Trade Mission

6 ECTS credits
180 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 4020083ENR for all students in the 1st and 2nd semester at a (E) Master - advanced level.

Semester

1st and 2nd semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Enrollment Requirements

Studenten kunnen dit opleidingsonderdeel pas opnemen na een selectie en enkel in een afstudeerfase. Studenten kunnen niet zelf registreren voor dit vak. Gelieve contact op te nemen met professor Dooms (selectieprocedure) of je studietrajectbegeleider (registratie).

Taught in

Dutch

Faculty

Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool

Department

Business

Educational team

Michael Dooms (course titular)
Bruno Moeremans
Magali Geerts
Fiona Maureen Courtens
Laura Molinari
Fanny Soyeur
Lynn Faut

Activities and contact hours

24 contact hours Lecture
20 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
256 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

The trade mission is a practical project in which the student executes an assignment in an emerging economy, on behalf of an organization (principal). The project contains following phases:

Selection of participating students
Prospection of interested companies/organizations (hereafter referred to as “the principal”)
Formulation of an assignment
Training within the organization of the principal
Preparation of the assignment from Belgium
Execution of the assignment on location (3 calendar weeks)
Reporting

As a consequence, the 'trade mission' concerns the logistical organisation as a team member as well as elaborating and realizing an individual assignment on the spot.

The tasks preceding the mission concern amongst others (not exhaustive):

Selection of destination
Drawing up a brochure
Maintaining contacts with public services (amongst others Flanders Investment & Trade) and employers associations
Prospection of interested companies/organisations
Following a series of lessons on International Business (with guest speakers)
Administrative tasks regarding logistics organisation such as booking of trip and lodging, arranging visa, etc.
Training within the principal organization
Proposing the content of the individual assignment to academic staff
Preparatory report

On the spot students focus on:

Elaborating the individual assignment
Participation to events organised by local representatives of diverse services and organisations of foreign policy and trade
Mutual support between team members.

Academic staff takes care of active follow-up during the project. While preparing the trade mission this will be by means of follow-up meetings with a delegation of the trade mission team every fortnight as well as by ad hoc advice for specific problems, representational promotion and networking activities, contacts with public and private partners and associations, etc. Furthermore, a number of plenary meetings will be held with all participants.

Academic staff will act as an advisor concerning (1) choice of destination (2) acceptability of certain assignments. An academic supervisor will be present on the spot during a part of the mission, especially to start up activities.

The academic supervisor (and the educational team):

Accompanies the group during official contacts at the start of the mission abroad
Is available at the start up for ad hoc advice and coaching to students concerning contents of the assignment
Will be present as an advisor during daily staff meetings of the trade mission team

Additional info

Education and learning methods

Group and individual guidance by the titular and the assistant.

Lectures in the form of 'invited lectures' by experts can be provided during the preparation.

(!) If a student cannot participate to the trade mission due to insufficient commitment, inappropriate and/or unprofessional behaviour, force majeure or due to not finding the sufficient number of commissioning organizations, the student is expected to take an alternative course. This decision is taken and communicated at the latest before the start of the second semester.

The work is divided into the following steps:

Work activities selection process
Work activities preparation
Work activities on site (field work)
Final reporting and aftercare

(1) Selection process:

During the 6 months prior to the academic year in which the trade mission takes place, a selection process is organized by the titular. Prior information sessions are organized in which the different deadlines and requirements for submitting applications are communicated. Electronic mailings also take place via the faculty. An extensive information document is available on the page of the course on the electronic learning platform.

The criteria used for the selection are:

Academic results and information about the study trajectory
Oral and written reporting skills
Communication and social skills (including English language proficiency, dealing with multicultural context)
Demonstrable experience in entrepreneurship or practical experience
Demonstrable experience in teamwork

(2) The preparatory work, after the selection, mainly consists of:

Prospecting companies
Preparatory activities for the assignment (e.g. training within company, desk research)
Preparatory reporting

(3) The work on location mainly concerns the fieldwork (interviews, meetings, data collection) and the reporting thereof during the trade mission:

Interim reporting field work
Final reporting field work
In addition, there are also expectations regarding general support tasks that are distributed within the group of participants.

(4) A final report is expected after the trade mission:

At the latest: 4 weeks after the trade mission: delivery of final report draft to the titular and company

At the latest: 6 weeks after the trade mission: feedback from the titular

At the latest: 8 weeks after the trade mission: final report to the titular and company

At the latest: 12 weeks after the trade mission: oral defense

More detailed guidelines for reporting (exact timing and formats, submission method) are made available on the electronic learning platform and during the group sessions. There is also the possibility to look into the reports from previous editions (by appointment with titular).

Learning Outcomes

General competences

The general objective of the course is to have the student carry out a practical assignment abroad in an independent and scientific way in the context of a 'real-life' trade mission. Various skills are created when participating in an integrated practical project: (1) project management (2) team work (3) data collection, processing and analysis (4) professional reporting (5) intercultural communication.

The learning outcomes of the trade mission are defined as follows:

Converting theoretical knowledge about market research, data analysis, marketing and strategy within the context of international business and entrepreneurship
Critically dealing with and assessing strategic information and data obtained during the assignment and converting these into well-founded conclusions and policy recommendations
Being able to report to and communicate with the senior management of a commissioning organization in a professional, structured and substantiated way
Being able to function independently in a multicultural and international environment in the context of a concrete research assignment
Adapting to an environment that is very different in cultural, linguistic and infrastructural terms, in the context of a concrete research assignment
Realize a complex project on a logistics and organizational level in a team

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Other Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Other Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Interim Reports with a relative weight of 50 which comprises 50% of the final mark.
Final Report with a relative weight of 50 which comprises 50% of the final mark.

Note: with oral defense

Additional info regarding evaluation

The evaluation takes place both formatively and summatively:

Formative: different feedback moments are provided in the process on the basis of the interim reports
Summative: a final report is delivered, with an oral defense

Distribution of marks:

50% on the process (formative evaluation)
50% on the final report incl. the oral defense (with a jury consisting of the titular, the assistant and a representative of the commissioning organization) (summative evaluation)

The evaluation of the process is based on:

Timeliness of interim reports
Quality of interim reports
Integration and follow-up feedback
Functioning in a team (based on observations, incl. on location)

The evaluation of the final report takes into account:

Clear description of the problem
Quality of the written work (language, layout, correct references)
Structure and logical argumentation
Critical sense; attention to limitations of the research
Quality and substantiation of the conclusions and policy recommendations towards the commissioning organization
Oral defense

No second session is foreseen.

The final report of the trade mission must also be electronically uploaded to the antiplagiarism server indicated by the faculty and the subsequent created submission proof from this server should be included in the submitted paper copies of the final report.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context