International Management

Summer is a great occasion to raise your professional level and participate in the events of professional communities!

The lecturer of our program and an employee of the largest telecommunications operator in Russia Rostelecom - Ivan Akimenko has been proving this statement for many years now! He participates in the ACCA global conference of educational programs. During the conference, events will be held to exchange international experience in teaching practices and current approaches to teaching in ACCA subjects.

And on July 29, he will host the 5 Tips for Successful Financial Management Webinar as part of the July Marathon for ACCA students.

This is a great example of the collaboration of the academic and professional community!

On April 5, 2022, at the XXIII April International Academic Conference on Economic and Social Development the report "Service for Service: Servicing Industry Requires a New Industrial Policy" was presented. The report was written by a team of authors headed by the Director of the Center for Structural Policy Studies of the Higher School of Economics Yuri Simachev together with representatives of the Institute of Economics of UrFU: Head of the Master's Program International Management L.S. Ruzhanskaya and master students V.Tyazhelnikov and K.Artemyeva.
The report is intended to reveal to the general public the phenomenon and the effects of "servizi (growth of the share of services in the activity) industry: the peculiarities of the servicized economies, Russia's place in the global servicization and its effects on the Russian enterprises. The research has shown that industrial companies with high share of services are more competitive and productive.
An important conclusion for the policy is the adjustment of structural reforms in favor of increasing the share of services in the Russian economy.
The text of the report is available on the website of the April (Yasin) Conference https://conference.hse.ru/files/download_file_ex?id=DA53B99E-F514-755B-4ECC-B923A6153D0A&hash=E7D295235390ABCFC3B8BD14C13D9049
The mass media, accredited at the April conference, quickly reacted with articles within the framework of the report discussion. To read the materials of Kommersanat, please follow the link
 https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5295053?from=main
As well as materials of "Strategy" at the following link
https://strategyjournal.ru/ekonomika-i-biznes/uchenye-predlozhili-skorrektirovat-promyshlennuyu-politiku-v-polzu-uvelicheniya-doli-servisov/

The new academic year of the first year of Magstants was opened on 15 September 2023, . Traditionally, the programme team introduces newcomers to the peculiarities of the educational process: modular learning system, opportunities of the programme's electronic resources and online learning platforms, projects and cooperation with employers, international learning environment. The senior students share useful links and flyhacks with the newcomers, which is especially important for international students from far abroad!
This year, a special place was given to the research theme, which started with a talk on the opportunities of a student's research career by Dmitry Gladyrev, Director of the INEU Research Support Centre, and Lyudmila Ruzhanskaya, Head of the Laboratory of Value Chains. Attention to the scientific component of master's students' life was not accidental, because Anna Obizhaeva, Director of the NES Master of Finance programme and Professor of Finance at the New Economic School (Moscow), gave a lecture on "Retail Investors and Trading on the Exchange"!  Anna Obizhaeva received her PhD in Finance from MIT Sloan School of Management and prior to her position as a full professor at NES worked as an assistant professor at Maryland University in the USA. Anna stressed that all over the world finance specialists are among the most demanded and scarce in the labour market and expressed her hope for cooperation between our universities. In addition, she wished the students to carry passionarity and readiness to return to their home university after graduation and help in training the next generations of students.
Given that the International Management programme is accredited by the international professional association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Anna's lecture touched upon such aspects as the portrait of a retail investor in Russia, trading in foreign securities and problems with their blocking, margin trading and financial stability, consensus in science and business on retail investors, and possible research topics.

The International Management program is reaccredited with ACCA by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the prestigious international professional body that certifies financial management and corporate finance professionals. Students of the program have the right to obtain certificates in several ACCA 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 papers at once, provided they register with ACCA and choose the appropriate training modules.

This opens up new employment opportunities in Russian and international companies, regardless of the country in which they operate!

While Ekaterinburg residents were shoveling their cars out of the snow and standing in traffic jams for 11 points, our master students were solving difficult problems of the annual SmartTest quiz. The teams were looking for answers to non-standard, but very interesting questions on outlook and logic, and the decisive in the game was a blitz-quiz with tasks for 30 seconds, where the teams had to guess 13 world brands by their creative advertising projects and slogans.
The program team holds such a New Year's Eve game every year for two important and equal goals: to unite students from more than 10 countries on the eve of a big international holiday, showing true Ural hospitality, and to develop their teamwork skills!
Kristina Artemyeva, program manager and organizer of the quiz, notes that it is important to let international students feel the warmth of the Urals, especially in such bad weather. This year, the students had the chance to find out what a real frost of minus 30 and below is like. Many freshmen overcame a long way to the capital of the Urals, difficulties with paperwork. But the guys come here because they appreciate the quality of education and the fact that they can count on support, sometimes 24/7.
Maria Malkina, 1st year student: "A small Christmas party turned into a sea of laughter and fun, excitement and challenges for the teams and each participant, because you need to be able not only to win, but to feel the importance of teamwork"
Ammar Mohsin, student from Iraq: "I have made wonderful friends here that warm my heart!"
We wish all students and faculty of the University a Happy New Year and a Merry Christmas!

