International Economics & Business(IE&B)

1. INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS & BUSINESS(IE&B)
2. A CHANGING WORLD
3. PROFILE OF THE PROGRAMME
4. DEGREE PROGRAMME
5. DEA (Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies - a Masters level degree)
6. WHAT JOBS ARE IN STORE FOR YOU?
7. BUSINESS SCHOOLS & COLLEGES AROUND THE WORLD

1. INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS & BUSINESS(IE&B): -

The world is becoming increasingly international. Many companies are no longer confined to the country where they were once incorporated and are looking for places where they can do business as efficiently as possible. What does this mean for you, as a future student of Economics? It means that the multinational companies of the new millennium are looking for employees who know how to operate in international business, who understand local cultures, and who are able to co-operate as part of an international team.The rapid increase in the internationalisation of national economies, the growth in importance and complexity of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and regional integration agreements, and the rush of applications to join the WTO and regional groupings have expanded substantially the demand for graduates specialising in international economics and closely related fields.

2. A CHANGING WORLD: -

During the 1990s the globalization rhetoric acquired staggering popularity. In the current times of Globalizing competition, political turbulence and information revolution, the world called Earth is transforming into a "global" village. After the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the communist opinio argues, the movement towards further globalization has accelerated at an unprecedented pace. In Europe, for example, the arrival of the single currency symbolizes an impressive move toward intra-European internationalization that essentially produces a single economy with 350 million inhabitants. The flagship of globalization is the multinational enterprise. The multinational enterprise is a footloose shareholder-value-maximizing machine that locates her activities in, and relocates her activities to, wherever profit is likely to be maximized. Both internationalizing economies and internationalizing firms are in need of people who are able to find their way in this New World without borders. Fair enough, planet Earth still has a long way to go before the downsides of clashing nationalities are banned to the archives of history, as the humiliating culture clashes in the African inland, Balkan mountain ridge and Indonesian archipelago painfully reveal. However, the Globalizing economy thunders past nation-states, producing multinational enterprises, integrating continents and interweaving financial markets.

A highly relevant manifestation of globalization, from the perspective of students at a teaching institution like the Faculty of Economics of the University of Groningen, is the changing labor market for management talent in the business world. The market for (management) talent clearly is in the midst of a substantial movement toward further globalization. Large multinational firms recruit (management) talent from all over the globe, and talented candidates are interested in challenging jobs outside their country of origin. In this context, an ambitious multinational firm - by competitive necessity - cannot restrict its recruitment activities to national labor markets. The reasons for this are at least three-fold. Firstly, the nature of international operation brings with it the necessity to exploit a set of international skills that are rarely - if ever - embodied in a single individual. Rather, if the firm's demand and supply activities originate from, are located in and extend to a broad range of different countries, then an internationally-composed team of experts is necessary for the successful handling of the many complex and subtle issues that are so inextricably bound up with multinational operation. Secondly, the scarcity in the market for (management) talent implies that a national recruitment campaign is unlikely to deliver what is needed. If too many fisher(wo)men fish in too small a pond, the result is that the haul of all fisher(wo)men falls short of the desired catch. Thirdly, cultural heterogeneity, and thus country-origin diversity, can well produce additional value through the combining of different yet complementary perspectives and talents. Team-level heterogeneity is known to be a hotbed of creativity in that it stimulates the exchange of ideas and information, provided that the team members are able to guarantee smooth intra-group operation.

Interestingly, putting in place a limited number of foreign recruits in a targeted set of managerial positions does not suffice in this modern era of globalization. Here, Christopher Bartlett and Sumantra Ghoshal's answer - in the 1998 Harvard Business Review - to their leading question "What is a global manager?" is particularly revealing. Both of these international business gurus argue that the traditional reply to this question is now out of date: rather than installing a single individual as the global manager, the build-up of a global management network is what is needed. Hence, the modern multinational firm faces the challenge to attract and develop a pool of management talent from which it can recruit the many candidates it needs to build up its global management network. This is anything but easy, however, as this requires success in what Elizabeth Chambers, Mark Foulon, Helen Handfield-Jones, Steven Hankin and Edward Michael’s III - in the McKinsey Quarterly of 1998 - refer to as "The war for talent". Specifically, this war is induced by a two-fold trend in western economies: as a result of global rivalry in many industries, the demand for (global) management talent is increasing, whereas the supply of this very talent is decreasing due to the average aging of the population.

