International Business Cultures (3 cr)

Objectives (course unit)

OBJECTIVES
• Providing inter-cultural experience to participants.
• Opportunity to use English in an authentic environment.
• Opportunity to learn business cultures: African business culture, American business culture, Asian business culture.
• Providing participants with different perspectives due to cultural differences.

Content (course unit)

• Negotiation
• Marketing
• E-commerce
• Business Etiquette
• Communication
• Cultural Dimensions
• Sustainability
• Effect of Globalization
• Company structure and culture
• English as a Lingua Franca

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1-2) (course unit)

The student has completed all the assignments with a minimum grade.
The student has:
- based the arguments on research or life experience.
- written the assignments using the required template and referencing style.
The language is readable and comprehensible.

Assessment criteria, good (3-4) (course unit)

The student has completed all the assignments and contributed to the forums.
The student has:
- based the arguments on research or life experience.
- written the assignments using the required template and referencing style.
The language is readable and comprehensible.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5) (course unit)

The student has completed all the assignments and contributed to the forums.
The student has:
-based the arguments on research, materials provided on Moodle or life experience.
- written the assignments using the required template and referencing style.
- scored the maximum points for each assignment.
The language of the assignments is readable and comprehensible

Location and time

The course is an online course. The course starts in the spring term of 2025, please check later the date and time for the kick-off lesson). The times for the Zoom lectures are 16.00.-17.30 on Thursdays. You can find the link in Moodle.

Exam schedules

There will be no written exams. The grades are based on the executive summary in an academic style and group tasks (submitted on time).

Assessment methods and criteria

- Executive summary 50 points (based on content) (2-4 pages)

- Group tasks: 5 tasks, 10 points each, 50 points total (based on completion, not content)

See Moodle for details.

Assessment scale

0-5

Teaching methods

Lectures, self-driven studies, group work, group discussions and collaborative work

Learning materials

Materials for the course will be provided to the Moodle platform. Students will also need to gather relevant materials for their projects (executive summary).

Student workload

The course is mainly based on self-study and collaborative work. The kick-off lecture and subsequent lectures are recommended.

Content scheduling

COURSE CONTENT

Negotiation
Marketing
E commerce
Business Etiquette
Communication
Cultural Dimensions
Sustainability
Effect of Globalization
Company structure and culture
English as a Lingua Franca

Practical training and working life cooperation

The course focuses mainly on the application of the theories in real-life situations.

International connections

This is a virtual exchange course between the following institutions: Tampere University of Applied Sciences (Finland) University of Applied Sciences, Munich (Germany), and Takoradi Technical University (Ghana).

Further information

The first lecture is very important for all participants of this course. Please, make time to attend the first lesson to get the overview of the course and to meet your group members.

Guidelines for using AI in this implementation
If a student uses AI tools in an allowed manner to assist with their learning tasks, they must cite the AI tools used and provide the prompts they used alongside their task responses. If a student presents AI-generated results as their own without citations, sources, and/or prompts, the teacher may reject the work or require it to be redone. The teacher has the right to ask the student if they have used AI in their learning task.

Assessment criteria - fail (0) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

The student has not submitted any assignments and has not contributed to the forum discussions.

Assessment criteria - satisfactory (1-2) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

The student has completed all the assignments with a minimum grade.
The student has:
- based the arguments on research or life experience.
- written the assignments using the required template and referencing style.
The language is readable and comprehensible.

Assessment criteria - good (3-4) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

The student has completed all the assignments and contributed to the forums.
The student has:
- based the arguments on research or life experience.
- written the assignments using the required template and referencing style.
The language is readable and comprehensible.

Assessment criteria - excellent (5) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

The student has completed all the assignments and contributed to the forums.
The student has:
-based the arguments on research, materials provided on Moodle or life experience.
- written the assignments using the required template and referencing style.
The language of the assignments is readable and comprehensible.
- scored the maximum points for each assignment.