Problem-Based Teaching in International Management: A Political/Economic Risk Assessment Exercise

This article draws from the current literature to examine problem-based learning (PBL) as a management education tool, and provides an example of how to incorporate PBL into an undergraduate international management course. Also included are an explanation of, and specific guidelines for, a PBL exercise focused on the analysis of “country risk” (political/economic risks) for potential foreign direct investment. Additionally, the benefits and unique challenges of successfully implementing this type of exercise are discussed.     

The Problem of Constructive Misalignment in International Business Education: A Three-Stage Integrated Approach to Enhancing Teaching and Learning

Past evidence suggests that constructive misalignment is particularly problematic in International Business (IB) education, though this paradigm has received limited research attention. Building on the literature of three independent teaching methods (threshold concept, problem-based learning, and technology-based learning), this study contributes to the IB education literature by integrating the three existing methods in a co-complementary and co-supporting manner, and carefully implementing them across three subsequent stages spanning across the length of the IB course. Empirical evidence on student satisfaction and assessment performance shows its usefulness in reducing the negative effects of constructive misalignment among the sampled students. The approach provides practitioners with refreshed insights into how the three independent methods can be integrated to create greater value for learners.     

A Challenge-Feedback Learning Approach to Teaching International Business

This article introduces a challenge-feedback learning (CFL) approach based on the goal-setting theory of human motivation, the deliberate practice theory of expert performance, and findings from the research on active and collaborative learning. The core of the teaching concept is the CFL cycle in which students repeatedly progress through four steps (Challenge–Act–Feedback–Reflect). Upon completion of one cycle, a new, more complex challenge is introduced in which students have the chance to go beyond their current skills level. The article also presents an example for an implementation of the CFL approach in an international business (IB) curriculum. The CFL approach is particularly useful for acquiring the problem-solving, adaptation, communication, metacognition, and intercultural teamwork skills needed in IB practice.     

Using Cross-Cultural Dimensions Exercises to Improve and Measure Learning Outcomes in International Business Courses

This article proposes an approach for using cross-cultural dimensions exercises to improve and measure learning outcomes in international business courses. The following key issues are highlighted: (a) what are the targeted learning outcomes to be assessed, (b) how to measure the accomplishment of these learning outcomes, (c) the input measures needed to determine what the students had learned, and (d) the measurement process. Also, this article offers educators strategies for merging assurance of learning approaches into business courses that are integrative in nature, and an example on how to use cross-cultural dimensions exercises as a pedagogical tool for enhancing and measuring learning.     

Closing the Learning Loop: A Review of Assignments in International Business Education

The continuing rapid globalization has significantly changed the nature of business and management, leading to increased pressure from a wide range of stakeholders to globalize business schools and to internationalize business curricula. This comes with a corresponding imperative to rigorously evaluate the impact of an international business education at institutional, program, and course levels. This study focuses on the types of assignments employed and approaches to assignment design in international business courses. A total of 92 studies in the scholarly literature on international business and international management are reviewed from 1970 to 2014. The study finds significant opportunities to expand and enrich research on assignment design, so as to better equip international business educators to validly and reliably measure learning outcomes.     

Project-Based Learning in International Financial Management

ABSTRACT

This exploratory study measures the effectiveness of the signature project-based learning model to assess the enhancement of student engagement. The goal of the signature project is to prepare students to apply critical thinking and collaborative skills; making connections between global financial issues and textbook concepts in application to a significant project completed across the semester. Undergraduate International Finance students were used to describe the impact of the signature project through actions, feelings, and thought. This study provides an initial validation of the signature project in finance, especially, replacing the research written report with a documentary film. Overall, the analysis indicated that three distinct factors were underlying students’ responses to the expected learning outcomes and that these factors were internally consistent.     

