Essential MOOCs In Business for February

Globalization of Business Enterprise

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School: IESE

Platform: Coursera

Registration Link: Globalization of Business Enterprise

Start Date: February 2, 2015 (8 Weeks)

Workload: 3-7 Hours Per Week

Instructor: Pankaj Ghemawat

Credentials: Ghemawat has taught courses in strategy and globalization at IESE since 2008. Considered a “rock star” professor, Ghemawat was ranked among the greatest management thinkers of all-time by The Economist in 2008 (along with being the youngest thinker on the list). Not surprisingly, Ghemawat was also the youngest faculty member to ever be named a full professor at the Harvard Business School, where he taught for 25 years. A prolific author and researcher, Ghemawat is best known for his 2011 book World 3.0, which earned the 50 Thinkers Book Award as the best business book for 2010-2011. He also originated the DHL Global Connectedness Index, a tool used to measure the true extent of global trade.

Graded: Students will receive a signed statement of accomplishment for successfully completing the course.

Description: What is globalization? It might not be what you think according to IESE’s Pankaj Ghemawat. In this course, Ghemawat begins by upending common (mis)conceptions about globalization – and its consequences. From there, Ghemawat introduces students to his CAGE framework, which examines the differences between countries in terms of culture (religion and language), administration (capital, labor, and legal systems), geography (physical distances), and economics (wealth, resources, and infrastructure). From there, Ghemawat focuses on strategies that countries can use to enhance their scale and competitiveness locally, regionally, cross-border, and globally. The course is taught through 10-20 minute videos with embedded quizzes, along with case studies. To complete the course, students must submit a peer-assessed project comparing the capabilities of their country against others.

Review: “Content was great, cases study approach was great. After the first few weeks the lecturer becomes more humble and the arguments more convincing than dogmatic. Peer review project to analyze a country in the framework which was an excellent way to drill home how a strategist could do a high level review of the sensibility of entering a market.The peers were novices with little business experience so forums and peer review was a bit naive and facile. 4 stars and worthy of the effort.” For additional reviews, click here.

Additional Note: To explore globalization in greater depth, Ghemawat encourages students to read two of his books: World 3.0: Global Prosperity and How to Achieve It and Redefining Global Strategy: Crossing Borders in a World Where Difference Still Matter. As part of the program, students will also receive access to the online version of Ghemawat’s CAGE Comparator.