Required text

• There is no prescribed textbook for the unit, relevant readings and links to various learning resources will be uploaded to iLearn to help students develop their projects.

• Throughout this course students are expected to relate the topics/issues/projects presented in Seminar and Conference series (i.e. lectures) to previous units' material (theories, models, concepts, readings etc.) for developing problem-solving skills.

• Students need to creatively apply what they have learned in previous units into the development of projects as prescribed by client partners.

• It is expected that students will be able to conduct independent and collaborative research to address the issues/challenges as presented by guest speakers from participating companies.

Unit web page

The web page for this unit can be found at: https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/login/

Technology Used and Required

Students are required to have access to a personal computer and familiarise themselves with iLearn (https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/login/).

iLearn will be used to post lecture slides, assessment details, student grades and as a means of communication between staff members and students.

Delivery Format and Other Details

• This unit includes an individual project and a group-based project as part of the PACE program. It requires students to integrate the materials covered in previous years' International Business units and apply them to international business problems as presented by the Client Partners. Its objectives are to investigate what kind of factors influence the international business strategies within an organisation to work towards achieving a competitive advantage.

• The classes are conducted through a series of seminars (i.e. lectures) by industry speakers, mentoring and reflection workshops (i.e. tutorials) where students discuss and reflect upon what they have learned in the industry seminars, and mini-conferences where students showcase and present their projects around the Client Partners’ specified international business problem/s. Throughout the unit, the emphasis is on the analytical process: identifying information needs, acquiring the necessary information, interpreting it and using it as the basis for developing business recommendations or solutions for the Client Partners.

• Number and length of classes: 1 x 2 hour Seminar and Conference series and 1 x 1 hour Mentoring and Reflection series - tutorial, i.e. 3 hours face to face per week unless indicated otherwise in the lecture schedule. Classes may vary due to public holiday(s)

• In Seminar series, speakers from participating companies will deliver their talks and/or prescribe a set of real world business issues, problems and challenges for students to develop their group and individual research projects.

• In Conference series, selected students (individual and/or group) will showcase their projects through inlecture presentations (individual and/or group). Invited speakers will listen to students presentations and offer feedback and suggestions. These showcase presentations will allow client partners from diverse business sectors to converse with and engage specific students, and to potentially recruit them for either volunteer roles, mentoring programs, or formal employment. Students will benefit from building their collaborative relationships with client companies to gain further professional mentoring and to enhance their employmentseeking efforts.

• Mentoring and Reflection series (i.e. tutorials) is where students reflect on what they have learned in the Seminar and Conference series by linking guest speakers' talks with knowledge and skills learned in previous units

• Tutorials will commence in Week 2

• The timetable for classes can be found on the University web site at: http://www.timetables.mq.edu.au/

Recommended readings

Recommended readings are provided via the links on the iLearn Unit page

Week

Lecture Topic & Readings

Tutorial Topic

Week 1

Dr Meena Chavan

No Tutorials

Week 2

 Industry Speaker

Week 2 Reflection workshop:

Group and presentation allocation What did you learn from the industry speaker?

Additional online material:

How the US-China trade war has starved some Silicon Valley start-ups

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/31/chinese-venture-capitalists-draw-back-silicon-valley-investments.html\

Week 3

Industry Speaker

Week 3 Reflection workshop:

What did you learn from the industry speaker?

Additional online material: A tale of two toymakers: Mattel soars, Hasbro sinks, but there's more to the story

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/08/a-tale-of-two-toy-makers-mattel-soars-hasbro-sinks.html

Week 4

Industry Speaker

Week 4 Reflection workshop:

What did you learn from the industry speaker?

Additional online material: How have Chinese firms evolved? Your grandfather's Buick is hot in China, but maybe not for long

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/07/why-china-is-so-important-to-buicks-survival.html

Week 5

 Industry Speaker

Week 5 Reflection workshop:

What did you learn from the industry speaker?

Additional online material: What are your thoughts on the dynamic auto industry changes towards sustainability?

GM is going 'all-electric,' but it doesn't expect to make money off battery-powered cars until early next decade

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/06/gm-doesnt-expect-to-make-money-off-electric-cars-until-ne xt-decade.html?recirc=taboolainternal

Week 6

Industry Speaker

Week 6 Reflection workshop:

What did you learn from the industry speaker?

How to prepare for group project presentations?

Week 7

Industry speaker

Week 7: Group  Presentations

Week 8 & 9

 Mid Semester Break

Week 10

 Industry Speaker

Week 10 Group  Presentations

Week 11

 Industry Speaker

Week 11 Group  Presentations

Week 12

Student Showcase Presentations

Week 12 Group  Presentations

Week 13

Student Showcase Presentations

Week 13 Group  Presentations