Global Markets, National Policies and the Competitive Advantages of Firms

3-0-3 units · Graduate

Examines opportunities and risks firms face in today's global market. Provides conceptual tools for analyzing how governments and social institutions influence economic competition among firms embedded in different national settings. Public policies and institutions that shape competitive outcomes are examined through cases and analytical readings on different companies and industries operating in both developed and emerging markets.

Fall 2011 · Global Markets, National Politics and the Competitive Advantage of Firms

This course examines opportunities and risks firms face in today's global market. It provides conceptual tools for analyzing how governments and social institutions influence economic competition among firms embedded in different national settings. Public policies and institutions that shape competitive outcomes are examined through cases and analytical readings on different companies and industries operating in both developed and emerging markets.

Readings

TV discussion on Bill Moyers Journal (James Kwak and Simon Johnson), PBS, April 2010. You can watch this online (takes about 30 minutes): http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04162010/profile.html ↗
Listed reading
Johnson, Simon, and James Kwak. “The American Oligarchy: Six Banks.” Chapter 7 in 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown . Vintage, 2011. ISBN: 9780307476609.
Listed reading
Lardner, James. “ Annals of Business, The Sweater Trade 1 .” The New Yorker , January 11, 1988, 39–73. ↗
Listed reading
———. “ Annals of Business, The Sweater Trade 2 .” The New Yorker , January 18, 1988, 57–73. ↗
Listed reading
“ Automatic Reaction: IT Spending has Hollowed Out Labour Markets, to the Detriment of Middle-income Workers ,” The Economist , September 9, 2010. ↗
Listed reading
Porter, Michael E. “ Capital Choices: Changing The Way America Invests in Industry .” Journal of Applied Corporate Finance 5, no. 2 (1992): 4–16. ↗
Listed reading
———. “Determinants of National Competitive Advantage.” Chapter 3 in The Competitive Advantage of Nations . Free Press, 1990, pp. 69–130. ISBN: 9780029253618.
Listed reading
Johnson, Simon. “ The Quiet Coup .” The Atlantic , May 2009. ↗
Listed reading
Vietor, Richard H. K., and Emily J. Thompson. “ Singapore Inc. ” Harvard Business School Case. Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-703-040, August 11, 2003. ↗
Listed reading
Huang, Yasheng. “ Note on Conflict Diamonds: Why Are Civil Wars, Like Diamonds, Forever? ” Harvard Business School Case. Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-702-027, January 09, 2002. ↗
Listed reading
Alfaro, Laura, Vinati Dev, et el. “ Botswana: A Diamond in The Rough .” Harvard Business School Case. Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-703-027, March 31, 2003. ↗
Listed reading
Abdelal, Rawi, Laura Alfaro, et al. “ Bombardier: Canada vs. Brazil at The WTO .” Harvard Business School Case. Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-703-022, February 20, 2003. ↗
Listed reading
Sterenberg, Daniel B. “Intellectual Property Laws in Brazil: Is Breaking Patents to Save Lives Right?” MIT Sloan School of Management. Case under the supervision of Richard Locke, May 23, 2003: 1–24.
Listed reading
Bartlett, Nicholas, and Debora L. Spar. “ Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa .” Harvard Business School Case. Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-702-049, June 13, 2002. ↗
Listed reading
Subramanian, Arvind. “A Brief History of Economic Dominance.” Chapter 1 in Eclipse: Living in the Shadow of China’s Economic Dominance . Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2011, pp. 85–93. ISBN: 9780881326062. ( PDF - 1MB ) ↗
Listed reading
Ruggie, John. “Human Rights Policies and Management Practices of Fortune Global 500 Firms: Results of a Survey.” Harvard University. John F. Kennedy School of Government Working Paper No. 28, 2006, pp. 1–30.
Listed reading
Locke, Richard, John Van Maanen, and Eleanor Westney. “Caspian Development Advisory Panel: Lesson Learned.” MIT Sloan School of Management, April 29, 2007: 1–17.
Listed reading
Mure, Lane La, and Debora L. Spar. “ The Burma Pipeline .” Harvard Business School Case. Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-798-078, February 25, 1998. ↗
Listed reading
Buy at MIT Press Locke, Richard M. “The Promise and Perils of Globalization: The Case of Nike.” In Management: Inventing and Delivering Its Future . Edited by Thomas A. Kochan and Richard L. Schmalensee. The MIT Press, 2003, pp. 39–70. ISBN: 9780262112826. [Preview with Google Books ] ↗
Listed reading
Diermeier, Daniel. “Shell, Greenpeace and Brent Spar.” In Business and Its Environment . 4th ed. Edited by David P. Baron. Prentice Hall, 2002, pp. 109–13. ISBN: 9780130470645.
Listed reading
Boone, Peter, and Simon Johnson. “Will the Politics of Global Moral Hazard Sink us Again.” In The Future of Finance: The LSE Report . London School of Economics and Political Science, 2010. ISBN: 9780853284581.
Listed reading

Prerequisites & course information

Prereq: None G (Fall; second half of term) 3-0-3 units

Sources

Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2011
MIT OCW readings ↗
MIT OCW syllabus ↗
Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.