In this context, the unstoppable growth in the headhunting market of the 1990s is writing on the wall. In his article in The Guardian (Tuesday June 22 1999: G2 2-3), "Invasion of the headhunters: The new seekers", Richard Ask with describes this boom industry of the 1990s. In the 1995-1999 period, the turnover of the European headhunting industry has doubled to $10bn. The number of pdfcutive searches in British industry in 1998 is 13 per cent above the level in 1997. Clearly, "The competition for talent is crazy because people are less loyal now. There are so many jobs to be filled." Hence, employers have to offer strong incentives to attract and retain the crucial talent they that is required for survival in a changing and increasingly globally operating market place. Clearly, this management talent must be able to operate successfully in an international environment, both inside and outside the multinational firm. It is here, in their role as "producers" of high-quality graduates, that universities may well have much to offer. And it is here that the International Economics and Business programme, by its "truly" international flavor, offers added value.

The above example of the global market for international management talent is just an illustration of a much wider phenomenon. What holds true for the market for management talent in multinational firms, holds mutatis mutants for many other segments of the labour market as well. Without any doubt, many firms outside the elite group of multinational enterprises are in need of international talent as well. For example, many small and medium-sized firms are involved in export and import activities. Moreover, the globalization of the labour market has not only hit the private economy. Increasingly, the demand for talent by international organizations, be they intergovernmental (for example, the European Central Bank, the European Commission, IMF, OECD, the United Nations and the World Bank) or representative of particular constituencies (such as lobby organizations of employers, consumers, workers or regions), is comparable to that of multinational firms. Considerable analytical skill, an excellent command of English and if possible, other languages, and more generally, the ability to work in an international environment are in high demand. With only a few exceptions, most international organizations have abolished national quota for hiring staff, and instead pick the best people they can get. The best proof of the international competition for talent can be found in the numerous examples of people moving from private to governmental institutions and vice versa. In fact, many international organizations maintain a policy of hiring personnel from outside the regular governmental circles.

Presently, intergovernmental organizations pay increasing attention to recruiting and spotting talent in time. For example, the European Union has a large budget for international student exchange programmes (such as Socrates), including Ph.D. students and post-docs (such as Madame Curie), funding programmes for summer schools and workshops etc. Many international organizations have trainee programmes (for instance, "Young Professional" schemes) for excellent people. National governments also increasingly face the effects of increasing internationalization. For instance, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transport and even the Ministries of the Interior or Justice spend vast resources on implementing European policies and legislation, participating in negotiations within, e.g., the World Trade Organization (WTO) and World Climate Conferences. A clear indication is the increasing number of policy documents of national ministries written in English, and a greater interest in policy comparisons between countries. This is no less true for such organizations as a country's employers associations and labour unions.

From an educational perspective, all this offers promising opportunities. Clearly, the demand for "international" graduates is high, and is likely to increase rapidly for many years to come. In many respects, of course, "international" graduates must simply meet the standards of any other graduate. For example, analytical and social skills in conjunction with in-depth domain-specific knowledge cannot be lacking. However, on top of this, "international" graduates distinguish themselves from their "national" counterparts when it comes to qualities such as:

• the ability to communicate in other languages than their mother tongue,
• understanding the many complexities involved in multicultural team work,
• interest in affairs that take place outside of the boundaries of their own nation,
• knowledge of the ins and outs of international (business, economic, political and social) affairs, and
• sensitivity to the many and subtle idiosyncrasies of people from cultures other than their own.

Certainly, many of these qualities have to be acquired by doing, listening and thinking. And here university teaching has a significant role to play. That is, a truly international curriculum must leave ample room for students to develop the "international" qualities as reflected in the set of five listed above.

3. PROFILE OF THE PROGRAMME: -

The curriculum of the International Economics and Business programme benefits from the key strengths of the Faculty's many Dutch programmes in the field of Economics, which provide a healthy foundation in current state-of-the-art knowledge. The innovative teaching methods and educational devices of the new programme stimulate the active build-up of learning and social capabilities. Above all, of course, the International Economics and Business programme displays characteristics that foster the development of the "international" skills presented earlier. The following ten, closely related, profile-defining features characterize the programme (in alphabetical order):

