Welcome to MN3495 Clusters, Small Business and International Entrepreneurship

The aims:

1. To build on the strategy and international business courses taught in the BSc Management, and complement them with a perspective on the same issues but with a focus on SMEs - Small and Medium Enterprises, new firms and industrial clusters

2. To provide an understanding of the different way in which small and medium companies compete – their advantages, such as flexibility, and their disadvantages, such as resource constraints

3. To explain the functioning of clusters and the role of location in shaping companies’ strategies, opportunities and competitiveness

4. To provide a theoretical as well as a practical outlook of collaborative strategies as a means for small companies to compete in the global economy

5. To explain how small companies and multinationals interact, linking this course to others that focus on the functioning of multinationals

Teaching & Learning Methods:

The course will be taught through ten lectures of 2 hours and nine 1 hour long workshops. The workshops will include presentations, the discussion of case studies and varied group exercises. Lectures  will include guest speakers (entrepreneurs).