SALEM STATE COLLEGE

School of Business

Management Department

COURSE SYLLABUS

SPRING 2001

 

I.          COURSE NUMBER AND TITLE

 

BUS473           Export/Import Management

 

II.        PROFESSOR

 

Dr. Massoud Farahbakhsh

Professor, Management Department

Executive Director, Center for International Business & Economics Studies

School of Business

Salem State College- S. Campus

Salem, MA 01970-5353

 

Telephone                   (978) 542-6680 / 6608 / 7314

Fax                              (978) 542-6027

E-Mail                        massoud.farahbakhsh@salemstate.edu

Web Site                     http://www.business.salemstate.edu/cibes/

Office Location          Harrington Building (HB) 209

Office Hours               Mon. 8:30-10:00, Wed. 11:00-12:30, or by appointment 

 

III.       COURSE DESCRIPTION

 

Managing the export/import department; government regulations affecting imports; financing, insuring, transporting, and marketing of exported or imported raw materials and finished products; methods of purchasing foreign products and selling domestic goods abroad; joint marketing; licensing; distributor relations.

 

Prerequisite: BUS 370- International Business

 

IV.       COURSE OBJECTIVES

 

Students successfully completing this course will:

 

A.                 Understand the procedures and steps that must be taken to complete an international business transaction.

 

B.                 Have a basic understanding of all types of documentation involved in importing and exporting.

C.                 Be able to make decisions regarding appropriate use of agents, distributors, custom brokers, freight forwarders, governmental agencies, and financial intermediaries in international trade.

 

D.                 Understand the types, components, and uses of a Letter of Credit.

 

E.                  Have an understanding of alternatives to direct exporting, including licensing, indirect exporting, and various forms of foreign direct investment.

 

F.                  Understand the functions of various government agencies including the USDOC, U.S. Customs, and regulatory divisions of the FDA, USDA, etc. as they apply to imports and exports.

 

G.                 Understand the types of trade barriers that exist and the various special duty exemptions.

 

H.                 Know how to utilize the foreign trade zone in various types of international transactions.

 

I.                    Be able to critically analyze international marketing strategies of actual business firms and suggest ways to improve on these strategies.

 

J.                   Be able to correctly use a vocabulary of import/export business terms.

 

 

V.        REQUIRED MATERIALS

 

The Professor will provide various handouts.  The students are also encouraged to get hold of the materials that are listed on the Bibliography.                    

 

VI.      COURSE ACTIVITIES TO MEET OBJECTIVES

 

A.                 Group Project

 

The class will be divided into teams of as nearly equal size as possible.  Each team will be assigned a certain project to analyze and present to the class on the scheduled date.  Each team member should participate in some manner in the presentation.  Each team member will be expected to prepare a portion of the team's written report, which will be submitted, to the professor prior to the oral presentation.

 

The prescribed report format will be used.   This report may be reproduced and distributed to the class if desired.  The report will be graded, commented on, and returned for review of the team.  The report will then be returned to the professor. 

 

Both the Summary Letter and the Detailed Report should be typed.  The group project should be 10-20 pages in length.

 

A second team will have primary responsibility for critiquing the presentation and will be graded accordingly.  The information on the evaluation forms will be kept confidential.  

 

That portion of the class not involved in presenting a project during a class session will be expected to question assumptions, analysis, conclusion, and recommendation of the presenting team or individual; criticize any view expressed, and present alternate views and solutions.  Individuals will be graded on effectiveness and pertinent nature of the comments.

 

B.                 Individual Term Paper

 

Each student should select a product and a country that the product is currently being produced domestically, and import/export that product to another country.  See the Foreign Market Analysis Handout for more information.

 

Term Paper should be 20-30 typed pages long.

 

VII.     COURSE & GRADING POLICIES           

 

A.        Assignments

The Schedule of Assignments appears in Section VIII of this syllabus.

 

1.      Written assignments must be submitted in type written and electronic forms.  A disk containing the paper in addition to the hard copy should be provided.  MS Word is the preferred word processing program.  It is strongly recommended that the student keep a photocopy of every written assignment so that s/he will have a backup copy in case the paper is lost and thus will not incur a late-paper penalty.

 

2.      The typing format guidelines will be provided in handouts by the professor.  The student should familiarize her/himself with these guidelines early in the course and use them for all written assignments.

