IBUS6004: International Business Alliances

- Case presentation & opposition: Most sessions entail a case study debate, which involves preparing case analyses in groups. The groups alternate in preparing and presenting their view of case findings to the class. After the presentations, a discussion will take place about the contents of the presentations and how the readings enlighten the answers to the case. This setup intends to promote a discussion of the interplay between the theory of the readings and the case and is designed to emulate the final exam.
Each group will be involved twice: (i)as the presenting group (13% of the course value) and (ii)as the opponent group (7% of the course value) to debate the perspectives of the presenting team. The groups alternate in preparing and presenting their view of case findings to the class. The dates when each group takes the role of presenting and the opponent team will be determined before lecture 2. The presenting team should email their “tentative slides” to the course coordinator 24 hours before their scheduled presentation. These slides will be shared with the opponent team. Final slides (of the presenting team) should be submitted to Canvas before the lecture in which the team will present. The opponent team can (but does not have to) prepare a page (less than 500 words) summarizing their views on the tentative slides of the presenting team in light of the case material and case questions. This page (if prepared) should be emailed to the course coordinator at least an hour before the lecture.
All students must read all cases and be prepared for class discussion to learn from these exam-emulating discussions. There also could be in-class quizzes based on the case study that would count toward your class participation mark.

- Alliance Analysis/Proposal: should be completed in groups of up to four students. The word limit of this report is 3000. For this assessment item, students may select an existing alliance and provide a comprehensive analysis of various aspects of this partnership (including objectives and rationale, risks, rationale for the mode of governance, alliance scope, partner selection logic, alliance governance and design, performance evaluation, and exit strategies). Alternatively, they may choose to propose a potential alliance between two firms that they find to have complementary resources and thus could benefit from collaboration (and suggest/analyze the above aspects for your proposed alliance). The first step of this assessment item is nominating an alliance for the project by Lecture 8. This will be done through a Canvas interface that will be shared with you in due course.

- Participation (class and Canvas discussions/tasks): Engaging in discussions and debating the concepts are essential to learning soft concepts and developing critical thinking and communication skills. Cultures associate different connotations to eloquence and sometimes impede active participation in discussions. To formalize your right to have your voice heard, this item assesses you based on your contributions to the class discussion. The following criteria will be considered for your participation mark (10% of the course value):

•  Contribution to class discussion and activities: The most important criterion (for getting an HD mark in participation) remains your contribution to the class discussions. Please raise your hand and speak during the lecture, ask questions, and challenge what the instructor presents. That's how learning occurs both for you and for other participants in the lecture (who observe this interaction). Your participation and questions also help me regulate myself (in terms of what should be explained further, where the ambiguities are, and when we can comfortably move on). So, this is a service to the class and the learning of everybody.
• Canvas activities/discussion board: Each lecture has its weekly page (see under the quick link) which posts some tasks including links to the discussions section of the Canvas. You are expected to contribute to these activities/discussions. The best contributions do not repeat the existing comments posted under the question. They add something to the debate: they bring in a new perspective, draw attention to a different angle, or synthesize the information more effectively (compared to what has been done already).

- Quizzes: Instead of a mid-term exam (which may be too late to draw your attention to the course concepts given their progressive nature), we will have 3 quizzes in this unit that will be held in class.