November’s Essential Business MOOCs

Analyzing Global Trends for Business and Society

 

School: Wharton School

Platform: Coursera

Registration Link: Analyzing Global Trends for Business and Society

Start Date: November 3, 2014 (7 Weeks)

Workload: 3-4 Hours Per Week

Instructor: Mauro Guillén

Credentials: An internationally-renowned scholar and researcher, Mauro Guillén teaches courses on global business at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. After earning a Ph.D. in sociology at Yale University and a doctorate in political from the University of Oviedo (Spain), Guillén taught at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He has authored or co-authored ten books, with the most recent being Global Turning Points (2012). His work has also been published in academic journals ranging from The Harvard Business Review to The Journal of Latin American Studies. And he has made frequent media appearances for outlets like Bloomberg TV, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and the BBC. Along with winning numerous teaching awards at Wharton, he serves as the director of the school’s Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies.

Graded: Students will earn a certificate for completing the course. There is a $49 fee for a certificate.

Description: Socially and economically, globalization has produced uneven progress and changing demographics. In emerging economies, the middle class has exploded, but has shrunk in mature markets like the United States and Western Europe. However, such changes are rippling back and forth across the globe. In this course, Dr. Guillén examines how these trends are driving other changes in government, business and economics, and even culture. Each week, students will view videos, study data, and read case studies that illustrate how these changes are interconnected and how they will ultimately shape the future.

Review: “Extremely pleasant and informative course. Charming teaching style. Material is easy to digest and aimed literally at general audience.  Basic stuff about where the World is going is covered pretty well. Nearly all topics that come to mind about global trends are mentioned and explained. The only objection is that we could have gone more into details. Reading material was well thought out and a nice supplement to the course. The funniest activity, at least for me, was Global Literacy Test where you could check and recheck how familiar you are with things going on around the Globe.

I was under impression that Prof. Mauro did all the preparatory work for this MOOC on his own and kudos to that. Quizzes are more than easy, so if you are after a certificate, this is the course for you.” For additional reviews, click here.

Additional Note: There are suggested readings for six of the seven weeks of this course. These readings are available to students at no charge on a website.