Business, Government & Society (2235.YR.000834.1)

General information

Type:	OBL	Curs:	1	Period:	S semester
ECTS Credits:	2 ECTS

Teaching Staff:

Group	Teacher	Department	Language
Year 1	Angel Saz Carranza	Dirección General y Estrategia	ENG

In the highly complex and interdependent world of the 21st century, it is crucial to understand how major issues on the international stage reverberate in business strategies, geopolitics, global governance and in our daily lives. This course aims to comprehensively address some of today's most pressing international challenges and, in doing so, enhance students' capacity for strategic analysis related to these challenges.

In this course, students will broaden their understanding of current affairs and its connections with business realities through five sessions, including at least one with guest speakers (practitioners). The sessions will offer in-depth looks into the most prominent issues on the international agenda today, including their geopolitical implications, as well as the interplay between political trends and business strategies.

Selected sessions will zoom in on topics such as the non-market environment in which firms operate, the geopolitics of energy and climate change and global governance in a world of heightened strategic competition between great powers. Throughout, current events on the geopolitical scene will be discussed and analyzed as they arise.

The ultimate objective of the course is to contribute to students' ability to strategically analyze the potential impact of global and geopolitical trends, events and developments on the business environment. By the end of the course, students will be able to:

- identify today's most prominent global and geopolitical risks, along with their root causes and potential consequences;
- strategically analyze the non-market environment that businesses operate in, in order to identify the potential impacts of geopolitical trends and events on business and develop corresponding strategies;
- understand the non-market environment of the firm and its relationship to the market environment; and
- apply conceptual frameworks to analyze non-market issues.

1. Firms and Their Non-Market Environments

2. Energy Foundations, Markets and Geopolitics

3. Climate Change: Geopolitics and Regulation

4. Firms and Political Risk

5. Geopolitics and Global Governance in Times of Crisis

A variety of formats and pedagogical approaches will be used in this course. The course comprises five sessions, each lasting three hours and a half, including a half hour break. Sessions typically commence with an interactive lecture, followed by discussions/debates based on recommended readings or a case-based exercise. At least one session will include one or more guest speakers from business or policy practice. Note that the format of all sessions will be flexible in order to adapt to significant current affairs developments related to the material being taught.

Compulsory and recommended readings (academic articles, reports, book chapters) will be distributed during the course.

Group	Teacher	Department
Year 1	Angel Saz Carranza	Dirección General y Estrategia