Course description

Title of the Teaching Unit

Europe today & tomorrow: business, strategy and foresight

Code of the Teaching Unit

22MEP40

Academic year

2026 - 2027

Cycle

Number of credits

Number of hours

Quarter

Weighting

Site

Anjou

Teaching language

English

Teacher in charge

CLAEYE Frederik

Objectives and contribution to the program

1.1 COURSE OBJECTIVES
This course is designed to provide both applied and theoretical insights into conducting business in Europe, a significant global economic and political player. It offers an in-depth exploration of the European business landscape within a globalized context, equipping students with the knowledge and skills necessary to successfully navigate the complexities of European markets and business environments.

The curriculum integrates fundamental theories and concepts with practical applications, linking them to the specific context of European business through a series of case studies and discussions. Emphasizing real-world scenarios, the course develops students' ability to analyze business environments, make informed decisions, and collaborate effectively, while also fostering an understanding of ethical and societal impacts.

Moreover, the course addresses the multicultural and international dimensions critical for conducting business across Europe. By the end of the course, students will have a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Europe, preparing them for future roles in an interconnected global economy.

As such, the course objectives are:

1. Comprehensive Understanding of European Business
Objectives:
• To provide students with a thorough understanding of the European Union's structure, functionality, and business environment.
• To link theoretical knowledge with practical business applications in Europe through case studies and exercises.
Corresponding Competencies:
• Critical Thinking (2.1, 2.2): Analyzing complex organizational systems and understanding the interrelation between various economic, social, and political factors.
• Decision-making (4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.5): Identifying key issues and their potential consequences, assessing different perspectives, and making responsible management decisions within the European context.

2. Fostering Ethical and Societal Responsibility
Objectives:
• To instill a strong sense of ethical responsibility and an awareness of environmental issues in business decision-making.
• To encourage students to consider the societal impacts of their managerial decisions.
Corresponding Competencies:
• Ethical Decision-Making (4.5): Making responsible and sustainable business decisions that balance organizational goals with societal and environmental considerations.

3. Effective Multicultural Communication and Collaboration
Objective:
• To enhance students' ability to communicate and collaborate effectively in multicultural and international settings, emphasizing clear and structured communication across languages and cultures.
Corresponding Competencies:
• Communication (6.1, 6.2): Articulating complex ideas clearly and adapting communication styles to diverse audiences.
• Collaboration (7.1, 7.2, 7.4): Facilitating teamwork and leadership in multicultural contexts.

4. Innovation and Strategic Thinking
Objective:
• To develop students' ability to generate innovative solutions to complex business challenges in Europe, considering emerging technologies and market trends.
Corresponding Competencies:
• Conceiving Sustainable Futures (3.4, 3.5): Integrating sustainable practices into business strategies.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Fluent in English
Good basic knowledge of economics, business, management and political developments and concepts.
Good knowledge of global current events.

Content

Doing Business in Europe
The module is designed to provide applied and theoretical insights into doing business in Europe. Europe is a major world trade partner and a major player on the global economic and political scene. As such, it is important for (future) managers to understand what it takes to do business in Europe.

Strategic Foresight: The Future of European Business
This part of the course equips students with the mindset and toolkit of strategic foresight to think rigorously about the long-term future of the European Union and of doing business in Europe. In a context shaped by geopolitical reordering, technological acceleration, climate transition and demographic change, the ability to anticipate, prepare for and shape multiple plausible futures has become a core managerial competence. Rather than treating the future as something to be predicted, students learn to approach it as plural, uncertain and partly shapeable. Through a structured arc of horizon scanning, mapping of driving forces and critical uncertainties, scenario development and strategic implications, students will explore how European companies and institutions can build futures readiness. Working in small groups on company profiles, students will translate scenario insight into strategic options and present their analyses at successive stages, developing both analytical rigour and the capacity to communicate under uncertainty.

Teaching methods

Doing Business in Europe:
Case method teaching

Strategic Foresight: The Future of European Business
Two-day intensive workshop combining short conceptual inputs, structured group exercises and plenary discussions. Students work throughout in small groups (4–5 students) on assigned company profiles, moving sequentially through scanning, uncertainty mapping, scenario building and strategy formulation. Groups present their work in progress at successive stages, with peer and tutor feedback. Active facilitation techniques (including 1-2-4-all) are used to ensure broad participation and to surface diverse perspectives across the cohort.

Assessment method

Doing business in Europe
Class participation & a group assignment. Non-participation or non-submission of group work results in a score of zero (0) for the entire module.

Strategic Foresight: The Future of European Business
Evaluation combines continuous in-workshop contribution (active participation in scanning, uncertainty mapping and scenario exercises; quality of staged group presentations during the two days) with a final group deliverable consisting of a scenario set and a set of strategic implications for the group’s assigned European company, presented in plenary at the end of the workshop. Groups are assessed on analytical rigour, quality of reasoning under uncertainty, internal coherence of scenarios, robustness of strategic recommendations, and clarity of communication.

