International Contract Management (5 cr)

Evaluation scale

H-5

Intro

The internationalization of economic life has progressed steadily in recent decades. While business considerations often change little when borders are crossed, legal issues show quite a different pattern. After all, every country has its own legal system. By law, the rights and duties of those involved in economic life in different countries can vary or even contradict each other. However, the laws of the individual legal systems are primarily created for domestic situations. Also, questions arising in international economic transactions are largely answered by the individual states themselves, again quite independently and in their individual way. Often, only specialists in private international law are able to evaluate which rights and obligations apply by law. However, the acquisition of such special knowledge is neither practicable nor necessary for daily business practice. This course focuses on the subject area of contract management. Instead of submitting to an unclear legal situation, companies - even across national borders - can often determine their own binding rights and obligations. The means to achieve this is the contract. A contract is nothing more than the mutual promise of the parties to do something for each other. The questions to be answered follow the business logic of the transaction. If, for example, goods or services are purchased by payment, the parties must agree, for example, on when and where the goods are to be delivered, in which currency payment is to be made, and what is to be done in the event of a defect. Efficient contract management is therefore crucial for the success of the company, especially in an international context. In this course, its objectives, contents and methods will be presented. This course follows the chronological sequence of a project and identifies the four phases of contract management: proposal preparation, negotiation, execution and analysis. In each phase, contract management must face specific challenges. When preparing an offer, it is particularly important to transfer the business model into a contractually meaningful form. During negotiations, the practicability and profitability of the business model must be maintained. In the execution phase, the main focus is on securing and increasing results. Finally, the analysis enables "lessons learned" to be drawn for future business activities.