International Strategy

Update 26 Jan. Course has been cancelled

Course information

Learning outcomes

This course explores how firms can best start, develop, and manage their international activities. Students will learn about the internationalization process, entry strategy, entry mode choice, mergers and acquisitions, global supply chains, the management of international operations, and international negotiations. We will study both small firms and large multinationals.

Content

During the course, the following questions will be examined: 
(1) Why and how do firms internationalize? 
(2) What challenges do firms have as they start, develop, and manage their international operations and what can be done to overcome these challenges and be successful in international business? 
(3) What are the advantages and disadvantages of different entry modes and internationalization strategies and how can they best be designed and managed? 
(4) How can one conduct international negotiations successfully? 
(5) What are some strategies for successfully managing international operations? 
(6) How is it best to design and manage mergers and acquisitions?; and 
(7) What are key issues to consider relating to international supply chains?  

The course has a strong practical focus and will seek to forge links between theory and practice and illustrate practical applications of the material discussed during the course. Material covered in the course is taught in a way that it is useful in practice.

Teacher

Minna Söderqvist

Study material

A set of readings and cases

Workload

• Online teaching (participation is expected)
• Assignments (individual and group assignments)

As the discussions and class assignments build on the assigned literature, it is expected that students familiarize themselves with the required materials in advance and are able to contribute to the class discussions. Students are asked to be active during lessons and keep their cameras on.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course and all students are welcome to take the course. However, as the course is focused in the first hand for students pursuing a masters degree in business. Thus, students who have not taken any business courses previously need to be willing to do some additional self study. If you have any questions if your background is suitable for the course, feel free to contact the teachers.

Evaluation

Activities which may include class participation, Case study(s) (live or paper-based), group assessment; Final individual report/project

Teaching time and location

This course is taught fully online. Participation in lectures is expected. Lectures are not being recorded.

As the discussions and class assignments build on the assigned literature, it is expected that students familiarize themselves with the required materials in advance and are able to contribute to the class discussions. Students are asked to be active during lessons and keep their cameras on.

The teacher has four (4) weeks to grade the exam submissions starting from the exam date.

Exam instructions at the Open UniversityOpen University exam halls

Further information

Equivalences to other courses: International Strategy (26E03101, A26E03101, AMNGT-E2009), International Growth Strategy (MNGT-E2002)

Online learning environment for the course  

MyCourses online learning environment is a tool for both students and teachers for communication and managing everyday course work. You need an Aalto User ID to log in to the course's MyCourses workspace and participate in teaching.

Digital workspace of the course:
MyCourses (link will be added later)

More details on completing the course will be available at MyCourses closer to the start of the course.

Registration and course fee

Registration for Open University courses is done via the link below: 
Course registration

Registration for this course starts on 8.12.2025 at 9.00  
Registration for this course ends on 1.2.2026 at 23.59

It is not possible to register before the registration period has started or after it has ended.

The course fee is paid upon registration for each course at a time and it is binding. Familiarize yourself with registration and payment rules as well as other guidelines for students:
Registration, payments and rules

This course is organized by the Aalto University Open University.

Activating Aalto ID and Multifactor Authentication

You can activate your Aalto User ID the day after the registration and you should activate it no later than the day before the start of the course.
Instructions for activating your Aalto user ID

Once you have activated your Aalto user ID, also enable multifactor authentication. Some of Aalto University's services require multifactor authentication.

Instructions for using Multifactor Authentication