Note: EC MBA students who are interested in earning an additional 1.5 credits through a related Independent Project are encouraged to reach out to Prof. Kirby at term start.

By 2035 China will be the largest economy in the world and an innovation superpower. Engagement with China—as entrepreneurs, investors, or partners—is part of our collective future.

But in 2024, Chinese firms—and foreign firms in China—face challenges and opportunities under President Xi Jinping. We will delve into China's domestic business environment and the changing relationship between the private sector and the Chinese Communist Party. Students will gain an understanding of the dynamics between state-owned enterprises and private firms, the regulatory environment, and the role of the government in business activities.

Furthermore, as relations between the world's two largest economies, the U.S. and China, deteriorate further, companies must find creative solutions to counter ongoing global trade and technology wars while still responding to ever-changing policy directions in Beijing, Washington, and Europe. Our course will examine case studies of firms that have faced these challenges and will equip students with strategies for managing geopolitical risk in a deglobalizing business environment.

Ultimately, how can you succeed in doing business in and with China in the coming decade and beyond?

In our course, we consider these questions:

• How do foreign businesses succeed and fail in Chinese markets?
• How can Chinese firms, such as Huawei and ByteDance, navigate investment restrictions that threaten to "decouple" the U.S. economy from China's?
• What happens to firms caught in the cross-fire of deteriorating US-China relations?
• Will China's ambitions to become a "self-sufficient" superpower succeed or flounder? What about the United States’ attempt to “re-shore” semiconductor manufacturing?
• How do the Communist Party and Chinese governments—local, provincial, and national—shape market opportunities?
• How do Chinese firms expand overseas?
• How do family businesses survive and thrive in an economy where the state still plays such a large role?
• Will Chinese universities lead the 21^st century?
• What are the opportunities and risks for businesses in Taiwan, as "greater China" becomes integrated economically but with greater tension politically?
• In short, where is China going—economically and politically—and what will it mean for you?

We will be joined in this course by CEOs of many of the enterprises we study, in industries such as telecommunications, healthcare, consumer products, agribusiness, semiconductors, education, and automobiles.

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