Major Overview

In our increasingly globalized world, more and more companies are operating across international borders, making effective cross-cultural management and innovative problem-solving methods even more vital to their enterprises. As you learn to address all the functional areas of business within an international context, your classes will emphasize discipline-based knowledge, so that you develop an understanding of basic business disciplines, as well as how to integrate the concepts, models, and techniques that are associated with business. Additionally, you will be given the tools to sharpen your skills in problem solving, IT, leadership, and communication.

Featured Course

Introduction to the Business Experience

Teams compete in an international business simulation designed to introduce them to business...

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The educational goals for this major are as follows:

  • You will demonstrate critical thinking and the application of core competencies in business decision making.    
  • You will demonstrate an understanding of how firms operate in a global environment.
  • You will demonstrate the ability to communicate convincingly based on data and conceptual frameworks, in writing and orally.
  • You will work collaboratively to achieve stated organizational goals.            
  • You will apply a range of conventional and alternative frameworks and models to business decision making.
  • You will show evidence of conceptual and strategic thinking put into practice.

Learning Environment

Through small seminars and practical research, you’ll be given the space to practice problem solving, leadership, teamwork, and effective communication skills, while examining issues of global understanding, ethics, and responsibility. Our program takes full advantage of the multiple resources and support systems available thanks to our location in the heart of Paris, and these will allow you to acquire the skills you’ll need to succeed in a thriving, international environment.

Amanda

Alumna '16

AUP gave me a window onto the rest of the world and showed me...

Business Integration

Featured Course

Consists of a complex international business simulation that integrates...

Alexandra

Student

I love how international AUP students are: I’m constantly learning from their diversity.
BROWSE ALL MAJORS AND REQUIREMENTS

Core Curriculum

The International Business Administration core courses, which you must take as part of the major requirements, will provide you with the tools you’ll need to ground your present and future studies. Your introduction to the fundamentals of International Business Administration will help pave the way for your successful completion of other International Business Administration courses.

Core courses

BA1020 Foundations Of Management

The course introduces students to basic economics and management concepts and how the organizational setting influences human behavior. The course will look at management and organization topics from different domains, such as strategy, finance, marketing, operations and business ethics, to get a rich understanding of managing. Rather than presenting managing a business as a simple social technique by which managers enforce organizational standards, we will take a critical approach to understand how theory influences practice and how our perceptions of leadership and management evolve through changing contexts. An essential context is climate change caused by human activities. Anthropogenic climate change is the most significant unmet challenge facing leaders, managers, organizations and those who study them throughout this century. Through readings, in-class activities, assignments, cases and/or simulations, the course will explore how managing and organizational behavior influences the strategies of organizations and businesses. The course builds upon the active participation of students. We expect students to prepare carefully for each course meeting and engage fully in group work.

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MA1020 Applied Statistics I

Introduces the tools of statistical analysis. Combines theory with extensive data collection and computer-assisted laboratory work. Develops an attitude of mind accepting uncertainty and variability as part of problem analysis and decision-making. Topics include: exploratory data analysis and data transformation, hypothesis-testing and the analysis of variance, simple and multiple regression with residual and influence analyses.

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BA2001 Financial Accounting

This course introduces students to the financial accounting cycle and financial reporting for corporations. Students learn how to measure and record accounting data and prepare financial statements. At the end of the course, students choose a company and do an analysis of their financial statements, comparing their company against a competitor company, using financial ratios.

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BA2002 Managerial Accounting

Provides a basic introduction to the concepts of accounting for purposes of management control and management decision-making. Topics include: budgeting, budget variance analysis, cost-volume-profit relationships, product cost accounting, segment reporting and differential analysis.

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EC2010 Principles Of Microeconomics

Focuses on the role played by relative market prices in our society and on the forces of market supply and demand in determining these prices. Since the actions of consumers and firms underlie supply and demand, the course studies in detail the behavior of these two groups.

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BA2020 Management & Organizational Behavior

The course introduces students to basic Management/Organizational Behavior concepts and enables them to understand the attitude and behaviors on the individual level and the group level within organizations. Students will be enabled to use Organizational Behavior tools and theories to recognize organizational patterns within a complex social situation. Students will be provided with readings, lectures, and cases that provide a diverse and robust understanding of human interaction in organization.

