Full-Time MBA Global Requirement

Global Trends

Romain Wacziarg

Hans Hufschmid Chair in Management and Professor of Economics

This course explores recent global trends affecting business. Global trends are geopolitical and economic evolutions that have first order effects on management practices and business opportunities around the world. Global managers need to develop a keen sense of these evolutions in order to lead successful businesses the can adapt to, and take advantage of, global trends. The specific trends covered in the course include 1) Globalization and its discontents: covering the rise and decline of globalization, as well as themes such as the recent rise of populism, of protectionism and political disintegration (e.g. Brexit) and their effects on business;. 2) The rise of new technologies, specifically the likely impact of automation, artificial intelligence, and cryptocurrencies; and 3) the trend toward a pluralist, multipolar world, whereby new powers such as China and India, as well as new interests groups, challenge the Western model while building on its strengths.

Non-Market Risks - Understanding Politics and the Global Context for Doing Business

Christine Loh

Visiting Professor and Former Minister, Hong Kong SAR Government

Non-market risks – political risk being a major one – can be highly disruptive. The ability to understand the politics of a place and its culture is helpful to assessing risk and making decisions. Understanding the politics of different jurisdictions can also expand one’s ability to appreciate situations and people from different places, whether they are colleagues, investors, stakeholders, customers, clients or employees. Global issues are often affected by domestic politics, which also impact business. The politics of a place makes the place. In this course, students will consider the global political environment and how it affects business. The course is designed to contrast where the experience is most divergent – between the Western experience (exemplified by the United States) with that of the People’s Republic of China – as this can provoke the deepest reflection. The two systems are underpinned by very different thinking, and they are coming up against each other in a globalized world. Those differences will define a key global discourse for decades to come. Students will develop a framework to analyze non-market/political risks in relations to an organization.

Global Supply Chain Management

Christopher S. Tang

Edward W. Carter Chair in Business Administration

Felipe Caro

Professor of Decisions, Operations and Technology Management

As more firms continue to outsource and off-shore their operations (technical support, customer services, etc.), virtually all western companies need to manage multiple supply chains with external partners located in different countries around the globe. By its very nature, supply chain management has to deal with the management of the flow of materials, information, and funds across the entire global supply network that ranges from suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, logistics providers, and retailers to consumers. this course deals with international issues arising from supply chains encompassing partners located in different countries. This course draws upon concepts originally introduced in your core courses on operations management, statistics, marketing, and strategy. While many operational processes that we will consider in this course will appear familiar, most of you will find yourselves viewing them from a different perspective especially through different conceptual frameworks for analyzing global supply chain issues.

International Business Strategy

Mariko Sakakibara

Sanford and Betty Sigoloff Chair in Corporate Renewal

The objective of this course is to provide a framework for understanding and managing key issues in international business. In particular, the focus of this course is (1) to develop the ability to formulate an effective strategy for entry into foreign markets, and (2) to examine important issues related to the entry strategy and the subsequent expansion strategy. This course deals with general issues any corporation faces when operating outside of its domestic environment. The class sessions consist of case discussions and presentations and Q&As by guest speakers. Examples of questions that will be considered include: How should a company determine if it should enter foreign markets? What type of ownership structure should a company take to enter foreign markets? What are issues specific to emerging markets and how can a company address them? How can a tech startup expand internationally?