This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.

 

Readings

SES # TOPICS READINGS
Part I — Introduction
1 Why bother studying national economies in an era of globalization?

Readings

Lardner, James. "I-The Sweater Trade." The New Yorker, January 11, 1988, 39-73.

———. "II-The Sweater Trade." The New Yorker, January 18, 1988, 57-73.

Friedman, Thomas. "It's a Flat World, After All." New York Times Magazine, April 3, 2005, 32-37.

2 Alternative approaches to analyzing national economies

Readings

Amazon logo Porter, Michael. "Determinants of National Competitive Advantage." In The Competitive Advantage of Nations. New York, NY: Free Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780684841472.

Baron, David. "Integrated Strategy: Market and Non-market Components." California Management Review 37, no. 2 (Winter 1995): 47-65.

Case

Young, Allegra, and Debora Spar. "Gerber Products Company: Investing in the New Poland." Harvard Business School Case. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-793-069, March 22, 1993.

Part II — Different types of market economies
3 Liberal market economies: The United States

Readings

Porter, Michael. "Executive Summary." In Capital Choices: Changing The Way America Invests in Industry. Council on Competitiveness, 1992, 3-19.

Sterman, John, Nelson P. Repenning, and Fred Kofman. "Unanticipated Side Effects of Successful Quality Programs: Exploring a Paradox of Organizational Improvement." Management Science 43, no. 4 (April 1997): 503-521.

4 State-driven development: Singapore

Case

Vietor, Richard, and Emily Thompson. "Singapore Inc." Harvard Business School Case. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-703-040, February 27, 2003.

5 Emerging markets/uncertain rules 1: Russia

Case

Huang, Yasheng, Kirsten O'Neil-Massaro, and Anatoli Miliukov. "Unified Energy System of Russia." Harvard Business School Case. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-702-068, March 13, 2002.

6 Emerging markets/uncertain rules 2: Africa

Cases

Huang, Yasheng. "Note on Conflict Diamonds: Why Are Civil Wars, like Diamonds, Forever?" Harvard Business School Case. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-702-027, January 9, 2002.

Alfaro, Laura, Vinati Dev, Faheen Allibhoy, and Debora Spar. "Botswana: A Diamond in the Rough." Harvard Business School Case. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-703-027, March 31, 2003.

Part III — Beyond the nation-state? Who is making the new rules?
7 The politics of trade

Case

Abdelal, Rawi, Laura Alfaro, and Brett Laschinger. "Bombardier: Canada vs. Brazil at the WTO." Harvard Business School Case. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-703-022, February 20, 2003.

8 Intellectual property protection

Readings

Sterenberg, Daniel. "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.

Case

Bartlett, Nicholas, and Debora Spar. "Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa." Harvard Business School Case. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-702-049, June 13, 2002.

9 Global business and human rights

Readings

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, September 1, 2006, 1-30.

Locke, Richard, John Van Maanen, and Eleanor Westney. "Caspian Development Advisory Panel: Lesson Learned." MIT Sloan School of Management, April 29, 2007, 1-17.

Case

La Mure, Lane, and Debora Spar. "The Burma Pipeline." Harvard Business School Case. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-798-078, February 25, 1998.

10 Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private non-market action

Readings

Amazon logo Locke, Richard. "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. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003, pp. 39-70. ISBN: 9780262112826.

Case

Amazon logo Diermeier, Daniel. "Shell, Greenpeace and Brent Spar." In Business and Its Environment. Edited by David P. Baron. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2005. ISBN: 9780131873551.

11 Sustainability: Is there a business case?  
12 Putting the pieces together

Readings

Huntington, Samuel. "The West Unique, Not Universal." Foreign Affairs 75, no. 6 (November/December 1996): 28-46.

Locke, Richard. "Building Trust." Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, September 1, 2001: 1-34.