Course Description

Usually business courses and textbooks may assume that privates and firms operate in only a single country and that differences between countries are irrelevant. However, since the end of World War II, the foreign activities of firms have grown substantially, and this growth, if anything, appears to be accelerating. Privates and firms of all types and sizes now face decisions about how to best obtain and deploy resources abroad. Furthermore, significant differences between countries have persisted, and these give rise to considerable variation in the prevalence of market imperfections.

As a consequence, basic financial decisions now involve cross-border complexities. 

This course will discuss a wide range of topics in business law policy and research. 

Course Aims and Objectives

The aim of the course will be to expose students to key issues that have been examined in the literature, to current “hot” topics, and to the tools and modes of argument used in such analyses and discussions. Topics to be discussed include business contracts, intellectual property, corporations, antitrust, finance, cross-country differences in corporate and securities law, the causes of the financial crisis, and the design of financial regulations to reduce the incidence and costs of financial crises.

Therefore, it will be the fundamental goal of the course to provide students with a deep understanding of business law issues in a global setting. The course aims to help students develop analytical tools that incorporate key international considerations into fundamental business decisions. The cases provide opportunities to build the skills needed to create and capture value across borders.

Learning Outcomes

The course is intended for students who will be involved in cross-border investment and financing decisions as multinational firm managers, transaction advisors (investment bankers, commercial bankers, or consultants), or investors (research analysts or money managers). Moreover, the course is directed to students seeking to have the foundations of business law with particular attention to issues related to international finance and economics as well.

Therefore, at the end of the course students will be able to:

1. achieve a basic understanding of the international business law environment;

2. examine legal aspects of international business with particular reference to the formation of business contracts, the sale of goods, the international commercial arbitration, the intellectual property, the distribution, the corporations;

3. offer a comparative approach so as to understand how legal problems are treated in different social and cultural environment;

4. enable students to identify the key legal risks of engaging in international business and to make business decisions necessary to operate a business in the international legal environment;

5. achieve a critical understanding of global ethical concerns and corporate responsibilities of international business.

Teaching Methods 

The lessons will be structured both on class lectures (also through power point presentations) and analysis and discussion of hypothetical and real-life case studies.

The course will have two types of sessions. In the first part, the instructor will conduct a discussion of assigned readings on a given topic in the field. In the second one, outside speakers – both prominent practitioners and academics – will discuss relevant issues in business law policy, research, and practice.

On average, students will read about 30 pages of the core text book for each class, plus the readings assigned per week.

The basic concept for this course’s reading is to use both the core text book and some newspaper articles to examine a business law feature’s current relevance, then move into law reviews and other academic writings to see how the current event implicates basic structural issues of understanding the international business.

The distribution of readings will be based on the following average percentage:

- Law firm memos, miscellaneous                       2%

- Newspapers, Magazines                                   2%

- Economics journals and similar                       16%

- Law reviews, law books, and similar                 80%

Attendance Policy

Attendance is a key of pedagogical importance. Successful progress towards a degree depends on the full cooperation of both students and faculty members. The student is responsible for requesting assistance from faculty members for making up any missed work.  

Internet/e-mail/IM/wi-fi, etc.: They are great and should be used widely, but not in class during the lessons.

Assessment Method Statement

Students are expected to attend the course regularly. Because students will have thought critically about the topic and the relative readings before each session, the sessions are expected to contain a great deal of student discussion.

Thus, it is strongly recommended that all students will choose to regularly participate in the discussion, and good class participation would raise a student’s grade. As a consequence, each lesson will have a students’ intervention approach based both on voluntary and “encouraged” participation. 

There will be a mid-term and a final exam, and the former will count not just favorably and will operate both to lower or increase a student’s grade.