The focus of this course is the analysis of how a business must adapt to different cultural contexts. For this purpose, we study the interaction between the culture and the company’s structure, processes and human resources. In this way, the student will be able to understand strategies used to optimise such interaction. The general objective of the course is to learn the main business practices in different cultures, through the analysis of the differences in various countries. This will provide the background to understand and identify threats and opportunities to do business in a global context.
With the entertainment industry converging into a worldwide mass media, both business and operation models continue to rapidly evolve. This introductory course for producers, directors, writers, development personnel, and aspiring media executives examines the changing business issues associated with the entertainment industry. Through lectures, discussions with industry guests, and case studies, instruction focuses on current business and production issues, and introduces new business models to navigate content onto new distribution platforms. Some history is highlighted to provide a context for current practices and potential. The course also features opportunities to meet senior entertainment industry executives in various sectors. By the end of the course, students should have an understanding of the opportunities available in the business of entertainment.
This course covers a variety of topics including: Entrepreneurship in Europe, Introduction to Social Business, Business Planning, Disruptive Methods, Entrepreneurial Failure and Success, Pan-European Business Development as Entry Strategy, Business Model Generation, Digital Strategy, Cross-Cultural Management, and Company / Corporate Visits.
This immersive course is comprised of 2 Modules and offers a powerful understanding of how to successfully manage a service business with practical, hands-on training in writing and presentations. The objective of this program is to introduce students to service management concepts and literature to build their abilities to improve service in any business setting. Since communication is a key component of service delivery, significant time is spent learning and practicing spoken and written communication.
Module 1: Business Communications
Student’s capabilities in written communication, oral presentation and non-verbal communication are developed and enhanced within a business and management context. Report and technical writing, presentation preparation, public speaking, business etiquette, negotiation skills, time management and inter-personal communication skills are among the topics emphasised. The IWIBM integrates business communications with service management and students will make presentations on the core business challenges discussed in service management.
Module 2: Service Management
This module helps students to understand how service organisations can best design themselves for effective and professional customer service. Company visits and guest speakers are arranged to help students better understand the theories.
Cultural activities include team building, sightseeing tour and a ski trip to Mt. Washington Alpine Resort. The aim is to help students become familiar with Canadian culture and society, enhance their social communication skills, experience service in the hospitality sector first-hand, apply what they learn in class to everyday life, and enjoy Vancouver Island.
No other institutions have permeated multiple cultures more than the multinational corporations like IBM, Microsoft, Nestle, BASF, etc. With this permeation, managers from many different cultures are relocated to new and alien cultures. More and more decisions made by future global managers will need to be assessed in terms of an understanding of the multiple cultures the decisions will affect. Future global managers can only do this by knowing how different cultural business ethics are derived, tested, and used. This course has as its purpose the introductory exploration of business ethics in a cross-cultural setting. This can no better be achieved than in a foreign culture where the students can immediately receive information from their surroundings and managers who have had to face the difficult decisions in the past.
The focus of this course is the analysis of how a business must adapt to different cultural contexts. For this purpose, we study the interaction between the culture and the company’s structure, processes and human resources. In this way, the student will be able to understand strategies used to optimise such interaction. The general objective of the course is to learn the main business practices in different cultures, through the analysis of the differences in various countries. This will provide the background to understand and identify threats and opportunities to do business in a global context.
The focus of this course is the study of the entrepreneur and the entrepreneurial start-up process. Areas of concentration include the search for new venture opportunities, evaluation of the viability and attractiveness of the new venture; determining the resources required and the sources of those resources; preparation of financial statements addressing cash flow, valuation and investment justifications; and the development of a business plan appropriate for presentation to funding sources.
The course is also designed to be an experiential learning experience. During the course, students will work in teams to to design and test a business venture of their choosing, by applying the concepts learnt in class and tackling the challenges they encounter. This course may appeal to business and non-business majors alike, as well as to individuals who want to launch their own business in the future, pursue employment in the start-up world, or work in venture capital or entrepreneurial support.