Exploring the Differences of Undergraduate Students' Perceptual Learning Styles in International Business Study

More than 45,000 international students are now studying for bachelor programs in The Netherlands. The number of Asian students increased dramatically in the past decade. The current research aims at examining the differences between Western European and Asian students' perceptual learning styles, and exploring the relationships between students' learning styles and their academic achievements in international business (IB) study. One hundred and seventy-two students from a Dutch university participated in the survey research. Western European students significantly outperformed Asian students in academic performances. Significant differences in learning styles were also found between Western Europeans and Asian students in English, second language, business subjects, and group project learning. Besides, in comparison with Asian students, Western European students preferred to learn from hearing words, taking notes of lectures, and getting involved in some classroom experiences such as role-playing. They may benefit more from lecture-based subjects than Asian students. Based on the findings, practical recommendations are offered for instructors in international higher education.     

Teaching International Business Across Multiple Modes of Delivery: How to Maintain Equivalence in Learning Outcomes

The drivers of globalization are changing how, where, and when international business (IB) is being taught, and increasing student diversity. Concomitantly, education is becoming an important contributor to GDP in developed economies. Today, the same course may be taught at home to domestic and in-bound international students, in host countries, online, and through blended learning techniques. The increasing variety of modes of delivery raises an important question, however—how to deliver the same material in different contexts and achieve the same learning outcomes. This article examines the changing face of IB education and presents a case study on how this question has been answered at one Australian university.     

Higher Education Students' Attitudes Towards Experiential Learning in International Business

Using qualitative and quantitative analysis this paper presents a teaching model based on experiential learning in a large ‘International Business’ unit. Preliminary analysis of 92 student evaluations determined the effectiveness of experiential learning to allow students to explore the association between theory and practice. The analysis of the student responses identify that the students were able to complete all four stages of Kolb's Learning Styles Inventory (KLSI), the components of experience, critical reflection, abstract conceptualization, active experimentation, through the participation in experiential activities in this unit.The cognitive and affective experiences of students learning were measured using a battery of 15 Likert scale items. The scores for all the 15 items were found to be significantly above the scale midpoint of 3 validating a positive learning experience. The respondents were strongly of the opinion that the experiential learning activities helped them learn (Cognitive) and they liked participating in the activity (Affective). The attitudinal scores of Asian students were compared to the other students and a significant difference was found in only one of the 15 attitudinal items of the likert scale administered to the students. The Asian students found experiential activities material too complex as opposed to the other students.     

创建学习型团队:我国NGO人力资源管理新思路

学习型团队是学习型组织理论运用到NGO人力资源管理中的一种开拓性模式,它具有学习性、融合性和现代性三个特征。我国NGO引入学习型团队具有多方面的契合性,国外NGO实施学习型团队积累了许多优秀的做法。在我国NGO人力资源管理中创建学习型团队主要有五条基本进路:加强学习型文化建设,改善管理主体的心智模式;建立激励学习的机制,缔造组织员工的共同愿景;建立志愿活动流程,实现志愿者的系统化管理;建立团队的学习评估机制,实现员工的职业生涯规划;建立自主管理机制,加强团队人力资源开发。     

Digital Technology in Teaching International Business

Abstract

As we enter the brave new world of interactive digital technology, teachers of International Business are being confronted with the problems and opportunities associated with integrating the new medium with a subject area that is inherently geographically dispersed. This analysis extends the traditional marketing tradeoffs between richness (depth of knowledge) and reach (geographic area coverage) to the emerging technology-mediated education industry, and then specifically evaluates their effect on the teaching of International Business. We believe that interactive learning, particularly as it applies to team building and problem solving in a multicultural environment, will prove valuable as the next generation of business leaders begins to emerge from academic institutions.     

基于学习型组织的人力资源管理探析

经济环境的变化要求组织的人力资源管理要突破原有的思维模式和运作方式,不断进行管理创新,学习型组织为人力资源的创新性管理提供了一条新的思路。从人力资源的获取与开发、激励和评价三个方面,论述学习型组织对人力资源管理的几个重要问题。     

Scholarship of Teaching International Business: Challenges and Opportunities

International business (IB) is an important topic for business schools as business is global, but much business school teaching of IB still seems inadequate. IB education can be challenging but also presents many opportunities. We need to build our knowledge base of effective IB teaching methods and procedures. Such knowledge can not only be used to improve the teaching of IB, but it can also improve data-driven resource allocation for teaching IB. Clearly, the Journal of Teaching International Business has an important role to play in these processes.     

