20763 - GEOPOLITICS FOR BUSINESS

None background knowledge is required.

Geopolitics, defined as the interaction between the two dimensions of the geographic/physical space, and power, has recently acquired and increasing relevance, gaining growing attention by scholars and academics but also practitioners, commentators, opinion-makers, consultants and not least business leaders. With increasing international political conflict, organizations need to be managed with innovative methodologies. The most successful multinational companies will be therefore those that make expertise in international affairs central to their operations, adopting what can best be described as a corporate foreign policy. Such a policy will have two goals: to improve a company’s ability to operate in foreign environments through effective corporate diplomacy, and to ensure its success wherever it is engaged through careful geopolitical due diligence. It is therefore vital for executives and management students to understand geopolitical events because companies, whatever their location, sector or size, must consider how they are affected when devising strategies. This course aims at introducing students to the understanding of the contemporary geopolitics and geopolitical trends, focusing on the most important areas of emerging geopolitical conflicts, and understanding the nature, and the ways to manage and control, geopolitical instability, treats and risk.

• To understand the trends in geopolitical equilibria in the light of the main interpretative frameworks in the field
• To analyze and discuss the main topics in current geopolitical analysis and research
• To understand the nature of political and geopolitical risk

• To understand and evaluate the impact of political and geopolitical risk on entrepreneurial decisions and logics
• To understand and master the main techniques in order to manage political and geopolitical risk

• Face-to-face lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
• Individual assignments
• Group assignments
• Interactive class activities (role playing, business game, simulation, online forum, instant polls)

The couse will include 2 or 3 talks by experts in the field and several cases and incidents for discussion.

A group work (case-based) will be part of the final grade as well as a final individual assessment.

The course will not distinguish between attending and non attending students. Students are supposed to atten the lectures in presence, if not possible this will be done in distance through the class recording available to students.

The course materials include articles, cases and incidents, plus a set of slides provided by the instructor. Teaching materials and reading will be uploaded by the instructor some days before each class.