• Analytical skills: -As a university curriculum behoves, the development of analytical skills is central. Irrespective of the student's future employment, (s)he must be able to analyze the complicated issues that abound in the international world. The student has to master the key skills of deductive reasoning. Together with the emphasis on economics (and management), this implies a healthy dose of (applied) mathematics and statistics.
• Cooperative team work:-Team work is ubiquitous in (inter)national firms and institutions. A student must develop the ability to operate effectively and efficiently in a team. This requires many social skills, varying from listening and discussing to leading and planning. In an international context, an understanding of cooperation in a multicultural setting further facilitates teamwork. Therefore, the different aspects of teamwork have to be experienced throughout the curriculum.
• Economics and management foundation: - In terms of content, the student must benefit from a solid foundation in the Faculty's core (sub)disciplines, otherwise there is a danger that, at the end of the day, the graduate knows too little about too much. A firm core of in-depth knowledge of a limited number of these (sub)disciplines facilitates the acquisition and appreciation of future on-the-job learning. Hence, the first half of the programme contains a systematic introduction to the Faculty's core (sub)disciplines, albeit (if convenient and relevant) from an international perspective.
• International orientation: - Due to the primary objectives of the new programme, international issues must be at the heart of most teaching activities. This implies that wherever possible courses have to concentrate on the international dimension of the relevant issues (for example, international financial management and international marketing rather than financial management and marketing). Additionally (alongside language training and a stay abroad), the new curriculum emphasizes international economics and international business modules.
• Language skills: - Foreign language skills (reading, presenting, discussing and writing) are conditions sine qua non for smooth operation in an international environment. Here, mastery of the universal language of the modern global world - English - is indispensable. Thus, apart from the mandatory use of English in many teaching activities, a tailor-made training module is included. Additionally, learning a third language (apart from English and the mother tongue) constitutes a part of the new programme.
• Learning-to-learn philosophy: - Although very important, the four-year stay at a university constitutes only a fraction of a person's learning life. After graduation, an impressive series of new contexts and new problems present themselves. University education has to partly focus, therefore, on facilitating the student's ability to tackle the unknown (which is endemic in an international setting). This is the learning-to-learn philosophy that has become pervasive in many teaching programmes throughout the world. In the new curriculum, this is reflected through the introduction of larger, unstructured and open-ended project-type learning methods (flanked, of course, by appropriate tutoring).
• Multidiscipline integration: - Nowadays, observing that in "real" life multidisciplinary is the rule rather than the exception is like forcing an open door. However, effectively introducing multidisciplinary into a university curriculum, without sacrificing the necessary monodisciplinary depth, is not. The new programme contains a number of devices that confront the student with the complexities of multidisciplinary alongside, rather than instead of, monodisciplinary depth. Examples include the International Business Organizational Excellence modules as well as many of the small-group activities (see below).
• Problem-oriented devices: - Related to the features of the learning-to-learn philosophy and multidisciplinary integration is the programme's emphasis on problem-oriented devices. Discussing, analyzing and solving problems is an effective way to practice learning-to-learn devices and to integrate insights from different disciplines. Moreover, doing so in a team setting facilitates the build-up of social skills. Additionally, problem-oriented devices are a productive didactical instrument for stimulating the student's memory capacity. Finally, problem-oriented devices are very helpful for bridging the gap between theory and practice.
• Stay abroad: - In the new curriculum, the "real thing" has to be experienced directly. This implies that the student must follow part of her or his programme abroad, operating in the daily and institutional life in a foreign setting. This pdfrcises the multicultural, language and social skills that are central to any truly "international" curriculum. The stay abroad can take the form of either an internship (preferably in combination with the fulfillment of the thesis obligation) or study activities at a foreign university, or a combination of both

• Structure of the IE&B Curriculum
  Years Trisemester	Course name & description
  First year First Semester	International Economics and Management Microeconomics Mathematics 1 Language Skills - English
  Second Semester	(international) accounting macroeconomics mathematics2 language skills -English presentation and discussion
  Third Semester	International economics - introduction Statistics 1 Information and communication technologies International finance Language skills English presentation and discussion
  Second year First Semester	( International) Marketing International Political Economy Statistics 2 Language Skills - English Writing
  Second Semester	International Business - Strategic Management International Competitive Analysis International Economic Law Methodology
  Third Semester	International Business - Organization Design International Economics - International Monetary Economics International Human Resource Management International Management Game
  Third year	International Business Organizational Excellence International Economics- International Rivalry International Institutions and Business Language Skills- English, German Spanish of French

4. DEGREE PROGRAMME: -

The Economic Section's curriculum is designed to give students a first-rate preparation for an international career in international organizations, national governments, business and academics. Graduate studies are based on individual work and research that provide students with a strong general background while allowing them to pursue their personal interests. Emphasis is placed on small seminars, close contact with professors, and the active exchange of ideas among students. Together, professors and students create a cosmopolitan institution where cultures meet and ideas are exchanged in a unique academic milieu.

