Overview
The world of international business is complex and contested. It is also changing rapidly. These changes apply to international business as a whole, the frameworks and structures of businesses themselves, and the way we understand them.
Your task is to write a referenced essay in response to one of the two questions below.
Learning Outcomes
The targeted Course Learning Outcomes for this assessment are:
- CLO1: Articulate and apply the core concepts and theories in the political economy of international business.
- CLO2: Integrate the key historical developments in international political economy so as to contextualise and respond to current issues and problems in international business.
- CLO3: Critically analyse and synthesise your conceptual knowledge of how international business and organisations impact on politics, culture and economics.
- CLO4: Develop independent and critical research skills to synthesise theoretical and empirical data relating to real world issues of international political economy and the role of international business therein.
Assessment details
General advice:
Before listing the essay questions, consider this general advice, which relates to the marking rubric and is relevant to all of the essay questions. For more detailed advice on essay writing, see the course assessment development modules and consult your tutor.
- All essays must have an argument. It is up to you to decide exactly what you will argue in your essay, but it must speak directly to the question.
- Each essay must refer to one or more of the theories discusses in weeks 5 and 6 of the course. Take the time to read widely on the theory (or theories) relevant to your question before you start forming your analysis and argument.
- Each essay question relates to the historical development of a contemporary outcome. Good essays must show an awareness of these trends.
- Essays must cover a sufficient amount of scholarly literature on the topic. This should involve a minimum of 10 scholarly sources – but remember that the quality of your analysis of these sources is as important as the number of them used. In addition to these scholarly sources you can also use data from industry sources and other reliable non-scholarly sources.
- The accuracy of business theory is not the same things as the effectiveness of business strategy. Avoid writing about what firms should and shouldn’t do for their own benefit and think about the bigger picture of how businesses are structured and their relationship with social/political context.
- Essays must be referenced consistently in the Harvard in-text system.
- It is your responsibility to avoid plagiarism. You will receive a copy of the Turnitin originality report as a guide – note that the numerical “score” of this report is not what we use to judge for plagiarism.
Structure advice
Each essay question will have its own structure, but the following basic form applies to all. More detail on the structure of an essay can be found in the assessment development modules
- (Do not include a table of contents or an executive summary)
- Start with an introduction
- Include a section addressing the theory (or theories) relevant to the question
- Include a section applying this theoretical understanding to your selected industry
- A conclusion
- A reference section
Avoid using too many subheadings and sections, as this can make your writing disjointed, and turn your essay into a list of things rather than a coherent response to the question.
Question: Should we expect the shape and spread of global value chains will become increasingly influenced by geopolitical factors?
Answer in reference to one of the following case study industries:
- Semi-conductors
- Pharmaceuticals
- Aviation
- Automobiles
Further guidance for this question:
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This question relates to the content of week 5: global value chains, and week 4: Democracy, Authoritarianism and Geopolitics in the 21st Century. Before researching a response, make sure you’ve viewed the lectures for these weeks and read the essential materials.
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It is crucial that you show that you understand what GVCs are, and how they are different from other forms of multinational business.
- It is crucial that you show an understanding of what “geopolitics” is in relation to the global economy.
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The question refers specifically to how GVC structures will be affected by geopolitical factors. You should search for literature about this geopolitics within the GVC literature and develop an argument as to whether the geopolitics is increasingly influencing the shape and spread of GVCs or not – both generally and in your case industry. There is no right or wrong answer – look for the best evidence to make your case for your argument.
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Follow all of the “general advice” and “structure advice” stated above, and discussed in the writing modules.
Assessment Criteria -
This assessment will measure your ability to:
- Appropriate use of theories to establish and address the question (20%)
- Depth and quality of relevant empirical data (20%)
- Clarity and effectiveness of argument, prose, and structure (20%)
- Application of critical thinking and evidence to challenge assumptions and contestable perspectives (20%)
- Correct referencing of all sources using in-text citations and an alphabetised reference list (20%)
Note that these are the same criteria as Assignment 1.