This course deals with the management of global expansion and strategies of firms. To be successful in global business ventures, managers must be prepared to acknowledge and experience the complexities of operating in an international context. This task requires understanding how the world political and economic systems operate and knowing how the unique challenges of different business cultures and institutions affect the development and implementation of business strategies. This course introduces the student to some special business cases set in an international context: managing human resources, international finance, global operations, international team building and leadership, and business strategy.

INBS 4100 introduces students to international business practices as experienced in the context of a specific region or country. The course gives students international business exposure and a unique cultural experience with an opportunity to encounter, first-hand, a global business environment. The location, content and schedule for this course vary each year.

INBS 4200 provides students with an understanding of the international environment in which businesses must operate. The course examines business practices abroad, patterns of international interdependence, international finance, global operations, and/or the effect of culture on conducting business internationally. The goal is to improve students’ critical, analytical and creative thinking skills in international business operations.

This course will develop in the student the balance between creative and analytical marketing skills needed to identify, design and fine-tune a business idea, either within a corporation or a start-up. The creative mindset will be developed through hands-on experience while proposing, iterating, and zooming into a business idea, and translating it into a coherent business model and its value proposition for a specific target audience. In conjunction with the business modeling experience, the student will analytically understand key concepts of strategic and operational marketing including market segmentation, targeting, and positioning, in addition to the basic steps of an integrated marketing communications strategy.

This course exposes students to the healthcare delivery and financing system in Guatemala and more broadly in Latin America. The class is structured as an immersion experience in Guatemala City and will draw on extant healthcare delivery and financing structures in both the United States and Latin America. Physicians, physician leaders, and healthcare managers will experience various delivery and academic sites in Guatemala and explore issues related to healthcare structure, education, financing, medical tourism, and cultural competency, among others. Students will engage in a variety of site visits, exercises, and projects which will require the application of course materials and insights.