5. DEA (Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies - a Masters level degree): -

The DEA is a Masters level degree aimed primarily at training students for policy-related careers in international organizations and national governments. About 80% of the Economics Section graduate students stop at the DEA level; the rest go on to do a Ph.D. Informally, this means there are two categories of DEA students: those who want to get a job right after the DEA, and those for whom the DEA constitutes the first part of doctoral studies. The Institute's teaching schedule and requirements are flexible enough to accommodate both "Ph.D. track" and "non-Ph.D. track" students.

The DEA is also the usual gateway to the Ph.D. program. The DEA core program therefore provides a relevant background for future Ph.D. students. In particular, the DEA thesis almost always forms that basis of one essay in the eventual Ph.D. thesis, so little time is "wasted" on the DEA. Note, however, that many future Ph.D. students obtain waivers, called "equivalencies" in the Institute's patois of English and French, and so do not take all of the DEA core courses. Moreover, with a DEA you can apply for FAME Ph.D. program (Financial Asset Management and Engineering),, which is awarded jointly, be the University of Geneva, Lasagna and IUHEI. With acceptance follows an extensive scholarship, but places are very limited.

Formal DEA Requirements: -

• Obtain 72 credits in total with the following breakdown: -

• Fourty eight credits in International Economics 36 of these credits in International Economics must be obtained in the first year. WHAT ARE CREDITS? A one-semester course that meets for two hours each week is worth 6 credits, a full-year course is worth 12 credits. You must earn a grade of at least a 4.0 (out of 6) to get the credits for a course. In order to take the DEA exam, you must pass (i.e. get grade of at least 4) 36 credits in Economics and 48 over all. If you pass less the 36 credits in the first year, you will be expelled from the program. Of the 48 credits in economics, 36 must consist of the "core" courses, namely Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, International Trade, Economic Development, International Money and Econometrics
• Twelve course credits in each of the two complementary disciplines. DEA applicants specify two complementary disciplines from the other three sections (history, law and politics). These may be taken in either first or second year. Permission to choose a single complementary discipline may be granted where an applicant's previous preparation, interests and planned thesis topic justifies it; requests must be made in the 1st two weeks of your 1st year. Candidates who have been authorized to choose only a single complementary discipline must obtain 24 course credits in that chosen discipline. Credits for complementary disciplines are normally filled by taking the Non-Specialist Courses in History, Law or Political Science. For course descriptions on these, download the booklet. With permission, you can substitute another course in the relevant section for the non-specialist course; if you think you have taken equivalent courses elsewhere, you should ask permission for an equivalence for one or two "comps". This means you get credits and don't have to take it. Requests for equivalence and/or substitutions must be made in writing in the 1st two weeks of your 1st year at HEI

• Pass a written examination (the DEA exam) testing their general knowledge in International Economics;

• This is usually taken at the end of your 2nd semester in July, or in October following the summer of your 2nd semester. Exceptionally, this can be taken in the second year.
• In order to take the DEA exam, you must pass (i.e. get grade of at least 4) 36 credits in Economics and 48 over all. Thus if you take only 4 semester-long courses (i.e. 8 quarter-long courses) per semester in the first year, you must pass them all to be able to take the exam.
• Passing means a grade of at least 4 out of 6.

• Write and submit a DEA thesis in International Economics;

• The thesis cannot be more than 15'000 words, i.e. 60 pages.
• By October of your 2nd year, you must hand in a form (get it from Barton Secretariat) with a provisional title and a DEA thesis director.
• You might as well get this signed and handed in at the end of your second semester.
• Many students start writing in their second year and finish writing this during the summer following their 4th semester. Very often students use their econometrics paper (written for 2nd semester of the Econometrics core class) as part of or as the basis of their DEA.
• A preliminary version of the thesis (this may be an outline and bibliography if your thesis director agrees) must be at the end of your 3rd semester.
• The final version of the thesis is evaluated by the thesis director and a second reader, who is formally nominated by the thesis director, but who is usually chosen by the student.
• Once the thesis is accepted and graded, 7 copies of the final draft must be deposited with the Barton Secretariat.

