2026 AIB South Asia Workshop Series: Teaching International Business Strategy

Event Overview: Bringing “Strategy” into the classroom is an art: the delivery must blend concepts with practice and reflect the contemporariness of the domain. Teaching “International Business Strategy (IBS)” further requires dwelling on cross-border issues and developing a nuanced global mindset. It is often felt that strategy is primarily for top management, with students and even faculty reducing it to handling various frameworks—from SWOT to BSC. Such perceptions make teaching IBS even more challenging.

In most business schools, the basic course on Strategy is taught before IBS, which makes the faculty’s task of sustaining participant interest even more demanding. In this two-session workshop, it is proposed to help existing and aspiring faculty in conceptualizing a course on IBS through:

• Suggested modules and a model course curriculum
• Guidance on class preparation, pedagogy, and positioning the course
• Clarity on credits, evaluation, and expected course outcomes

Given the current geopolitical landscape, a separate, well-designed course on IBS will significantly enrich students’ learning of strategy and its application in international contexts.

This workshop will be useful to:

• Faculty members who are teaching or are likely to take up teaching International Business Strategy–related courses
• Scholars who wish to develop expertise for research work in this area
• In-house trainers who may benefit from the framework for organizing training programs on international business strategy in their organizations

WORKSHOP LEADER

Dr. K. Rangarajan is Professor of Strategy at IIFT and heading the Kolkata Campus of IIFT

Prof. Rangarajan has more than 25 years of professional experience in teaching, consulting, research, and academic administration, including four years of industry experience at an MNC. He has traveled widely on academic assignments across the United Kingdom, United States, and Asia Pacific, and has lectured on strategic issues at various national and international forums.

He has been faculty for numerous MDPs for both policymakers and industry, coordinated with SMEs on strategic issues, and served as National Expert for UNIDO, Austria (Innovation in Textiles Industry Project) and for UNIDO evaluation missions in India. He has conducted a research study on “Implications of EU and US GSP Rules of Origin on the Exports of Indian Textiles and Clothing Industry” for the Commonwealth Secretariat, UK, and writes regularly on sectoral issues in national dailies and refereed journals