Multinational Corporations (MNCs) refers to any corporation which operates the business in more than one country, and this is a common reality in our globalized era (MNCs have been around for a few centuries now). Growing to such a size can lead to a positive economic impact both for the corporation and the located countries. However, at the same time, as stated by Associate Professor Hakeem Muhammad Mohsin of NUCB Business School, MNCs lose billions of potential business dollars every year because they simply ignore or are unable to understand the expectations of people in foreign cultures and the way business is conducted. Hence, through this course, Dr. Hakeem aims to equip students with a framework for understanding the cross-cultural differences, how to apply such knowledge in country-specific management practices and policies, and a comprehension of the strategic issues associated with diverse operational environments.
In this Week 2, under the theme of global innovation and learning, students looked into headquarter-subsidiary relationships. In particular, different operational strategies such as decision-making process and control. Through this week’s case which was about the challenges a US-based fast food chain faced when it entered the China market, students built an understanding on the role of control and monitoring systems suitable for specific situations and locations in the firm’s international operations. Dr. Hakeem further advocated students to engage in diverse discussions within groups and through role-plays, by bringing together students from different geographic and academic backgrounds so that everyone could share and apply the knowledge in a relevant and real-world context.