Global Business

The nationally recognized major in Global Business prepares students for a career in international business, public and not-for-profit service, as well as graduate study in a number of disciplines including law, finance, business and government.

The University's language programs in Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Japanese and Spanish support this program.

Global Business is presented as a process of understanding how cultures and political systems manage their economics, and the rules and procedures that nations create to permit and encourage businesses to operate within their borders. To understand foreign business situations, an emphasis is placed on developing knowledge of and sensitivity to both the cultural and political climates of host countries.

Students completing the Global Business major will gain an understanding of:

Issues facing organizations operating beyond their domestic borders
Problems and opportunities faced by developing nations as they attempt to grow their economies
Selected major trading relationships of the United States (China, Mexico, Japan, the EU); the major trading blocs (e.g., NAFTA, the European Union, MERCOSUR, etc.); the major U.S. and world agencies that support global trade, development, and investment; and the positive and negative impacts that all these entities have on national cultures, standards of living, civil liberties, and business in general

Students are encouraged to develop a geographic area of emphasis or concentration through interdisciplinary study. Linked to the academic study of issues and practices are the requirements that students become proficient in a second language and that they study abroad. Approval from either the Global Business Hunsaker Chair, or the Business Department Chair, is required for all interdisciplinary and overseas-study aspects of the degree.

Requirements

1. Prerequisite Courses

We advise students to complete the majority of their prerequisite courses no later than the spring of their sophomore year. GLB 228 should be taken early, in the first academic year, if possible, followed by GLB 240 U.S. Business Law. Transfer students must take GLB 228 in their first semester, unless exempted, in writing, by the chair. All prerequisite courses must be taken for a numerical grade and students must earn a minimum grade of 3.0 in each course.

The following courses are prerequisites to the required major courses. Substitutions to these requirements can be made only with the written approval of the Department Chair. Some also satisfy Liberal Arts Foundation requirements.

• BUS 136 Principles of Global Marketing
• ECON 101 Principles of Economics
• Any ECON 200-level or higher course, or any other international course from any discipline at the 300- level or higher
• GLB 228 Globalization 1870 to Present
• GLB 240 U.S. Business Law
• POLI 202 Statistical Analysis and Mapping of Social Science Data, or MATH 111 Elementary Statistics and Probability with Applications
• ACCT 210 Principles of Financial Accounting
• ACCT 220 Principles of Managerial Accounting

2. Core Courses

• BUS 310 Principles of Management and Organization Behavior or BUS 410 Organizational Consulting
• GLB 336 International Business (4)
• GLB 353 Financial Management (4)
• GLB 356 International Finance (4)
• GLB 457 Strategic Issues in Global Business (4)
• GLB 459 Business Policy and Strategy (4)
• Two additional GLB 300 or 400 series Advanced International Business courses (3–4 credits; includes study abroad course)
• Two International Courses: At least two International courses chosen from the following areas: Economics, Environmental Studies, History, Political Science, Art, Asian Studies, Latin American Studies, Psychology, International Relations, Sociology and Anthropology, or Religion; at the 300 level or above. The department is open to International courses from other disciplines, subject to relevance.

3. Additional Requirements

• If no second ECON course, then one more international elective at the 300-400 level, is required.
• Study Abroad: Minimum of one semester abroad, with additional study abroad recommended and supported by the department.
• Language proficiency: Testing placement at the entry point to the 400 level of a foreign language by graduation. This means the student will have completed the 302-level course with at least a grade of 3.0 in the final semester, or the equivalent. For languages not found in the UR Catalog offering, including Arabic, students must provide appropriate documentation to the Department Chair.
• Foreign-language study: All students must take at least 8 credits of a foreign language. Students who are already proficient may take the required 8 credits either in the language(s) in which they are proficient or in another language.
• The expectation of the major is that students will take at least 8 credits of language relevant to their area of concentration.