This advanced module puts emphasis on your capability to work independently. It is expected that you carry out a number of tasks outside class. You are asked to select a topic of your choice from the material taught, as recommended below, read the main concepts/theories in relation to it from the textbook material and then give depth to this material by covering the main contemporary thinking in relation to it. For this you will go to advanced academic as well as practitioner articles, review them, analyse them and develop the main ideas into a critical essay ending in a list of recommendations. You will define and question what you read, identify the main authors who have researched this topic, read their backgrounds, compare and contrast their findings, identify the main trends in relation to your selected topic, gaps in the literature related to your topic, discuss the findings and write everything in your own words. You will also read enough material in order to find out how those concepts/those theories are applied in an international context and where possible, you will compare and contrast their application. This essay must reveal your understanding of the theoretical background related to your topic and to an extent how organisations make use of that knowledge. Please read the VLE file called “Critical Analysis” before you embark on this assignment, in order to understand what underpins critical analysis. You find good examples of critical writing in the “theoretical” part of each academic journal article.
The topics you should choose from are as follows (titles are generic):
• Sales techniques in various international cultural contexts – a critical evaluation
• The role negotiation plays within the international selling process – a critical evaluation
• Negotiating in various international cultural contexts – a critical evaluation
• Recruitment strategies in the context of a culturally diverse sales force – a critical evaluation
• Current issues in the training of a culturally diverse sales force – a critical evaluation
• Reward systems in the context of a culturally diverse sales force – a critical evaluation
• Current issues in global resource allocation – a critical evaluation
• An evaluation of key account management in a wide range of international situations