Applicants with sufficient previous training can and should request permission for an "equivalence" (i.e. waiver) for courses already taken, up to a maximum of 24 credits (of which a maximum of 12 can be in complementary disciplines). Requests for equivalency must be made and documented in the application of admission, or during the 1st two weeks of your 1st year. Documentation usually consists of a detailed reading list from the courses you want equivalencies for, plus grades. When in doubt, get hold of the reading list of the relevant course and compare it to reading lists of courses you have taken. Students must finish within a maximum of four semesters from their enrolment for the DEA, where the summer after the 4th is included in this delay as far as the thesis is concerned. Normally it takes full two years. Most students hand in their thesis at the end of their second summer. A very few students finish the DEA in 3 semester and none have done it in 2. Students who cannot meet the 4 semester limit, for professional or personal reasons, must apply for an extension in their application, or as soon as the arrive at the Institute

Formal requirements are here, and a recent change of the core is explained here, but the idea is that DEA graduates should emerge from the program with a sound understanding of:

• The theory of closed macroeconomics, open macroeconomics, microeconomics and international trade;
• The tools necessary to analyses international economic policy issues;
• The essential econometrics necessary for economic analysis, particularly for policy analysis.
• DEA students tend to specialize in open macroeconomics, finance, international trade, or international development. Good students should emerge from the DEA program with a sound understanding of:
• Major institutions and typical policy issues in their chosen field.

International Economics: -

• Fundamentals of Microeconomics & Macroeconomics
• International Macroeconomics
• International Economic Environment (MSF & MBA students only)
• East Asian Miracle
• Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
• Current Issues In European Economic Integration
• National Financial Markets and Capital Flows
• Frontiers of International Economic Policy
• International Political Economy
• Open-Economy Macroeconomics
• Advanced Microeconomics I
• Advanced Macroeconomics I
• Advanced Financial Theory
• Transition Economics
• Industrial Organization
• International Trade Theory
• Development Economics
• International Macroeconomics
• Empirical Macroeconomics
• Ph.D. Research Seminar
• Dissertation Workshop (Ph.D.))
• Public Sector Economics
• Technological and Economic Change
• International Trade Theory
• Regional Economic Integration in Theory and Practice
• Global Economic Integration
• Money and Banking
• Introduction to the Economics of Development

International Business: -

• International Business Lab
• Law of International Transactions
• Global Marketing Strategy
• Managing International Business
• Entrepreneurial Finance and Business Plans
• Entrepreneurship
• Transnational Negotiations
• Leading International Organizational Behavior
• Management of Service Operations
• Privatization
• Competitive Strategy
• Alliance Strategy
• International Business Enterprise
• The Integrated Business Enterprise
• Creating New Ventures (undergraduates)
• Globalization (MA)
• Industrial Organization { Click here to View the brief Outline of these Course }

6. WHAT JOBS ARE IN STORE FOR YOU?

As an IE&B graduate, the choice of field is up to you. Here is some background information on jobs that may be held by IE&B graduates.

• International Market Analyst: -

You are able to analyze how the market works in a particular country, on both the supply and the demand sides. Thus, you are able to explain why consumers in different countries behave in different ways and the consequences of international competition for multinational companies. Your employer may be a multinational, but national and international organizations that monitor international competition are also in need of employees specialized in international trade.

• International Monetary Expert: -

You study unexpected perturbations in the financial markets and are able to explain such developments. You work for an international bank or the financial department of an international company.

• International Trade Expert: -

The world economy is the playground of the International Trade Expert. You analyze which countries produce what and where and why they do it in that way. You recognize that an economic depression in Japan is bad news for the Netherlands. Conversely, you understand that the announcement that Sony has gone bankrupt offers new possibilities for Philips.

• International Sales Manager: -

You are responsible for the marketing of certain products and understand that the culture of a country determines the kind of marketing in that country. You may work for any company that produces and sells its products on an international scale. Many multinationals have one sales department that is part of their corporate headquarters. Others may have turned the sales policy over to their subsidiaries. But small and intermediate businesses are increasingly operating on an international scale as well, and so may also need an International Sales Manager.k

7. Click here to view the links to BUSINESS SCHOOLS & COLLEGES AROUND THE WORLD

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