Nikita Larchenko, a second-year student of the educational program of the Master's degree program "International Management", co-authored an article in the journal "Corporate Finance" (Scopus, WoS ESCI).

"In my article I examined the impact of various factors on mergers and acquisitions in developing Asian countries. It is written on the basis of my undergraduate WCR: after the defense, the idea came up to share the results and publish the research. The participation of my supervisor Lyudmila Stanislavovna Ruzhanskaya was very valuable. As for the work itself, I have always been interested in Asian markets, so the question arose: how do the cultural peculiarities of the region influence transactions in it? While writing the paper, I realized how fascinating it is, especially if you choose a topic that interests you and matches your interests," said Nikita.

Ларченко Н. и Ружанская Л. (2023) «Determinants of Mergers and Acquisitions in Emerging Asian Countries: Effects of Confucianism and Technological Development», Journal of Corporate Finance Research / Корпоративные Финансы | ISSN: 2073-0438, 17(3), сс. 28-42. doi: 10.17323/j.jcfr.2073-0438.17.3.2023.28-42.

Asian emerging markets exemplify the contemporary trend of glocalization (globalization-localization). Countries in this region have strong cultural bonds shaped by the influence of Confucianism, which has given rise to a distinctive approach to conducting business, including the realm of mergers and acquisitions. The homogeneity of cultural values fosters trust among parties even in cross-border transactions, impacting the assessment of transaction premiums. Simultaneously, within this region, a cluster of Asian Tiger countries distinguishes itself by leading in technological advancements, particularly in the realm of digitalization. The escalating competitiveness of technologically advanced companies further influences estimates of transaction premiums.

This paper endeavors to delve into the theoretical aspects of these issues and substantiate, through empirical evidence, the cultural impact of Confucianism and technological progress on mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Our research is grounded in a database encompassing 2677 cross-border deals compiled from January 1, 2002, to January 1, 2021, for 10 burgeoning Asian markets. This study marks the first exploration of M&A deal value and firm valuation during transactions utilizing a glocal region as a case study. Our primary findings substantiate the notion that cultural affinities exert a substantial
influence on M&A deal values, with a propensity for lower values among culturally similar countries. Congruent cultural values build trust among stakeholders and safeguard from additional risks. These results give policymakers and business entities an opportunity to adjust their decisions and refine their comprehension of factors that shape the economy.

The Directorate of Educational Activities has published the annual ranking of the university's educational programs: the MIM undergraduate program has been among the top three winners for the second year! Congratulations to all students and teachers! “For us, the outcome of 2023 was a grate achievement: the  Master’s program “International Management”  took first place in the ranking of programs at their levels! This is joyful and honorable not only for me, as a program manager, but for the teams of the educational tracks! This is the result of persistent, often very routine work, overcoming and searching, but what joy the achievements of our students and graduates bring, and the small ones please no less than the big ones! Keeping the bar is more difficult than achieving something for the first time, so we have big plans for the development of program and many new challenges born from new demands of students and the labor market. New partners are joining the development of our program, and it's great! It is important to be in an atmosphere of support and be open!” summed up Doctor of Economics, Professor Lyudmila Ruzhanskaya. 

This academic year, cooperation with the corporate partner - the audit company "Big Four" KPMG continues with a series of trainings and master classes. The beginning was laid by the training from the HR manager  Olga Perepechina.

The event gathered responses from participants. Nathalie Gerard:  "On October 16, 2020 I attended the Art of Presentation training by Olga Perepechina, HR Manager at KPMG. This was especially given for student at Ural Federal University (Urfu), of the Master International Management program. I have nothing but praise for how the training was run by Olga Perepechina at each chapter of what a Presentation is all about and how to present it, everything was explained in detail and her experiences in this industry were shared freely with us, so we had personal insight, and that was awesome. I found we had a new understanding about the how to be better in presenting, and that knowing your audience and keeping your presentation interesting are the main factors for having the best presentation. I thank the Graduate School of Economics and Management (GSEM), Olga Perepechina and KPMG for the opportunity".

Anna Pozdeeva: "Workshop KPMG is a good opportunity to get insights that will help in further work on any projects, moreover, from the Big Four company it is a strong position for CV.
This event was aimed at working on our presentation skills, which is now a necessary universal tool for a person of any profession.
Tasks that were given as mini presentations were aimed at understanding small life hacks to prepare for big performances. Thus, we have sorted out the main points that interfere and, on the contrary, help both in preparation for the presentation and during. What style and tone of speech should you choose? How do you evaluate your audience? How to prepare for it? Where to start your presentation? All the highlights have been noticed.
There was a clear structure of the entire workshop. The training coach Olga withstood the entire skeleton of her performance. There were no unexpected changes of topics and hitch. Confident impression that the whole presentation was worked out and prepared. Olga illustrated everything that she wanted to convey to us by her personal example. In particular, such a moment as "Ice-breaker question" was asked to us as - How are you doing with the management economy? - gave an instant result among students, a heated discussion right away - this is one of the points how we can start our future performance already as presenters, in order to defuse the situation and establish contact with the audience"