Global Network Courses: Building a Toolkit for Global Teams

July 13, 2015

Koç University Graduate School of Business (Turkey)

City:

Istanbul, Turkey

Topic & Description:

From Local to Global: Concepts, Frameworks, and Analytical Tools Necessary to Develop an Effective Global Strategy

Globalization has changed the dynamics of business irrevocably. Today’s companies must operate on a much larger scale and in an environment of global competitiveness where product development, market needs, customers’ targets must take into account multiple cultures, collaborations and regional developments. Even for companies that do not intend to “go abroad,” the entry of foreign companies into their home markets makes a better understanding of global strategy a necessity if not a requisite for survival. The goal of this course is to introduce you to concepts, frameworks, and analytical tools necessary to develop an effective global strategy. There will be case studies and a presentation by student group teams on companies visited.

Program Schedule

Accommodation & Travel:

Accommodation & Travel Information

Contact:

Başak Yalman (byalman@ku.edu.tr)

Yasemin Soydaş (ysoydas@ku.edu.tr)

 

Global Network Courses give students the tools they need to be part of effective global teams. This month, Yale SOM hosts a workshop for Global Network faculty on creating the virtual courses.

When Mayank Gupta, Indian Institute of Management ’15, registered for Analysis of Competition Law, he expected to gain a deeper understanding of how regulations and laws can impact a multinational business. What he didn’t expect—but what was an equally valuable takeaway from Yale School of Management’s online Global Network Course—was the benefit that came from working alongside peers on a virtual global team.

Gupta says that the skills he built by collaborating with others in the course, taught in the small network online course (SNOC) format, paid off immediately in his career.

“I work with Motorola, and the company has a diverse set of individuals from various countries,” says Gupta. “Courses like this—where you learn with a global team and do projects and assignments with them—help you to understand cultures and problems facing businesses better. It makes you more culturally sensitive.”

A workshop hosted by Yale SOM from July 13 to 15 will bring together faculty from 11 Global Network schools interested in hosting new SNOCs. Sessions include presentations by speakers on how to integrate Global Network Cases into coursework and a primer on course design, using Yale’s Natural Capital course as a case study.

Global Network Courses launched in 2013 with two offerings: Analysis of Competition Law and Mobile Banking Opportunities Across Countries. The initiative has expanded to include seven options offered by Yale SOM, IIMB, London School of Economics, EGADE, and the Technion, with three (Inclusive Business Models, Mobile Banking Across Countries, and New Product Development) of the seven being offered in the second half of 2015 and more scheduled for 2016.

The growth of these classes means that more Global Network students, like Gupta and Clyde Rong, of Renmin University of China School of Business, will graduate with hands-on experience working in virtual global teams. Rong, who works for a French luxury brand in Shanghai, says that his SNOC experience in the Inclusive Business Models course proved invaluable.

He says, “Just by being in that classroom, I was already doing way more international and intercultural communication than I ever had before.”