Courses

Business

Chinese Business Ethics

Business ethics is applied ethics. It is the application of our understanding of what is good and right to the assortment of institutions, technologies, transactions, activities, and pursuits that we call business. Business transactions are for the most part carried out within market structures. We need to examine the ethical aspects of the market activities.

The process of producing goods forces businesses to engage in exchanges and interactions with two main external environments: the natural environment and a consumer environment. We need to explore the ethical issues raised by these exchanges and interactions. The process of producing goods also forces businesses to coordinate the activities of the various internal constituencies that must be brought together and organized into the processes of production. We also need to explore some of the ethical issues raised by these internal conflicts.

Apart from discussing general ethical principles including Utilitarianism, the principle of rights, the principle of justice, the principle of attention and the principle of virtue, emphasis is laid on the impact of the Chinese cultural tradition and its socialist market economic system. Cases will be provided for discussion and students are required to take an active part in it.

• Subject: Business
• Course Level: 200
• Language: English
• Contact Hours: 45
• Recommended Credits: 3
• Prerequisites: None

Environmental Protections in China

This course focuses on the relation between environmental quality and the economic behavior of individuals and business organizations and the efforts human beings have made to stop degradation of the natural environment.

The course explores how serious the environmental problems are in the world with more emphases on the issues China is facing and the economic policies and activities that have induced the environment degradation. It also examines the rough route the international community has taken to work out agreements to stop the Earth from deteriorating and the key issues that have kept countries from reaching the agreements.

This course includes a number of fi­eld trips to get the ­first-hand experiences on the issue.

• Subject: Business
• Course Level: 200
• Language: English
• Contact Hours: 45
• Recommended Credits: 3
• Prerequisites: None

Experimental Study of Global Culture

Globalization is in essence about changing perception of space and time. Globalization predisposes cultural globalization and cultural globalization thus refers to the process of changes of global cultures. As a higher-level course in Intercultural Communication, this course is an experimental, task-based course designed to help overseas students to acquire a better understanding of this dynamic view of global cultures in China. The main concerns are not only the phenomenon of global village, which is the result of “medium is the message”, due to the “eff­ect of technology”, but also the directions and models of changing cultures and their possible impact on intercultural communication and cultural identification. Through surveys and team projects with Chinese students, students are encouraged to provide potential answers to such questions as the following:

Which directions is cultural globalization orientated towards? Is it oriented toward localization or globalization? Or unity within diversity in which globalization and localization, “us” and “others” are complementally co-present, interact and reciprocate? Is the “present being separated and isolated from the past and modernity from tradition? Or is the “present” embedded in the past and modernity in tradition so that the past and tradition provided the network of meanings that gives meaning to the “present” and modernity?

At its most basic level, it should prepare you to meet the challenges of contemporary society with intelligence, forethought, and responsible behavior by empowering you with the necessary knowledge and skills to interact successfully with people, cultures and societies that may seem strange or unfamiliar.

• Subject: Business
• Course Level: 200
• Language: English
• Contact Hours: 45
• Recommended Credits: 3
• Prerequisites: None

Economics

Chinese Economic and Business Systems

This course provides an introduction to the Chinese economic and business systems and to the major strategic and operational issues facing multinational corporations doing business in China. Topics include China’s governmental and regulatory systems, foreign market entry modes, managing foreign businesses in China, industry studies, strategic management in China, and China after the W.T.O.

• Subject: Economics
• Course Level: 200
• Language: English
• Contact Hours: 45
• Recommended Credits: 3
• Prerequisites: None

Chinese Economic and Social Developments and Problems

This course focuses on major issues of current Chinese economy. China has had a rapid economic growth since 1990s as a result of many reforms. With rich materials and vivid pictures, the course will touch upon China’s economic reform and discuss some problems accompany with the reform in the past three decades (1978-2008). It will help students understand more deeply and broadly about China’s new economic and social developments. Topics of this course include: Chinese economic reform and development, agriculture and rural area, ­financial system, income gap, employment, foreign trade, foreign direct investment, exchange rate of RMB and so on.

• Subject: Economics
• Course Level: 200
• Language: English
• Contact Hours: 45
• Recommended Credits: 3
• Prerequisites: None

Marketing

China in the Globalizing Age

This course intends to introduce to the beginners of Chinese studies the basic concepts of Chinese belief systems and social structures. We shall discuss topics such as: Chinese cultural identity; Confucianism and utilitarianism in Chinese thinking; Harmony and conflict in childrearing values; Values and styles in communication; Education in China; New insights into identity rakings among young adults; Chinese consumers and new elites in China; etc. Students are encouraged to make comparative studies between belief systems and social structures of China and those of his/her own country. On completion of this course students will improve their sensitivity to differences and similarities of different cultures and develop their abilities in cross-cultural thinking in a globalizing age.

• Subject: Marketing
• Course Level: 200
• Language: English
• Contact Hours: 45
• Recommended Credits: 3
• Prerequisites: None

Marketing Strategies in China

The course aims to focus on the multinational corporations’ marketing strategies and operational issues facing multinational corporations in doing business in the Chinese market. On completion of this course, students will be able to: Understand the developments in international marketing; Appreciate how China’s recent economic and political history has shaped its business environment for foreign ­firms; Apply basic principles to understanding the management of international marketing in the Chinese context; Understand how to adopt 4 P’s and SWOT strategies to analyze ­firms; Explore the successful strategies the international ­firms adopt in marketing in China.

• Subject: Marketing
• Course Level: 200
• Language: English
• Contact Hours: 45
• Recommended Credits: 3
• Prerequisites: None

Political Science

Chinese Culture and Leadership Behavior

This course intends to introduce to the leadership behavior characterized by Chinese traditional culture, which is different from the leadership behavior based on Western culture emphasizing the individualism as opposed to collectivism. Chinese culture is influenced by Confucianism and Taoism since ancient times, and the modern leadership behavior is also impacted by the two school of traditional culture. Therefore, we shall discuss the topics such as: the leadership style characterized by Confucianism, the leadership style characterized by Taoism, the leadership model with Chinese characteristics, how to lead Chinese people, the motivation model with Chinese characteristics, the team building model with Chinese characteristics, the implication for leadership of the book named “the analects of Confucius”, the implication for leadership of the book named “the Tao Te Ching”. Students are encouraged to make comparative studies between Chinese leadership behavior and those of their own countries. On completion of this course students will improve their sensitivity to differences and similarities of different cultures and develop their leadership abilities in international ages.

• Subject: Political Science
• Course Level: 300
• Language: English
• Contact Hours: 45
• Recommended Credits: 3
• Prerequisites: None

Sociology

Human Resource Management

This course will help students understand how the management of people is influenced by the social, ethical, and legal environment; by diversity in the work place; by the organizational culture; and by the business strategy. Students will learn how to perform the following activities:  selecting employees; career development; evaluating and rewarding performance; and managing conflict. Topics will include: the strategic, legal, and global human resource environments; planning and job analysis; recruiting; performance management; training and development.

• Subject: Sociology
• Course Level: 200
• Language: English
• Contact Hours: 45
• Recommended Credits: 3
• Prerequisites: None