Doing Business in Asia focuses on the two emerging Asian economic powers: China and India. China already has become one of the world's largest economies, and India is poised to follow in the next few decades. The rapid changes taking place in these two countries create great opportunities for international firms and investors.

The course provides a condensed overview of the economic and business environment in China and India and deals with key topics such as offshoring, competing in local markets, international alliances, technology transfer, and emerging economy corporations. The approach is strongly case-oriented and emphasizes discussion in class.

The course focuses on firms, the challenges they face doing business in China and India, and their strategies for dealing with those challenges. Our focus on the firm level and the factors that affect firm performance means that we will give more emphasis to the history and politics of China and India than business customs or other cultural issues. The course includes an overview the recent economic and political history of China and India. This provides a basis for understanding the current structure of enterprise in those countries and appreciating some of the limitations that firms face in those countries. China and India also offer the greatest opportunities for firms in the next decade; the growth of their economies and development of the societies will create the types of business opportunities that the growth and consolidation of markets brought to the United States and Europe in the last 50 years.

The aims of the course are:

• To help students gain greater understanding of non-European business environments
• To help students gain greater understanding of the diversity of business systems in emerging economies
• To help students gain greater understanding of the role of history and politics as influences on the strategies and management of firms

The course is taught using a combination of case analyses, class discussion, and lectures. The time period for the course is quite compressed, and we will adopt a very focused approach. Rather than trying to survey a broad range of Asian economies in seven sessions, we will look more intensively at the two emerging giants of Asia: China and India.

The course involves six teaching sessions carried out in class and one outside assignment. There will be five cases to read and analyze for the course – one case in each session after the first. Readings provide greater depth on key issues raised by the case and related issues in Asian business.

Preparation guidelines will be distributed for all cases during the previous session. Students are expected to read the case material before class. Each class session will be divided into three segments. The first segment will consist of team discussion and analysis of the case. We will then discuss the case together as a class. The final segment will cover more general issues related to topics developed in the case and readings.

Assessment will be based on both participation in class discussion and a written final examination. The final examination will involve analysis of a set of focused questions about a specific case. The case will be distributed in class prior to the final examination and students will be given the opportunity to prepare the case. 

Distribution of assessment:

• Class participation and case analysis: 40%
• Written examination (case based) 60%

Class participation will be assessed on:

• Knowledge of key facts and issues from the case
• Identification of critical strategic issues
• Presentation of positions, coherence of arguments
• Ability to support arguments with evidence from the cases
• Creative thinking
• Constructive contribution to discussion of ideas of others

Individual course participation will be assessed using the following indicative marking scheme: 

• Excellent/outstanding contributions      40 points
• Very good contributions                        30 points
• Good contributions                                20 points
• Weak insufficient contributions             10 points or less

Final examinations will be evaluated on:

• Understanding of important general issues with regard to business in China and India that have been covered in class sessions (as relevant to the examination)
• Identification of critical strategic issues for the firm in the examination case
• Presentation of positions on key decisions, coherence of arguments for positions
• Ability to support arguments with evidence from the case
• Completeness in dealing with key problems facing the firm
• Clarity of written presentation of arguments

Univ.-Prof. Dr. James A. Robins is available only by appointment.

james.robins@wu.ac.at