This course will prepare students to work, run, and manage a retail shop successfully and provides theoretical insights into customer expectations and service delivery. Throughout the course, standard elements of a retail shop will be analyzed and focus on retail management will be given. This class will strengthen decision-making skills regarding expense planning, suppliers, store layout, and promotional strategies. Under the supervision of seasoned professionals, students will spend a portion of the course operating the school retail spaces (fashion retail store, restaurant, pastry shop) that are open to the local community. Here, theoretical knowledge, shop floor management skills, and ability to perform head office functions will all be developed in the context of retail. In order to offer a comprehensive view of retail management, experiential learning activities are scheduled in varying types of retailers, each of them characterized by different competitors, products sold, customers, and style of service required. This class includes experiential learning with CEMI.
The primary purpose of this course is to provide marketers with an in-depth understanding of product development practices including innovation, product strategy and processes, customer needs, identification, idea generation, concept development and optimization, forecasting, and launch. The course will analyze the marketing development strategies of new entrepreneurial companies with low budgets and little or no brand development. An important component of the coursework features hands-on approaches to real-life business problems that require application of topics learned in the classroom. Students will be introduced to highly creative and effective experiential forms of learning ranging from case studies to business plans, entrepreneurs in the classroom, conducting entrepreneurial audits, working with concepts of marketing inventions, and consulting projects. Furthermore, students will be part of a dedicated lab team of cross-disciplinary learners led by faculty and advisers, and will collaborate with executives and representatives from real companies on comprehensive business issues. Coursework includes site visits to local companies and special guest lectures from local prominent entrepreneurs.
The aim of this course is to provide students with knowledge on the role of urban policy and planning in relation to the housing market in a global context. Students will become familiar with the implications for policy and practice and will learn how to develop regional and local housing strategies. This course includes references to international cases from the United Kingdom, the United States, Ireland, Hong Kong, Australia, and other European countries. Student will gain knowledge of the impact that the emerging sharing economies have on urban development, as well as learning about the process of buying an Italian property as a secondary home.
Pre-requisite: Introduction to Management or equivalent.
This course is designed for students interested in international business ventures and partnerships. Management, leadership, human resource management, organisational skills, and strategies will all be analysed from a cross-cultural business perspective. A major focus is on strategies adapting managerial skills across cultures. Guest lecturers and on-site visits to international business ventures are an integral part of the course.
The aim of this course is to provide student with an overview of the main characteristics of the real estate industry. Students will learn about the real estate business and will compare the Anglo-American and Italian systems. This course includes an introduction to real estate contract law and to Civil Law and Common Law in order to understand the different approaches of the legislation that regulates the real estate world. Students will also gain knowledge of the basics of real estate market economics including USA’s foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to Italy.
The aim of this course is to provide students with the basic knowledge of professional property management. Students will become familiar with the different management methods, such as ownership and subleases, as well as the new specific insurance practices for the tourist rental market. This course focuses on major functions of property managers, and details specific practices and problems in managing a variety of properties, such as residential, retail and industrial ones. Students will also learn how to manage maintenance, construction, insurance, and relations with tenants.
This course is a unique exploration of startup ventures and entrepreneurship from an Italian perspective. Topics introduce the factors involved in initiating new entrepreneurial ventures that have the enduring power to become a successful company. Essential building blocks to be examined are market analysis and strategy, innovation and management, product development, operations, financial frameworks, and competitor analysis. Case studies are drawn from the Italian economy with a local focus on Florentine and Tuscan companies from the perspective of Innovation, Tradition, and Evolution, in order to understand how enterprises in Italy are generating new ventures.
The teaching method is a combined approach of lectures, visits, and laboratory activities enhanced by the active participation of involved companies. Coursework and projects will be supported by the EntrepreLearn Lab of FUA’s International School of Business, which also features workshops, activities, and networking events. The overall aim of advancing entrepreneurial knowledge through an academically grounded approach and interaction with the local economy is to prepare students for transforming ideas and projects into concrete and viable startup projects from an international perspective.
This module offers students the opportunity to learn about business organisations, their purposes, structures and governance in a global context. At the same time students will study the cultural differences within and between business organisations and the ethical constraints facing these organisations. As part of the process of learning about business organisations students will learn effective group and leadership skills and develop the skills necessary to structure a coherent report with conclusions linked to evidence.
