Winter 2021 | MGMT 298D 16 – Global Trends (FTMBA BLENDED)
Quarter: Winter 2021Instructor: R. Wacziarg
Tuesday | 4:00pm - 5:30pm NOTE: PTE #s not available until December. This 4-unit elective course for MBA students 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 that can adapt to and take advantage of global trends. This is a “big picture” class with a variety of topics that are subject to controversy: is globalization reversing? Is democracy on the wane and what are the implications for global investing and global business? Is automation going to fundamentally alter the fabric of the economy and how? Should we worry about growing income inequality and is it even growing? Are new powers and new interest groups rising up, which ones, and how will that affect the conduct of business? Are there fundamental changes in the use and nature of money and what are the implications for finance and commercial transactions? Does the rise of new interest groups and growing political polarization in the US and other advanced industrialized countries create new challenges for businesses who must serve the demands of an increasingly heterogeneous population? How should humanity deal with the threat of climate change and global pandemics, and what is the role of business in dealing with these threats? While most people have opinions on these subjects, there are no easy answers. I will rely on frameworks from the social sciences (primarily economics and political science) to inform these issues. Debate and varying viewpoints among participants will be encouraged. Online lectures will focus on presenting frameworks and data. These will be complemented by student-driven video presentations on more pointed subjects. Interactive online class sessions will be a mix of case discussions and debates. The course is divided into three parts, each subdivided into an additional three or four parts:
