Bachelor 2020/2021

Managing Global Operations 

Type: Elective course (Business Administration)

Area of studies: Management

Delivered by: Department of Strategic and International Management

Where: Graduate School of Business

When: 4 year, 3 module

Mode of studies: offline

Instructors: Mikhail Akim, Anna Veselova

Language: English

ECTS credits: 3

Contact hours: 30

Course Syllabus

Abstract

There are many reasons why companies go global in their operations: growth (finding new, available markets for the company existing products and businesses), efficiency (looking for economies of scale or economies of scope, using lower cost resources, utilizing most modern manufacturing facilities), knowledge (getting skilled labor and talent in other countries, acquiring technologies), competition (grasping first mover advantage in the new markets), etc. The trend towards globalization usually occurs at selected stages of the value chain. Either the company decides to enter a new market in a different country and start by opening a representative office, sales, service branch, project office or a distribution center, or it decides to procure its products and services internationally and sets up a purchasing unit in closer to the new suppliers, or decides to outsource part of the production and services. But if the company is successful in its growth strategy it will likely end up having to strategize on managing operations in a global context. The course will leverage on the fact that it is emerging economy of China, as an example, that influence new global operations structure. We will explore global operations issues both for Western companies operating in China and for Chinese companies going to Europe or America. You will have the opportunity to learn, based on practical cases, about companies based in those areas. Special focus of the course is dedicated to opportunities, limitations and challenges of linear value and supply chain systems and development of business process and models on transformation toward circular supply chains and regenerative resource management as a basis for sustainability in business.

Learning Objectives

• Understand the key concepts and issues of managing operations in a global context, both for manufacturing and service companies. Explore the globalization strategies of different companies based on relevant cases; learn about decisions of their leaders and outcomes after applying some of these strategies. Study about emerging trends and challenges.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• The students will understand the changing trends of globalization and de-globalization of operations in companies around the world, having a working knowledge of how to analyze a decision to move globally or stay local, the rate of change, the need to re-localize some operations, etc.
• The students will be familiar with and able to contribute to the management of operating facilities in different cultural environments; to lead the change in integrating operations into global environment
• The students will understand the environmental, decarbonization, circularity trends and challenges and its impact on the global supply chain

Course Contents

• Global supply chains
  Case: KEL725 Polaris Industries Inc. Farrell, D., Smarter Offshoring, HBR 2006 Malik, Y., Niemeyer, A. and Ruwadi B., Building the supply chain of the future, McKinsey Quarterly, Jan. 2011 WEF_Redesigning_Trust_Blockchain_Deployment Toolkit.pdf 2020 (optional)
• Supply chain risks and trends
  Case: KEL673 Nokia's Supply Chain Management Huang, M. H., Eliminate the middleman?, HBR, March 2006 Simchi-Levi, D., Schmidt, W. and Wei, Y., From Superstorms to Factory Fires. HBR 2014 Cole, R., What Really Happened to Toyota? MIT Sloan Management Review. 2011 Vol. 52 No.
• Factory networks
  Ferdows, K., Shaping Global Operations. GCG. 2009 Vol. 3 No. 1 De Meyer, A., Vereecke, A., How to optimize knowledge sharing in a factory network. McKinsey & Company. 2009
• China business trends
  InterChina Inside: Bigger is no Longer Better Woetzel, J., Five myths about the Chinese economy, McKinsey Quarterly, Nov. 2015 Towson, J. & Woetzel, J., All you need to know about business in China, McKinsey 2014 From China to the world PN-498-E Sourcing from China - Insights from a manufacturer World class manufacturing in China Locke, R. & Romis, M., Improving work conditions in a global supply chain, MIT Sloan, Winter 2007 Globalization of Chinese companies Tsai, H., Eisingerich, A., Internationalization Strategies of Emerging Markets Firms. California Management Review. 2010 Vol. 53 No. 1
• Global dynamics and key trends
  Deloitte COVID-19 Managing supply chain risk and disruption 2020 KPMG Building supply chain resilience through digital transformation 2020 Maritime logistics: connecting the world IIR072 Ribera & Castillo, Untangling the knots in the New Silk Route, Expert Insight IESE
• Globalization of the Russian companies – trends and challenges
  Globalization of a European company: the case of Roca Brennan, L.et al., Manufacturing in the world. Where next?, IJOPM, 2015 AEB 2020 How to invest in Russia
• Development of business process and models on transformation toward circular supply chain
  Wolfgang Lehmacher, The global supply chain how technology and circular thinking transform our future. Springer IP 2017, Ch. 4, 5

Assessment Elements

• Group assignment 1
• Group assignment 2
  LUNA GAME
• Individual quizzes
• Exam
  The exam on the course “Managing Global Operation” is an ope-book exam which means that you may use available course materials while preparing anwers to the questions. You have five open questions each of which can be evaluated max 10 points. While answering the questions, please, make emphasis on the clear and coherent arguments for your position. Most of the questions do not have right or wrong answers, so you will be evaluated on the quality and power of the argumentation.

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (3 module)
  0.5 * Exam + 0.2 * Group assignment 1 + 0.1 * Group assignment 2 + 0.2 * Individual quizzes

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• DE MEYER, A., & VEREECKE, A. (2009). How to optimize knowledge sharing in a factory network.
• Farrell, D. (2006). Smarter Offshoring. Harvard Business Review, 84(6), 84–92.
• Huei-Ting Tsai, & Eisingerich, A. B. (2010). Internationalization Strategies of Emerging Markets Firms. California Management Review, 53(1), 114–135. https://doi.org/10.1525/cmr.2010.53.1.114
• Malik, Y., Niemeyer, A., & Ruwadi, B. (2011). Building the supply chain of the future. McKinsey Quarterly, 1, 62–71.
• Ming-Hui Huang. (2006). Eliminate the Middleman? Harvard Business Review, 84(3), 33–37.
• SIMCHI-LEVI, D., SCHMIDT, W., & YEHUA WEI. (2014). From Superstorms to Factory Fires. Harvard Business Review, 92(1/2), 96–101.
• Woetzel, J. (2015). Five myths about the Chinese economy. McKinsey Quarterly, 4, 60–65.

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Wolfgang Lehmacher. (2017). The Global Supply Chain : How Technology and Circular Thinking Transform Our Future. Springer.