Course description
China will become the world's largest economy by 2030. Chinese firms have transformed business landscapes at home and now seek a global role. What can we learn about China—its people, government, and culture—from its transformative enterprises? This course uses business as a lens through which to study modern China and its global impact. Using Harvard Business School case studies, we explore the drivers of China's growth, including traditional family firms and internet startups; state-owned enterprises and private-sector challengers; and the catalytic role of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and foreign enterprise in shaping contemporary China. We study the role of the Communist Party and government (local and national) in business and society. The course puts special attention on how US-China relations are shaped by business in the era of Xi Jinping and Donald Trump. Can China lead? Will the twenty-first century be the Chinese century? At the end of this course students are able to make well-informed judgments.
