Doing business in the CEE region can fundamentally be characterized as managing unique opportunities and unexpected challenges. Managers of multinationals (MNEs) doing business in the CEE region have to cope with increasingly complex issues, such as the diversity of the business environment in each individual CEE country, complex decision making in the context of different regulatory setups, different customer preferences and mentalities, and above all a variety of impacts arising from the recent economic turbulences on a global scale. Not only regulatory framework is different in the CEE countries but so are the rules of competition, demanding greater flexibility, adaptation and innovativeness.

In this context and in close collaboration with experts from HENKEL Central Eastern Europe this course will integrate the development of comprehensive business projects dealing with market strategies in select CEE countries critical to HENKEL CEE. This project will incorporate a country analysis, competition analysis, marketing analysis and a development of a product strategy based on real and current data. During the course you will be solving a real company dilemma and in the process you will learn about the pitfalls of doing business in CEE. Additionally, you will be exposed to the latest research related to the subject and you will improve your project management skills.

The following are some of the key learning outcomes of this course:

+The understanding of the importance of the country context (economic, political, regulatory, cultural, social  and historical) in strategy development. If the national context is ignored, the implemented market (product) strategy may not lead to long-term strategic or financial benefits for the foreign firm +  Learning how to properly evaluate performance in the CEE markets. Because of the highly turbulent environment, satisfactory performance is conditional on carefully planned yet flexible growth strategy. +  Analyzing, preparing and designing an integrated product strategy based on real data which often can be incomplete. This task will require considerable individual input which, at all times, will have to be coordinated with the team's plans.

Presence is mandatory. It´s allowed to miss one session.

The course uses a combination of lectures, business case study analysis and a company analysis (Henkel CEE) in collaboration with company representatives

Students will be assessed based on the following:

• Final project presentation grade by Henkel CEE GmbH 25%
• Final project presentation grade by WU faculty 25%
• Overall report preparation 30%
• Peer rating 20%

After completing this course students will have:+  Better understanding of the main problems which MNEs face when they expand their operations to the CEE region as well as of the market-specific strategies firms use to deal with those challenges (i.e. how to perform a country analysis, competition analysis, marketing analysis, overall strategy analysis and how to plan for strategic change).+Advanced knowledge on doing business in the CEE region and a better understanding of business challenges in CEE. + Knowledge of the differences between CEE countries and how these differences affect firms’ CEE internationalization strategies.+ Better understanding of the methods used by multinationals to evaluate market strategies in different countries.

Since this course accounts for 5 ECTS each student is expected to have a total workload of around 100 hours excluding the time spent in class/lectures.