With rapid globalization, the world today stands greatly interconnected politically, socially and economically. In this scenario, in order for future managers to understand the internationalization that businesses have undergone in the past few decades, taking up International Business as a subject has become significantly important. Previously, importance was given to domestic markets, but now the boundaries separating international and national businesses have been consciously blurred. Experienced expatriates command a significant premium in compensation and hence a lot of students doing their MBA/PGDM are attracted towards pursuing a career of becoming a globetrotting sought-after manager.
Notwithstanding a scenario where you are working for a large MNC and do not have any aspiration to travel abroad, know that you still need to understand the importance of cross-cultural communication for connecting with partners who are working overseas. The main reason for this is that, future managers may find themselves working with foreign buyers, suppliers or vendors or may work in businesses which are affected by foreign competition that sells products and services in the home market.
Viewed from this stand-point, International Businesshas an interdisciplinary approach as it draws on subject knowledge from economics, social sciences (such as geography, history, political science), and also management related fields such as marketing, finance, human resources, operations and logistics. A majority of students will not only find International Business extremely fun and interesting but may also find that there is an overwhelming amount of information that is being thrown their way while studying the subject.
International Business subject knowledge can typically enable a student to look at business from a holistic perspective and, therefore, teach them not get restricted by functional silos, (marketing, Finance, HR etc.), which often are sought after for specialization. The subject can also be a specialization of choice for students who come from a family business background as they would eventually be able to strive to take their domestic business overseas. Thus, International Business knowledge can broaden their horizons and enable them to take successful domestic business to international frontiers.
The important questions that International Business specialization answers are things that determines the success and failure of a firm doing business globally. Hence, if you are looking to understand the nuances of global economy and how it can be a potential battlefield for your domestic business, then International Business is an area you should focus on specializing in.
Some of the new age management career profiles that are now strongly opening up include International Marketing Manager, Business Analyst, Global Human Resource Consultant, and Trade Finance Executive. Let us take a closer look at these profiles and their respective key responsibility areas:
International Marketing Manager
Also known as global marketing managers, International Marketing Managers generally work for large corporations to trade products or services to clients in other countries. Capability to converse in a second language may be required here. Also critical for this profile are strong interpersonal and leadership skills. Besides, flexibility is also crucial to travel repeatedly and for long periods of time as they generally have to plan and schedule their trips in advance and may also need to obtain business visas, schedule meetings with diverse people in foreign countries, and coordinate promotional events.
Business Analyst
Normally accessible with firms which have local as well as global commercial interests, International Business Analyst jobs involve data study activities to facilitate business growth.
Among the manifold responsibilities of an international business analyst include the task of carrying out financial analysis, creating domestic and global budgets documents, aiding proposal strategy, developing business plans to facilitate project management, giving precise and timely information as needed, supervising international and local project plans, widening of strategic initiatives, warranting effective utilization of resources, and implementing all internal and external forms as per set of international laws. Additionally, an international business analyst can also act as leader for assigned projects and may train and mentor junior staff.
Global Human Resource Consultant
The role of Global Human Resource Consultant requires serving as the role of “advisor”, and being a central face of contact for assignees at every stage of assignment. Here, the person will also remain the chief point-of-contact for stakeholders in global, regional as well as local HR Business Partners, Compensation & Benefits team members and line management to make sure the company’s high quality standards and timelines are achieved.
A vital component of this job profile is the ability of pro-active communication. This is important because it vouchsafes understanding and dedication of all stakeholders involved in international transfers/migration. This requires discussing with HR Business Partners/business line management & supporting them in decision making on assignments set up by discussing mobility policy related questions, offering costs projections, studying details of tax & social security implications & finally creating proposals to guarantee best and consistent practice is applied globally. Furthermore, advising, counselling and assisting expatriates throughout the assignment lifecycle, applying analytical, problem solving & counselling competencies as well as sharing useful information & contacts are some of the other additional job responsibilities of a Global Human Resource Consultant.
Trade Finance Executive
One of the key area within a trading company is the Trade Finance profile. This is because, some key tasks for any successful company include the capabilities to both raise liquidity from its financial partners and mitigate credit and performance exposure of trading counterparties.
So it is that, the Trade Finance team can have several key partners, including but not limited to, external Banking & Insurance partners, external counterparties, Traders, Operations, Deals Desk, Tax, Treasury, Credit, and Compliance. A few of the activities carried out by a trade finance executive can be listed as below:
· Issuing of Letters of Credit and Bank Guarantees relating to the Company’s purchases of commodities and ensuring that both cargoes and storage facilities are financed and insured in a timely manner.
· Heading analysis, monitoring, improvement and awareness of the Company’s financial risks.
· Creating suitable finance judgments, including overseeing cost efficiency, diversity of financing resource, and minimum use of the Company’s own cash.
· Offering guidance to Finance Officers and Traders in difficult or unfamiliar situations.
· Accepting responsibility for the upholding of the regional bank lines as well as working as the Company’s main liaison with the company’s banking partners.
Therefore, as we can see, studying international business during MBA/PGDM opens up a whole world of great global career opportunities for management aspirants. However, the important thing to remember here is that one should be doing his MBA/PGDM course from one of the top MBA/PGDM colleges in India that has a well-defined course curriculum woven around the subject of International Business. It is here that you may find the PGDM course taught at Asian Business School, Noida far superior than all its peers.
The main reason behind this claim is that, ABS strongly focuses on creating global leaders and hence it organizes fully sponsored International Study Tour to Oxford Business College, London, UK for all its PGDM students. This Oxford Study Program at ABS is quintessentially designed to give students the wonderful opportunity to earn Executive Diploma in International Business while residing in Oxford, UK. Apart from classroom study, the ABS Oxford Program includes participation in project work and on-site visits to historical and cultural venues in Oxford and London, U.K. This whole study tour is so conducted as to make sure that the students get a perfect exposure to the International Business World and gain firsthand knowledge about the best global practices obtaining worldwide.
