. This course provides them with an opportunity to develop a range of generic and research-specific skills including critical thinking, argumentation, writing, time management, review of literature, research design, and data analysis.