 

3.      All written assignments must have cover sheets (see sample handout).

 

4.      Late submission of a written assignment is not acceptable.

 

 

B.                 Attendance

Attendance at all classes is a course requirement. Each student is responsible for keeping up with all assignments and all material covered in the course, whether or not s/he was present in class.

           

In case of unexpected school closure (i.e. snow storm) on a presentation day, the first session after the opening will be the presentation day.     

 

Please turn off your cell phone before coming to class!

 

C.                 Grading

1.      The students will be graded in the following manner:

 

                                    Class Attendance, Discussion, and News Clips       15%

                                    Group Project and Peer Evaluation                          30%

                                                Written Report                                     20%

                                                            Content                        15%

                                                            Format                           5%

                                                Oral Presentation & Q/A                      5%

                                                Peer Evaluation                                     5%                                          

                                    Critiquing Team                                                          5%

                                    Individual Term Paper                                               50%

                                                Written Report                                     40%

                                                            Content                        30%

                                                            Format                         10%

                                                Oral Presentation & Q/A                      10%

 

2.      The following grading criteria will be used:

 

                                    SCORE                    GRADE      QUALITY PTS.

                                    93-100                         A                                 4.0

                                    90-92                           A-                                3.7

                                    87-89                           B+                               3.3

                                    83-86                           B                                  3.0

                                    80-82                           B-                                2.7

                                    77-79                           C+                               2.3

                                    73-76                           C                                 2.0

                                    70-72                           C-                                1.7

                                    67-69                           D+                               1.3

                                    63-66                           D                                 1.0

                                    60-62                           D-                                0.7

                                    0 -59                            F                                  0.0

 

 

VIII.    SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS

 

WEEK

DATE

TOPIC

READING ASSIGNMENT

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT

1

 

Introduction

 

 

2

 

24 Jan.

How to do a Feasibility Study

 

Submit Research Topic for Approval

Form Teams

3

 

Cultural Issues

 

Finalize Research Topics

4

5 Feb.

Marketing & Sales Strategy

Channels of Distribution

 

 

 

4

7 Feb.

Guest Speaker:

Jim Cox, US Dept. of Commerce

 

 

5

12 Feb.

Guest Speaker:

Paula Murphy, Mass-Export Center

 

 

 

5

14 Feb.

Financing & Payments

 

 

6

 

Shipping & Transportation

 

 

7

 

Documentation

 

 

8

 

Legal Issues

 

 

9

 

Government Support & Services

 

 

 

10

26 March

 

 

Due Date for Group Projects

10

28 March

Group Presentations

 

Team A Presents

Team B Critiques

 

11

2 April

Group Presentations

Team B Presents

Team A Critiques

 

12

9 April

 

 

Due Date for Individual Term Papers

12

11 April

Individual Presentations

 

 

13

18 April

Individual Presentations

 

 

14

23 April

Individual Presentations

 

 

14

25 April

Showcasing SSC International Business Projects @ King's Grant

 

 

15

30 April

Evaluation of the Team Members

Review of the Presentations Evaluation of the Course

 

 

 

 

 

IX.       SUGGESTED REFERENCES

 

Barron's                     

 

http://www.barrons.com/

Business Week

http://www.businessweek.com/

Dun &Bradstreet Directories

http://www.startingpage.com/html/business.html

Dun's Review

http://www.economist.com

The Economist

 

Financial Times

http://www.ft.com/

Forbes

http://www.forbes.com

Fortune

http://www.fortune.com/

Harvard Business Review

http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/products

Inc

http://www.inc.com

Insight

International Journal of Physical Distribution

http://insightmag.com/

Journal of Commerce

http://www.joc.com/jocweb/

 

 

Journal of International Business Studies

 

Moody's Manuals

 

Newsweek

http://www.msnbc.com/news/NW-front_Front.asp

Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys

 

The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/

Time

http://www.time.com/

The Wall Street Journal

http://www.wsj.com/

U.S.A. Today

http://www.usatoday.com/

U.S. News and World Report

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/

 

X.        WITHDRAWAL POLICY

 

The last day on which withdrawal from the course is permitted with a "W" grade is the last day of the tenth week of the semester.