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EC2020 Principles Of Macroeconomics

Examines the determinants of the levels of national income, employment, rates of interest, and prices. Studies in detail the instruments of monetary and fiscal policy, highlighting the domestic and international repercussions of their implementation.

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BA2040 Marketing In A Global Environment

This introductory marketing course develops students’ understanding of the principles of marketing and their use in international business. Students learn how to collect and analyze data sets to make marketing decisions with the goal of understanding customers wants, demands, and needs; they learn marketing from a strategic and functional point of view. With a focus on problem solving, students work in multicultural teams cultivating a greater sensitivity to cultural issues while improving communication skills. Students will consider marketing in the French, US, and international marketplace.

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BA3010 Corporate Finance

Examines finance as the practical application of economic theory and accounting data in the procurement and employment of capital funds. Applies the principles of strong fiscal planning and control to asset investment, and debt and equity financing decisions. Emphasizes sound leveraging in view of the time value of money, subject to the pernicious effects of taxation and inflation. BA 2002 recommended for simultaneous registration.

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BA3012 Business Ethics And Csr

This course explores the ethical issues that arise from the operation of business in a globalized and inter-connected economy. By applying the tools of theory, ethical analysis and personal reflection to a variety of real-life case studies, students will explore several disciplines of management practice, including marketing, operations, strategy, organizational behaviour, finance and accounting. Topical areas will be explored from multiple perspectives, including human rights, political involvement by business, sweatshop labour, the export of hazardous products, deceptive marketing practices, bribery, whistleblowing, religious/social discrimination, corporate governance, cross-cultural differences, sustainability and environmental issues, corporate social responsibility, and consumer society. The format of the course will be a series of interactive seminars and student participation is required. By the end of the course, students should have developed an organised, personally reflective approach to decision-making that can offer guidance when confronting difficult ethical dilemmas in both business and personal life.

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BA3070 Operations Management

This course is designed to introduce students to the strategic importance of various operations decisions (process and plant layout, capacity planning, job design, forecasting, quality control, inventory and supply chain management). We take both a theoretical and practical approach, beginning with a brief review of the fundamental purpose of management. We explore the strategic role of operations, study some of the problems and challenges that managers face and examine the theories and strategic tools available to tackle these issues. We take this a little further by analyzing how managerial philosophy, attitudes toward work, technology and culture can affect successful implementation of an operations strategy.

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BA3075 Legal Environment Of Business

Students will examine the legal process and the legal environment within which business must operate, as well as the interrelationship of government and business. Students develop an understanding of the methods by which legal decisions are formulated as they affect both individual rights and business transactions.

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OR
BA3084 International Business Law

Briefly examines the great legal families in the world: Common Law, Civil Law, Socialist Law, and Islamic Law. Within the Civil Law family, emphasizes French Contract Law and then explores the law of the European Union. Studies the legal aspects of international business transactions and uses major international and European projects to examine the principles discussed.

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BA3500 Management Information Systems

This course introduces students to the important managerial issues in information systems today, such as how to best use information technology to improve efficiency and effectiveness in a firm. In an attempt to improve students’ awareness and understanding of various aspects of business information systems, we adopt both a theoretical and practical approach. We begin with a brief overview of the necessity to study BIS, highlighting the strategic importance of BIS decisions. We examine various theories, concepts and strategies, with a focus on managerial challenges and best practices. Students will also learn how to use software to support business decision-making.

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BA4003 International Business

This course introduces students to the international business environment domains. It covers multinational corporation strategic imperatives and organizational challenges. It also addresses the following questions: What differentiates a global industry from a domestic one? What are the sources of competitive advantage in a global context? What organizational structural alternatives are available to multinationals?

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BA4050 Business Integration Capstone

Teams of student-managers compete in a complex international business simulation designed to allow them to demonstrate mastery of department-level, major and discipline specific learning objectives. The teams operate a company in the international athletic footwear industry. Using a hands-on experiential approach, teams make strategic management, marketing, human resources, operations, facilities, finance, and corporate social responsibility decisions over ten fiscal years. Students are evaluated on their company’s performance, but also on written individual and group analyses of the simulation and on a final comprehensive exam. Please note this course has a fee.

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BA4080 Strategic Management: A Global Persp.

Through readings, in-class activities, assignments and cases, the course will explore how Strategic Management influences the direction of organizations and businesses and how theoretical and societal trends influence practices in these areas. The course follows a participative model, so students are expected to be prepared and attend each course meeting.

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