International Business

Imagine you work as part of an international sales team. Your job is to travel overseas to meet with foreign investors who will purchase and distribute your company’s products in their own countries. As you’re wrapping up your presentation in yet another boardroom—in Greece this time—the giddy investors tell you they’ll reach out very soon. Another slam dunk, you think, flashing your signature smile and offering a big thumbs up. Suddenly the mood shifts. The investors glare at you as they leave the room, and now you get the sense that this sale just slipped right through your fingers. What went wrong? Well, had you done your homework on cultural taboos before your visit, you might have learned that a thumbs-up gesture is considered offensive in Greece! Better luck next time, right? In this unit, you’ll discover how the language of culture functions as the code that keeps the program of global business running.

What will you learn in this unit?

• Explain how increasing cultural intelligence benefits business activity
• Identify common categories of culture and differences in their dimensions
• Describe how various forms of communication operate in different cultures
• Trace the boundaries of ethical considerations facing modern business

When was the last time you tried playing a new game? It can be hard to keep up at first, so it helps when someone can act as a mentor and walk you through a few rounds, right? What if you didn’t have anyone to help, but you still wanted to learn how to play the game? What would you do? Well, luckily most games usually include a paper version of a mentor—the rules of the game! Sure, they can be a little stiff, but they tend to address most of the scenarios you’ll happen to come across during gameplay. That’s the way we’re going to approach your interest in the game of global business. If you’re serious about taking your business to new heights and faraway lands, then you need to know as much as you can about what to do and the forces you’ll face when you get there. In this unit, we’ll cover the legal and political information you’ll need to know if you plan to go all in on the game of global business.

What will you learn in this unit?

• Catalog the most common criminal activity in global business
• Identify several international groups helping global business
• Summarize the steps to take to expand successfully into global business
• Protect any intellectual property in nearly any context of global business

Imagine you lived in ancient times. What it would’ve been like to have to lug 10 heavy gold bars to the market a few miles down the road? You might have been robbed along the way—if you didn’t pass out from exhaustion first! Early limitations like these led to the ongoing development of money as a tool for trade within and between communities. In this unit, we’ll examine how this tool works in the world of modern international trade. We’ll also explore how countries are working to establish free trade conditions by using this tool in ways that might have seemed far-fetched a short time ago.

What will you learn in this unit?

• Recognize how currencies and exchange rates work in international trade
• Detail the function and importance of international trade
• Identify the barriers that hinder international trade
• Explain how economic integration reinforces international trade

Imagine you’re just beginning to build a skyscraper. Where do you start? Pro tip: You start with the foundation. No matter how amazing your skyscraper may turn out to be, without a firm foundation, the whole thing will crumble! Well, businesses are no different. Businesses need leaders to steer them in the right direction—just like expert architects mapping out the blueprints for success. To guide their teams to success, these leaders need to understand how all of the business functions work together. A legitimate leader will produce a strong structure that stands out among competitors throughout the business landscape. In this unit, you’ll see just what it takes to pull this off.

What will you learn in this unit?

• Identify the functions of business
• Compare different leadership styles
• Summarize the necessary parts of an organizational mission and vision statement
• Explain the functions of management

This will surely come as no shock, but successful businesses don’t run themselves—although that would be nice! No, running a successful business is wholly dependent on the capacity and capability of the organization’s leadership. Managers must be able to implement and maintain a consistent, strategic plan of action throughout all aspects of business operations, especially when competing in a global arena. Understanding the ins and outs of doing business globally is just like planning for an epic road trip. You’ll need to understand every detail of how things will get from point A to point B while minimizing damage from any roadblocks you may encounter along the way. So, buckle up for an exciting journey through the world of global business!

What will you learn in this unit?

• Grasp the role of geographical qualities for global business operations
• Develop a working map of supply chain movement
• Identify the different individual roles involved in the transportation of goods
• Prepare to avoid common pitfalls and mistakes that plague business operations

Have you ever wondered how people from different cultures are able to work so well together? The answer largely depends on global human resource management. Excelling in this domain is like having a superpower for understanding how to make teams from all around the world work smoothly. From learning different cultures to figuring out how to recruit top international talent, the field of human resources brings the magic where global business achieves and succeeds.

What will you learn in this unit?

• Follow the functions of human resource management
• Present the process followed for finding and recruiting new employees
• Pinpoint various policies and procedures facing global business teams
• Recount the steps to developing a global career path

When you step into your kitchen to make yourself a meal, do you cook from a recipe or just toss ingredients together to come up with something tasty? Even if you don’t follow a recipe line by line, you probably know what happens when cooking goes bad. Pulling off a delicious dish can be challenging even with proper planning and preparation, but we can usually tell when we’re eating something from the IFLOP menu! Well, it turns out that this is also a good way to think about marketing. Bringing together the right mix of products, places, promotions, and prices in your business is a lot like adding the right mix of ingredients to your favorite dish—it’s all about balance! In this final unit, we’ll see how global entrepreneurs create long-term customers and unlock the door to business success with the key of marketing.

What will you learn in this unit?

• Define differences in marketing details between local and global businesses
• Explain the research steps to take when entering new markets
• Present the role and power of targeted promotion for profit objectives
• Stipulate the factors for setting pricing strategies in the global market

Software

• Graphic design software
• Word processing software

Optional

• Audio recording device
• Graphic design software
• Presentation software
• Publishing software
• Spreadsheet software
• Timeline creation software
• Video recording device