The course provides a student-centred understanding of the intercultural competencies needed in the professional world of the 21st century. It starts by supporting students in analysing their chosen career, identifying the challenges inherent in performing in a professional multicultural environment. It continues by developing, through interactive activities, skills such as recognising, acknowledging, mediating and reacting to a variety of cultural expectations and norms of behaviour. The course contains throughout a reflective strand, which encourages students to reflect on their internalised culture, unconscious bias and preferred social positioning, and how this might impact their work relations.
Examination of role of business in mitigating environmental degradation and incentives to be more environmentally responsive. Emphasis on corporate strategies that deliver value to shareholders while responding to environmental concerns.
Examination of evolving economic structures and business practices in contemporary Hollywood film industry, with emphasis on operations of studios and independent distribution companies, their development, marketing, and distribution systems, and their relationship to independent producers, talent, and agencies.
We live in exciting times where leaders need to prove what they are worth.
Governments and companies are confronted with issues such as increasing speed of innovation, cultural diversity, health issues, increase in refugees, rising energy costs and stricter regulations on CO2 emissions, etc. These issues are connected to a world of rapidly changing technological, political, economic, climate and environmental developments. Who do we trust to guide us through all these crises?
Leadership is about putting dots on the horizon, creating a shared vision, leading the change and working together with the followers towards new perspectives. Leadership is about understanding that crises are an opportunity for change.
This course deals with leadership and change in both a global and business context. It confronts students with current important issues with the aim to develop knowledge and to improve leadership skills to deal with these issues in a creative way. Understanding the system at hand is important, but also understanding how leadership has an impact on the system.
To make optimal use of a vision it must be converted into a strategic operation for companies (Collins & Porras, 1996). The blend between vision, strategy, leadership and co-workers means that entrepreneurs must act like leaders with a clear indication of the direction to mobilise the organisation in order to achieve goals and at the same time maintain employee motivation.
We will introduce examples of leadership that changed the rules of the game, such as Al Gore who tries to create awareness of the impact of climate change or Ellen MacArthur’s ambition to change the world towards a circular economy by building a framework for an economy that is restorative and regenerative by design. And Jamie Oliver, the British Chef who tried to change the food culture.
We think that leadership is not only about charisma or personal characteristics, but about personal dedication to a goal or vision far beyond personal interests. This type of leadership is embedded ‘in context’. This implies that leadership is not a personal characteristic but a part of a relationship among people in a community where qualities like trust, playfulness, and creativity are involved. Students are invited to share and discuss their personal leadership experiences and inspirations.
This intensive course includes:
- Weekend excursion to Cologne and Düsseldorf – includes group dinner and guided tour of Düsseldorf palace (to be confirmed)
- Weekend excursion to The Hague and Amsterdam – visits to Anne Frank house, guided walking tour of Amsterdam, Zaanse Schans open air museum (to be confirmed)
This course covers a variety of topics including: Entrepreneurship in Europe, Introduction to Social Business, Business Planning, Disruptive Methods, Entrepreneurial Failure and Success, Pan-European Business Development as Entry Strategy, Business Model Generation, Digital Strategy, Cross-Cultural Management, and Company / Corporate Visits.
This course has an introductory characteristic and with a special focus on Japanese management style. In this course you will learn: how historical, social and cultural patterns affect the management practices of Japanese organisations; how other factors, such as the legal, political/governmental, economic and technological system, socio-cultural factors enable Japanese companies to operate successfully in an international business context; how Japanese companies develop strategies for international operations; how to improve cross-cultural communication and negotiation skills in an East-meets-West setting.
Students’ capabilities in written communication, oral presentation and non-verbal communication are developed and enhanced within a business and management context. Report and technical writing, presentation preparation, public speaking, business etiquette, negotiation skills, time management and interpersonal communication skills are among the topics emphasised. The ISIBM integrates business communications with business education, and students will make presentations on the core business challenges that are discussed in Module 2.
This course is based on a program that has earned UVic several international awards. It aims to develop a fundamental understanding of the skills and tools necessary to succeed in today’s global marketplace. The course begins with issues relating to starting a business (entrepreneurship), continued with topics around ensuring success (service management) and ends with issues involving growing the business (international business). Whether you plan to start your own business one day or work in a large multinational corporation, this course provides you with knowledge to enhance your opportunities for success.