Lessons from the Sea: A Case Study of an Experiential MBA International Management Course

This article describes the design and implementation of a unique course developed to deeply engage MBA students in the complexities of the field of international management. This experiential course was designed around an integrative project based on the cruise industry. The professor worked with the leadership team of a major cruise line to develop an in‐depth case study around which the course was built. Students consulted to the executives of the cruise line, conducted a comprehensive study and analysis of the strategy and human resource challenges of the organization, and prepared presentations of their evaluations and recommendations for the executive team.     

Integrating Knowledge and Developing Critical Thinking in a Capstone International Business Course: A Never-Ending Work in Progress

More and more is heard from scholars, accrediting institutions, and the business world about the importance of developing critical thinking and written communication skills in college graduates. This is perhaps especially true, in a business school, for international business graduates who lack a traditional functional major. Often, the development of these skills is thought best accomplished through courses that integrate knowledge, take a problem-based approach, and include a signature work for each student. In this article, we discuss one institution’s international business capstone course, illustrating how it adheres to these ideals. From the standpoint of informal assessment, we discuss how student results from the course are used to tweak feeder courses to the capstone. We also discuss the more formal assessment of the course learning objectives, which we are just beginning.     

Integrating Experiential Learning and Cases in International Business

In no other discipline is experiential learning more important than in the complex field of International Business (IB), which aims to prepare students to work and manage across political, economic, national, and sociocultural boundaries. This paper discusses various types of experiential learning activities and approaches to IB teaching, and expands on how the case method can be more effectively used to facilitate student learning and increase engagement. Leveraging class diversity and providing opportunities for “virtual exchanges” in the case-based approach can significantly enhance the development of intercultural competence. Resources for finding cases, developing one's own cases, and publishing them in peer-reviewed outlets are also provided.     

Goal Orientation,Deep Learning,and Sustainable Feedback in Higher Business Education

Relations between and changeability of goal orientation and learning behavior have been studied in several domains and contexts. To alter the adopted goal orientation into a mastery orientation and increase a concomitant deep learning in international business students, a sustainable feedback intervention study was carried out. Sustainable feedback implies acknowledgment of students’ need to be actively involved in their own feedback process. First, relations between and changeability of the concepts found in previous research were validated. Second, the effects of the sustainable feedback intervention were analyzed. Although sustainable feedback helped mastery-oriented learners maintain deep learning, it did not directly influence their goal orientations.     

The Domains of Undergraduate International Business and International Management Courses in Accredited Schools of Business

ABSTRACT

This study compared undergraduate international business and international management course syllabi from 190 management departments at accredited U.S. business schools. Comparisons revealed considerable overlap in topic areas in the two courses. The findings indicate the need for greater domain clarity and differentiation in objectives, topic areas covered, and textbooks used. Domain clarification could lead to more truthful representation of the two courses, better training and disciplinary grounding of course instructors, more appropriate hosting of the courses in business school departments, and enhanced skill-sets among students in these courses. Finally, clear domain definitions are necessary for reliability and validity in international business research.     

Teaching the Concept of Risk: Blended Learning Using a Custom-Built Prediction Market

There has been much research into the role of technology in promoting student engagement and learning activity in third-level education. This article documents an innovative application of technology in a large, undergraduate business class in risk management. The students' learning outcomes are reinforced by activity in a custom-designed prediction market. The content of lectures are closely aligned to the student objectives within the prediction market, thus allowing the application of risk management practice while building knowledge through traditional delivery methods.     

Virtual Teams and International Business Teaching and Learning: The Case of the Global Enterprise Experience (GEE)

The increasing importance of global virtual teams in business is reflected in the classroom by the increased adoption of activities that facilitate real-time cross-cultural interaction. This article documents the experience of students from two Colombian universities who participated in a collaborative international project using virtual teams as part of the international business (IB) curriculum. The data reveals that in spite of challenges associated with time zone differences, technology limitations, and trust issues, the vast majority of students perceived that the use of virtual teams as a teaching tool facilitates cultural understanding and IB-relevant learning. The findings of this research suggest that online experiential exercises can be an effective approach in teaching and in the development of virtual collaboration skills.