ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN FOR INTERNATIONAL COMPANIES

This course is meant to develop an in-depth analysis of organization design in international companies and it will stimulate a critical discussion among students.
In particular, the course aims to:
- allow students to develop a complete understanding of the challenges that managers face in designing a company's organization in an international competitive environment;
- encourage students to develop critical thinking to discussing about organizational design issues and potential solutions in a global environment.

The aim of the course is to introduce students to key questions and approaches in designing international organizations.
The course offers to students researches, knowledge, cases and theoretical models to understand the organization of a company in an international environment and the decisions that a manager need to take in the internationalization process.

Basic knowledge about the strategy and organization design

The course is divided into three sections.
The first discusses the motivations for internationalization and internationalization processes, also examining those aspects related to globalization. We will consider how a company can exploit its base and the globalization to improve its performance.
The second section will consider the main decisions in organization design in the process of internationalization: entry modes, subsidiaries, and how an organization addresses the challenges of global integration and local adaptation.
The third section focuses on the different types of organization that an international company could adopt.

Books and Chapters:
Daft R, 2008, Organization Theory and design, South Western (Chapter 1-Introduction to organization)

Cullen J.B., Parboteeah K.P., 2009, International Business Strategy and the Multinational Company, Routledge (Chapter 1 - Competing in the Global Marketplace; Chapter 2 - Strategy and the MNC; Chapter 9 - Entry Strategies for MNCs; Chapter 13 - Organizational Structures for MNCs)

Lassere P., 2003, Global Strategic Management, Palgrave MacMillan (Part I Globalisation of markets and competition; Designing a global strategy; Designing a global organization; Part II - Cross Cultural Management)

Birkinshaw J., Ghoshal S., Markides C., Stopford J., Yip G., 2003, The Future of the multinational Company, John Wiley & Sons Ltd (Chapter 3 - Sölvell Ö, The Multi-home-based Multinational: Combining Global Competitiveness and Local Innovativeness)

Exercises during classes and oral exam

The course material will consist on case studies, academic articles and book chapters that will be available by a dropbox directory. For each section further useful readings will be suggested.

English

oral