IEMBA: International Finance                                     

Fall 2008

 

Goal:

This course will discuss selected topics in International finance. The goal is to provide managers with perspective on some of the key issues they will face in the international business environment.

 

Reaching Me:

I can be reached by phone at x7-1570 or by email at evansm1@georgetown.edu. Office hours will be announced in the first class.

 

Mechanics:

The course comprises of 4 meetings. Classes will be mixed between a lecture format, case presentations and discussions. There are three short cases that will be discussed in class. NB The first case will be discussed in Meeting 2. The take home final exam will also take the form of a case.

 

Grading:

Grades will  be apportioned as follows:

 

Final Exam (Take Home)                 50%

Cases                                             40%

Class Participation                          10%

 

Class participation will be judged according to your contribution to the class, not the number of comments.

 

Cases:

For the cases, students will form groups of maximum size six.  Each group will submit a short write-up for the cases.  Every student in the group must retain a copy of the write-up and bring it to the class where the case is discussed. As with actual practice in business, all of the cases are written to focus on issues, not answers, and as such are ambiguous.  There are often no “right answers” to cases, only good arguments and bad arguments for taking particular actions or decisions.  There is sometimes a limited amount of quantitative information on which to make a decision and thus it is often impossible to compute a precise numerical answer.

 

Reading:

The textbook for the course is:  Michael Melvin, International Money and Finance(7’th ed; Addison-Wesley, 1995) There will be a course packet containing cases and readings, and lecture notes. Electronic copies of slides and other materials are available below to enrolled students. (The necessary username and password will be distributed at the first class or can be obtained from the IEMBA office.)

 

Agenda:

 

Meeting 1:    

  1. Introduction
  2. Exchange Rates and the Foreign Exchange Markets Lecture Notes

 

Reading:

Melvin Chapters 1 and 5,  Chapter 3 (optional) 

Bank for International Settlements Survey of the FX Market

 

Case Preparation: International Equity Equitycase.xls

 

Meeting 2:    

  1. Exchange Rates and Equity Markets Lecture Notes
  2. Discussion of the International Equity case
  3. Exchange Rate Exposure and Hedging Lecture Notes Options Additional Lecture Notes

 

Case Preparation: Lufthansa

Reading:

Melvin Chapter 6, Chapter 7 (optional)

 

 

 

Meeting 3:    

  1. Discussion of the Lufthansa case
  2. China, Past Present and Future Lecture Notes

 

Case Preparation: Designing a China Strategy

Reading:

China: Rebalancing Economic Growth

       The Chinese Currency: Background and the Current Debate

A Progress Report on China’s Exchange Rate Policies

 

 

Meeting 4:    

  1. Discussion of the China Strategy case
  2. Financial Integration and Global Imbalances Lecture Notes

 

 

Reading:

Global Imbalances: Do They Matter?

Examining Global Imbalances

U.S. and global Imbalances: Can Dark Matter Prevent a Big Bang?

         Sub-prime Crises

 

 

Take Home Final