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Program Structure
The Queen’s Master of International Business single degree option enables you to earn a world-class degree in 12 months.
Stage 1 (September - December)
Queen’s School of Business
The first stage is held at Queen’s. You will select from a variety of courses covering many international business topics. Working with an experienced advisor, you will create a study program that is customized to your background and career aspirations.
Stage 2 (January - June)
International Exchange Partner University
This stage takes place on the campus of one of our international business school partners. Carefully selected, these schools are known both nationally and internationally as centres of excellence in business education. (See the list of exchange partners below.) All classes at these schools are conducted in English. During this stage, your study program includes a selection of courses on relevant topics, including language study as appropriate.
Stage 3 (July - August)
Location of Choice
During this stage, you will complete your team research project and present it to your peers, faculty, and industry experts. This can be done in person at Queen’s, or remotely from another location.
Team-Based Research Project
A major team-based project spans all three stages. In Stage 1, students are placed in project teams and together develop their project proposal in conjunction with a faculty advisor. During Stage 2, teams gather data for their projects while on exchange as the project will be tied to their host location. Projects are completed and presented in Stage 3.
| STAGE | LOCATION | CONTENT | TEAM RESEARCH PROJECT |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Stage 1 Sept. - December |
Queen's School of Business | Core Courses:
|
Development and preparation of proposal |
|
Stage 2 January - June |
International Partner School | Equivalent of four courses from a partner institution | Data collection and analysis |
|
Stage 3 July - August |
Location of Choice | |
During this stage, students will complete their team research project and present it to their peers, faculty, and industry experts. This can be done in person at Queen's, or remotely from another location. |
-Curriculum Subject to Change
Course Descriptions
0.5 credit = 36 contact hours
MGBL: 801 Business in the Global Economy
The purpose of this course is to provide students with an advanced understanding of the institutions of the global economy and how those institutions impact the competitive fortunes of companies. More specifically, the course will expose students to advanced topics in political risk analysis, domestic political analysis, international institutions, and economic development. In addition, students will be expected to be able to integrate this knowledge into the competitive positioning of an individual firm. Pedagogically, the course will demand considerable background reading and will focus on acquiring key tools, concepts, and methodologies. Moreover, students will be expected to create a comprehensive initial political and economic size up of the countries and/or industries that they will study in their time abroad. The course is intended to be foundational for the program and is required for all students.
0.5 credit; required course
Hear about this course from Professor David Detomasi. (1:50)
MGBL: 804 Global Strategy
Most influential companies are global. Few companies who aspire to superior profitability are able to do so within the bounds of a single country market. For an increasing number of businesses, competing internationally is no longer an option. Moreover, the actions of non-North American multinationals means that competitive activity must have a strong defensive element as well.
Success in international markets is not a matter of luck, but of skill and persistence. Developing proficiency in international strategy translates into competitive advantage, defined as superior long run return on invested capital. Building competence in this area means understanding, at a sophisticated level, how companies succeed in the most demanding competitive arenas, which are usually found beyond their borders.
This course focuses on management issues associated with the growth and operation of a multinational enterprise (MNE). It covers market entry, subsidiary and head office perspectives on management, alliances, and the competitive advantage of the MNE relative to the single-country firm. Students will be expected to integrate ideas from other courses with the core theory of this one when conducting an analysis of the global strategy of a MNE
The approach we will take in this course is practical and problem-oriented. It is intended to enable you to acquire proficiency at strategy formulation and implementation in an international context. The course will do this by developing and applying concepts, analytical frameworks, and intuition to the strategic issues that face real-world multinational corporations, regardless of their industry.
0.5 credit; required course
Hear about this course from Associate Professor Douglas Reid. (3:13)
MGBL: 828 Finance for Global Managers
This course focuses on the financial issues that managers confront in an international setting and develops a framework for evaluating the many opportunities, costs, and risks associated with multinational operations. The course employs cases extensively to provide students with a detailed and analytic look at investment and financial decisions undertaken by multinational firms. Topics covered include the behavior and determination of exchange rates; relationships among inflation, interest rates and exchange rates; foreign exchange and derivatives markets; management of international investment portfolios; corporate exchange exposure; hedging exchange risk; and cross-border valuation.
0.5 credit; elective course
MGBL: 831 Products for Global Markets
Historically, product designers have designed products for people just like themselves. Today, several factors place this approach at a competitive disadvantage. This course examines how successful global product design is increasingly influenced by demographics, legislative trends, and anticipatory design. The present course illustrates how design, manufacturing, and marketing challenges can be addressed to foster the creation of successful products and services for global markets. A product’s chance of success will be greater if it addresses a set of needs and wants that cuts across national boundaries. As trading and political boundaries fall (e.g., NAFTA, EU), such an approach shifts some of the task of “anticipatory marketing” from the sales and marketing groups and assigns it to the product design team. This course exams key developments in legislation and demographic trends that are having a profound impact on product design requirements worldwide. Examples include legislation that prohibits discrimination on the basis of a disability, and the increasing spending power of the senior demographic segment. In today’s design world, Universal Design provides a basis for the specification of products that are accessible to – in principle – all users in all situations. This course identifies global trends relevant to product design, illustrates how approaches of universal design makes good business sense given the changes occurring in political, legislative, and demographic arenas.
0.5 credit; elective course
MGBL: 833 International Marketing Strategy
All major companies deal with global markets either directly (sales) or indirectly (suppliers). The purpose of this course will be to expose students to the different sociocultural, economic, and geopolitical environments in which global marketing strategies and programs are formulated and implemented. It will also help them develop management skills and perspectives that are crucial for planning and expanding activities in global markets.
