Singapore University of Social Sciences

The aim of CDO355 Global Business Experiments is to hone students’ business understanding and develop their sense-making, interdisciplinary and decision-making skills to prepare them for real-world business situations and opportunities in a global or regional context. During the course, students will analyse business challenges and opportunities, and design, set up, launch, monitor and analyse how their business ideas translate into business value. Drawing on the experiential learning cycle (concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualisation, and active experimentation), the course guides students to initiate, ideate and innovate game-changing solutions using business experiments tested in real business situations, with real employers/employees and real customers. Themes for business experiments in the evaluation of impact on business reputation, revenue and cost include sustainability (e.g., eco-friendly packaging), healthy living (e.g., fitness challenge for consumers), digitalisation and phygitalisation, and diversity and inclusiveness (e.g., multicultural service teams). Learning activities will involve case studies, guided observation, brainstorming, critical reflection and analysis, fieldwork and experimentation. As cross-cultural understanding can become a competitive advantage, this course will be conducted overseas, starting in ASEAN, China and India (ACI). The immersion aims to train students to secure the best business and financial outcomes, taking into account the similarities and differences in social, cultural, legal, economic and political environments. Students will be guided on cultural dimensions based on Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory. Assessment will be in the form of Quiz, Tutor-Marked Assignments (video, infographic and/or decision-making dashboard) and Group-Based Assignment (via live presentation). At the end of the course, students will be able to analyse multi-faceted business issues, develop viable business ideas, conduct pilot implementation and appraise the effectiveness of their proposed solutions in improving business reputation, revenue and cost-savings.