Assessments in the August session may differ from those in the January session. Specific instructions will be posted on Moodle.

Calculation method

For the ICHEC department, where a teaching unit (UE) comprises several learning activities (AA), the overall grade for the UE is calculated as follows:
- If all the scores obtained for the different learning activities are greater than or equal to 10/20, the overall score will be the weighted arithmetic mean (based on the relative importance of each of the AAs in the UE) of these scores.
- If at least one of the scores obtained for an AA is less than 10/20, the overall score will then be the weighted geometric mean of the AA scores.
These modes of calculation apply when a Teaching Unit consists of several learning activities.

References

Strategic Foresight: The Future of European Business
Inayatullah, S. (2008). Six pillars: Futures thinking for transforming. Foresight, 10(1), 4–21.
Schwartz, P. (1996). The art of the long view: Planning for the future in an uncertain world. Currency Doubleday.
Van der Heijden, K. (2005). Scenarios: The art of strategic conversation (2nd ed.). Wiley.
Ramirez, R., & Wilkinson, A. (2016). Strategic reframing: The Oxford scenario planning approach. Oxford University Press.
Voros, J. (2003). A generic foresight process framework. Foresight, 5(3), 10–21.
Rohrbeck, R., & Kum, M. E. (2018). Corporate foresight and its impact on firm performance: A longitudinal analysis. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 129, 105–116.
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS). Annual Global Trends Reports.
European Commission. Strategic Foresight Reports (annual).
OECD Strategic Foresight Unit publications.

Doing Business in Europe
Acocella, N. (2020). The European Monetary Union: Europe at the Crossroads. Cambridge University Press.
Alarcón, V. F., Hadad, S., & Goia (Agoston), S. I. (2018). European Union between the big bang and the big crunch. In A. M. Dima (Ed.), Doing Business in Europe: Economic Integration Processes, Policies, and the Business Environment (pp. 1–19). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72239-9_1
Alexandre-Collier A, Schnapper P and Usherwood S (eds) (2022) The Nested Games of Brexit. London, UK: Routledge.
Baimbridge, M., Litsios, I., Jackson, K., & Lee, U. R. (2017). The Segmentation of Europe: Convergence or Divergence between Core and Periphery? Springer.
Baldwin, R., & Wyplosz, C. (2021). The Economics of European Integration (6th edition). McGraw-Hill.
Bulmer, S., Parker, O., Bache, I., George, S., Burns, C., Bulmer, S., Parker, O., Bache, I., George, S., & Burns, C. (2020). Politics in the European Union (5th ed.). Oxford University Press.
Duarte Alonso, A., Kok, S., & O’Brien, S. (2019). Uncertainty and adaptation in the context of Brexit: An entrepreneurial action and dynamic capabilities approach. European Business Review, 31(6), 885–909. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-05-2018-0101
Farkas, B. (2016). Models of capitalism in the European Union. Palgrave Macmillan. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/978-1-137-60057-8
Gorynia, M., Jankowska, B., & Mroczek-Dabrowska, K. (2021). Brexit and the Future of the European Union: Firm-Level Perspectives. Routledge.
Hall, P. A. (2014). Varieties of Capitalism and the Euro Crisis. West European Politics, 37(6), 1223–1243. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2014.929352
Kalff, D., & Renda, A. (2020). Hidden treasures: Mapping Europe’s sources of competitive advantage in doing business. Centre for European Policy Studies.
Ketels, C., & Porter, M. (n.d.). Towards a New Approach for Upgrading Europe’s Competitiveness—Working Paper—Faculty & Research—Harvard Business School. Retrieved 3 September 2022, from https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55046
Ketels, C., & Porter, M. E. (2020). Rethinking the role of the EU in enhancing European competitiveness. Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal, 31(2), 189–207. https://doi.org/10.1108/CR-08-2020-0100
Khorana, S., & García, M. (Eds.). (2018). Handbook on the EU and International Trade. Edward Elgar. https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-on-the-eu-and-international-trade-9781785367465.html
Miron, D. (2018). The Single European Market: Challenges for doing business. In A. M. Dima (Ed.), Doing Business in Europe: Economic Integration Processes, Policies, and the Business Environment (pp. 21–50). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72239-9_2
O’Rourke, K. (2019). A Short History of Brexit: From Brentry to Backstop. Penguin UK.
Pollitt, M. G. (2019). The European Single Market in Electricity: An Economic Assessment. Review of Industrial Organization, 55(1), 63–87. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11151-019-09682-w
Schweiger, C., & Visvizi, A. (2018). Central and Eastern Europe in the EU: Challenges and perspectives under crisis conditions. Routledge.
Suder, G., & Lindeque, J. (2018). Doing business in Europe (3rd ed.). SAGE.