 

 

XI.       COLLEGE POLICY STATEMENT

 

"Salem State College is committed to providing equal access to the educational experience for all students in compliance with Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act and The Americans with Disabilities Act and to providing all reasonable academic accommodations, aids and adjustments.  Any student who has a documented disability requiring an accommodation, aid or adjustment should speak with the instructor immediately.  Students with Disabilities who have not previously done so should provide documentation to and schedule an appointment with the Office for Students with Disabilities and obtain appropriate services."

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

Albaum, Strandskov, Duerr, and Dowd.  International Marketing and Export Management.  Addison Wesley.

 

Goldsmith, H. (1989).  Import/Export A Guide to Growth, Profits, and Market Share.  Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc.

 

Hall, D.R., (2nd ed.) (1993). International Trade Operations: A Managerial Approach. Unz & Co. Division of Scott Printing Co.

 

International Chamber of Commerce, Paris, France (1990).  INternational COmmercial TERMS (incoterms).  New York: ICC Publishing, Inc.

 

International Chamber of Commerce, Paris, France (1993).  ICC Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits.  New York: ICC Publishing, Inc.

 

International Chamber of Commerce, Paris, France (1995).  ICC Uniform Rules for Collections.  New York: ICC Publishing, Inc.

 

Karamally, Zak (1998).  Export Savvy: From Basics to Strategy.  New York: International Business Press.

           

Lanze, L.B. (1988).  Import/ Export Can make you Rich.  Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

 

Michigan Small Business Development Center (1998).  Trade Secrets: The Export/Import Answer Book for Small and Medium-Sized Exporters.  Detroit, MI: Michigan Small Business Development Center, Wayne State University. 

 

Murphy, Paula & Deacy, Susan (1998).  International Business Plan Workbook.  Boston: Mass Export Center.

 

Murr, A. (1979).   Export/ Import Traffic Management and Forwarding.  Centreville, MD: Cornell Maritime Press.

 

Neipert,  David M.  A Tour of International Trade. Prentice Hall.

 

            Nelson, Carl A.  (2000) Import/Export: How to Get Started in International Trade.  New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

 

Nultemeier, A. (1996).  New Issues of Export Control.  (2nd ed.). New Providence, NJ: The Unz & CO.

 

Policano, D. (1996).  Documentary Credits. (3rd ed.). New Providence, NJ: The Unz & CO.

 

Policano, D. (1996).  Financing International Trade. (4th ed.). New Providence, NJ: The Unz & CO.

 

Reynolds, F. (1996).  Export Documentation, Procedures, and Terms of Sale. (2nd ed.).  New Providence, NJ: The Unz & CO.

 

Root, F. (1987).  Entry Strategies for International Markets.  Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.

 

Seyoum, Belay.  Export-import Theory, Practices and Procedures.

 International Business press.

 

Sheth, J, & Eshghi, A. (1989).  Global Marketing Perspectives.  Cincinnati: South-Western Publishing Co.

 

Tuller, L. (1994). Exporting, Importing, and Beyond.  Hollbrook, MA: Bob Adams, Inc.

 

            U.S. Customs Service, (1995).  Basic Guide to Importing (3rd ed.). Lincolnwood: NTC Business Books.

 

U.S. Department of Commerce, (1995).  Importing into the United States (3rd ed.). Rocklin: Prima Publishing.

 

            U.S. Department of Commerce, (1997).  Basic Guide to Exporting.  Unpublished Internet article at http://maingate.net/us-exports/.

 

            U.S. Department of Commerce.  National Trade Data Bank: The Export Connection.  Washington, D.C.: STAT-USA.

 

U. S. Small Business Administration and AT&T, (1995).  Breaking into the Trade Game: A Small Business Guide to Exporting.  Published by private/public sector initiative between the U.S. Small Business Administration and AT&T.      

 

Watson, Cowdell, Paul & Hyde, Derek (1997).  Finance of International Trade (6th ed).  United Kingdom: Institute of Financial Services c/o The Chartered Institute of Bankers.

 

Weiss, Kenneth D., (1997).  Building an Import/Export Business (2nd ed.).  New York: John Wiley and Sons.

 

            Wolf, J.S. & Romeo, J.B. Start Thinking Export.  Unpublished Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Manuscript.     

 

            Zodl, Joseph A. Export Import: Everything you and your company need to know to compete in world markets (Revised and Updated).  Cincinnati, OH: Betterway Books.