Koç University Graduate School of Business
October 19-23, 2015
City: Istanbul, Turkey
Topic & Description: From local to global: Concepts, frameworks, and analytical tools necessary to develop an effective global strategy
Course Objective:
In today’s challenging and complex global business environment, the concept of “strategy” is becoming more important than ever. This course is designed to introduce the concepts, frameworks and analytical tools to develop an effective global strategy for local companies
Topics covered:
- Development of the Turkish economy, financial and the private sector
- Analysis of the macroeconomic environment
- Assessing country competitiveness
- Company global expansion strategies (Why, which companies, which countries, which way, which strategy, when)
Instructional Design:
- Lectures
- Case analysis
- Company visits
- Simulation game: Unilever in Your Class
- Group presentations
Course Schedule:
October 19th: Introduction, development of the Turkish economy, financial and the private sector, analysis of the macroeconomic environment, prosperity and competitiveness of countries
October 20th: Globalization of companies - reasons behind global expansion, industry and company drivers for globalization, evaluation of distance between countries, discussion of Case 1 / company visit
October 21st: Global expansion strategies, timing of global expansion, discussion of Case 2 / company visit
October 22nd: Simulation game – Introduction, first and second rounds
October 23rd: Simulation game – Final round and presentations to Unilever executives at the company
Cases
Both cases and preparatory questions will be supplied at the beginning of October.
Simulation Game: Unilever in Your Class
The simulation game is an on-line exercise designed exclusively and facilitated by Unilever Turkey for GNAM students. During the game, teams of students will compete against other teams for successfully expanding their companies globally whilst increasing their profit margins and reducing environmental impacts.
The purpose of the simulation is to help the students to understand and effectively apply the concepts and tools learned during the week.
The reading material will be delivered in advance and students will be asked to bring in their own lap-tops in order to proceed with the simulation during class time. The team will make decisions related to target countries, market segments within those countries, product specifications, etc. The challenge is to craft and execute an effective global expansion strategy that results in high market share, good financial performance and low environmental impacts.
There will be 3 rounds and students will be asked to make presentations at the end of each round in order to rationalize their decisions. At the end of the 3rd round, the team with the best results will be the winner of the simulation.
Grading Policy:
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Student activity
|
Evaluation criteria
|
Score |
|
Class attendance |
Including timeliness. No entry to classroom after beginning of session (later arrivals will have to wait until break to enter the room) The grade will be reduced in case of not attending classroom lectures and company visits unless a formal doctor report is provided |
20 |
|
Participation in case discussions (qualitative) |
Cases will be discussed in class and each student will be evaluated according to his/her contribution to the class’ knowledge, command of English, communication skills, attitude/behaviour/conduct, ethical awareness |
30 |
|
Simulation game: Unilever in your Class |
During the simulation game prepared and facilitated by Unilever Turkey, teams of students will compete against other teams for successfully growing their companies globally |
35 |
|
Peer evaluation |
Every student’s participation in the simulation game will be evaluated by the other group members |
15 |
|
Total |
|
100 |