Even when today we can talk about a globalized world, it is important to understand that the local, national or regional nature of business is still one of the most important components when strategic decision making takes place. There are many cases of multinational companies which have been very successful locally or regionally and when they try to export their business model abroad the results can be mixed. The markets have such a wide diversity in terms of infrastructure, culture, purchasing power, legal framework, geography, market composition, weather, consumer behavior, amongst others. One can find evidence from many companies that after they went global had to change and adapt their businesses or even further in some cases to rethink it, not only in terms of adapting their products, but also their logistics for delivery, governance and organizational structure, to mention some.  At the end, it is important to understand that the global business environment is influenced by its own environment in a local, regional or national context and how is it that global companies have to adapt internally and externally.

The course will be composed of classes, discussion forums, interviews and a team final project. During the course we will be combining the analysis from three main angles: business context (economic figures of the country or region, business framework, consumer behavior, etc.), business model and business expansion strategy: evidence (case discussion and evidence of the strategy used and its implications when a group of companies from different countries and sectors went global). All of these supported as indicated above with guest speakers who did participate in the expansion of their companies and who will share their experience with the class.

At the end of the course as a final project the students in groups, will have to analyze the best strategy for a local company that may want to become global.

GNAM Students: Check with your MBA Program Director about how to apply.

Course Date & Time

Dates: March 28 – May 9 (March 28, 31; April 4, 6*, 18, 21, 25, 28; May 2, 5 and 9)  *The April 6 class is on a Thursday.
Class meeting days: most Tuesdays and Fridays, and one Thursday (April 6)
Class meeting times: (please pay attention to time zones and time changes in your region)
Central Mexican time – 7:00 – 8:30 a.m.
Eastern Standard Time/ New York time – March 28 & 31, 8:00 – 9:30 a.m., April 4 – May 9, 9:00 – 10:30 a.m. EST