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2014/2015  KAN-CCMVV4008U  Political Risk Management and Global Business in Past and Present

English Title
Political Risk Management and Global Business in Past and Present

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Semester
Course period Spring
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for MSc in Economics and Business Administration
Course coordinator
  • Christina Lubinski - MPP
Adm. contact: Karina Ravn Nielsen, electives.mpp@cbs.dk or phone 3815 3782.
Main academic disciplines
  • Globalization, International Business, markets and studies
Last updated on 18-02-2014
Learning objectives
The learning objectives of this course include understanding different types of political risks, assessing risk environments and arguing for or against investments in foreign markets, based on evidence and, if applicable, analyzed with theory. Writing and analytical skills are important and students will have to demonstrate the ability to organize arguments in a structured fashion.
After having attended the course, students should:
  • have a clear understanding of types of political risks and their relative importance at different points in time
  • have the ability to generate management-relevant insights into how theories can help assess risk environment but also critically reflect on their limitations
  • be able to discuss different strategies of risk avoidance and their consequences
  • understand political risk management as a response to problems arising in specific national and historical settings and reflect on strategies to avoid and manage political risks
  • be able to distinguish between different political risk management strategies and, if applicable, understand in which previous situations they have been used successfully or unsuccessfully
Course prerequisites
English proficiency. The course requires a general knowledge of basic theories from economics and business studies.
Examination
Political Risk Management and Global Business in Past and Present:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Written sit-in exam
Individual or group exam Individual
Assignment type Written assignment
Duration 4 hours
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period May/June
Aids allowed to bring to the exam Open book: all written and electronic aids, including internet access
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
If the number of registered candidates for the make-up examination/re-take examination warrants that it may most appropriately be held as an oral examination, the programme office will inform the students that the make-up examination/re-take examination will be held as an oral examination instead.
Course content and structure
Since the banking crisis of 2008 the global economy seems riskier than before. Strategies to prevent and mitigate political risks are vital for the survival and success of international business. This course examines different types of political risks and asks what impact they had on international business at different points in time. It also explores strategies that entrepreneurs can employ to manage political risk. Working with real-case scenarios of global business, students discuss political risks from revolutions, wars and expropriations to corruption, dictatorships and civil activists. The course is internationally comparative with case studies from North America, Germany, UK, China and India.
Teaching methods
Case discussions and lectures
Expected literature
Accenture (ed.) 2013 Global Risk Management Study Risk: Management for an Era of Greater Uncertainty.

Jones, Geoffrey. Multinationals and Global Capitalism: From the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2005, chapter 2;Dunning, John H., and Sarianna M. Lundan. Multinational Enterprises and the Global Economy. 2nd ed. Cheltenham, UK; Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, 2008, pp. 154-174.

Gerth, Karl. China Made: Consumer Culture and the Creation of the Nation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003, pp. 1-25. Further readings: Friedrich List, The National System of Political Economy, chapter XV.

Excerpt of US Government. Trading With the Enemy Act and Amendments Thereto, Issued by Frank L. Polk, Acting Secretary of State, November 25, 1919. Washington: Govt. print. office, 1920. Jones, Geoffrey. Multinationals and Global Capitalism: From the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2005, chapter 8.

Kobrak, Christopher, Per. H. Hansen, and Christopher Kopper. "Business, Political Risk, and Historians in the Twentieth Century." In European Business, Dictatorship, and Political Risk, 1920-1945, ed. Christopher Kobrak and Per. H. Hansen, 3-21. New York: Berghahn Books, 2004; Kobrin, Stephen Jay. Managing Political Risk Assessment: Strategic Response to Environmental Change. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982.

Geoffrey Jones and Adrian Brown. Thomas J. Watson, IBM and Nazi Germany, HBS case study; Wubs, Ben. International Business and National War Interests: Unilever Between Reich and Empire, 1939-45. London, New York: Routledge, 2008, chapter 3.

Radford, Richard A. "The Economic Organisation of a P.O.W. Camp." Economica 12, no. 48 (1945): 189-201; The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank, World Investment and Political Risk 2011, Washington DC 2011, pp. 28-35.

Jones, Geoffrey, and Christina Lubinski. "Managing Political Risk in Global Business: Beiersdorf 1914-1990." Enterprise & Society 13, no. 1 (2012): 85-119. Teresa da Silva Lopes and Mark Casson, "Brand Protection and the Globalization of British Business." Business History Review 86, no. 2 (2012): 287-310.

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank, World Investment and Political Risk 2009, Washington DC 2010, p. 45-60; Bishop, R. Doak, James Crawford, and W. Michael Reisman. Foreign Investment Disputes: Cases, Materials, and Commentary. The Hague; Frederick, MD: Kluwer Law International, 2005, chapter 5.

Casson, Mark, and Teresa da Silva Lopes. "Foreign Direct Investment in High-Risk Environments: An Historical Perspective." Business History 55, no. 3 (2013): 375-404.
Last updated on 18-02-2014