Students will evaluate the cumulative impact of changes in these environments on marketing opportunities and threats. As well, the course will help students to develop relevant management skills, sensitivities and perspectives that are crucial for planning and expanding activities in global markets.
The primary focus throughout the course will be that of the marketing manager and her or his role in directing or launching global marketing activities. In preparing the required individual assignment and team project for this course, students will take the perspective of the marketing manager and assume her or his role in directing or launching global marketing activities
0.5 credit; elective course
MGBL 841: International Operations Management
This course considers the operations management challenges of organizations with some aspect of global reach in their value chain. While the course is structured around core operations management principles, students will gain an international perspective with respect to supply chain management; project management; quality management; and, service and manufacturing operations. Particular attention will be paid to aspects of culture, language, time and dateline management, and relationship management with suppliers, customers, employees and governing bodies.
Specific topics include:
- Global Project Management
- International Supply Chain Management
- Implementing a global operating system (e.g. TPS or Lean)
- Quality Management across borders;
0.5 credit; elective course
MGBL: 851 Leadership Across Cultures
Ultimately, international business is conducted with and through people from various cultures. Self-awareness and understanding one's approach to decision making and problem solving is a crucial step in developing the skills needed to work successfully in different cultural settings and/or with people from different cultural backgrounds. Cultural differences, if not understood, can be significant barriers to both personal effectiveness and the implementation and success of a business venture.
This course is concerned with implementation issues. A basic premise of the course is that it is possible and desirable to develop both the intellectual understanding and behavioral skills necessary to address the management problems arising from the interaction of people from different cultures in work settings. A further assumption is that the understanding and skills developed can be generalized and transferred from one situation to another.
The course is intended to develop, to the extent possible, an appreciation of what it is like to work with people from other cultures and to work in other countries. The sessions are intended both to develop an appreciation of issues that may arise, and to contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills needed to lead and work effectively when interacting with people from other cultures or living in other cultural environments. The course is divided into three major sections: culture as a concept and management issue; establishing relationships, operating and leading in other cultures and competing with integrity.
Hear about this course from Associate Professor Nalin Bu. (1:53)
MGBL: 873 Key Topics in International Business
This course is a series of intensive ½ day and full day sessions, each focusing on leading edge topics that span and integrate issues across functional areas. The course may include sessions such as:
Sustainability increasingly drives management decisions and for good reason. Any organization, whether for-profit or not-for-profit, cannot hope to survive on a global basis unless management establishes a sustainable equilibrium so that all inputs and outputs remain within the carrying capacity of earth. In these sessions, our focus will be on three main questions:
- Why is authentic sustainability a controversial issue in management?
- what are some tools for measuring and increasing sustainability?
- what actions seem prudent in an increasingly unsustainable world?
The emphasis will be on developing tools and techniques for real-world problem solving in an atmosphere open to the discussion of unconventional and controversial subjects.
Managing in a Turbulent Social Environment: Global Corporate Responsibility
A number of international initiatives (such as the Global Reporting Initiative, the UN Global Compact, etc) together with empowered NGOs and other societal players present heightened concerns to global corporations about such issues as environmental sustainability, labour and human rights, and the ethical practices of companies. This one-day session on Global Corporate Responsibility provides students with the opportunity to apply the concepts they are learning throughout the Master of Global Management program in the context of some of the social dilemmas that companies actually face.
Governance and Management Control in the Global Organization: A Strategic Perspective
One of the most crucial aspects of global organizations relates to their governance and management control systems and processes. This session will consist of a combination of case studies of global corporations and several conceptual frameworks valuable for analyzing, diagnosing and prescribing for the governance and control systems described in the cases. The ethical issues involved in these systems will also be part of the discussion.
0.5 credit; required course
MGBL: 881 International Legal Environment of Business
This course will provide students with an understanding of the complex legal environment within which global companies operate. The knowledge gained from this course will assist managers in identifying areas of legal risk and obtaining advice from legal professionals in order to ensure that legal risks can be minimized and/or understood prior to the implementation of operational strategies. The course will also look at legal issues that affect the successful execution of business strategies. In particular the course will address such areas as:
1) efficient legal structures for businesses which operate in the international arena; 2) government regulations and their affect on operations and strategy; 3) the impact of international trade agreements on business; and 4) protecting business assets; 5) international tax and immigration issues; 6) protection of intellectual property rights internationally; 7) international trade treaties and agreements;
Case studies will augment the lectures to ensure that students understand how important it is to be aware of and obey the laws of a jurisdiction within which one wishes to operate.
0.5 credit; elective course
MGBL: 885 International Negotiation
The course will focus on bargaining, negotiating and conflict resolution in a wide variety of settings and business relationships ranging from simple buyer-seller negotiations between virtual strangers to multi-party, multi-issue, and cross-cultural disputes among long-time business partners. We will begin with the basics, spending the first half of the course distinguishing distributive and integrative bargaining, analyzing the types of relationships that develop through these processes, identifying tactics associated with each, building distributive and integrative bargaining skills, and measuring and assessing the “goodness” of negotiation outcomes and processes. After covering the fundamentals, we will step firmly into the global environment, examining issues of the micro- and macro-environment ranging from values, communication and culture to government, regulation, and stakeholder groups. A central element of the course is the development of international negotiating awareness and skills through face-to-face negotiating exercises.
0.5 credit; elective course