What is Geo-economics? Geo-economics is the role that geo-politics play in the economy. Today, whether you are sourcing for a major retailer, managing distribution for food products, in charge of brand management for automobiles; whether you work in manufacturing, healthcare, education, finance, real estate or management consulting, you will have to account for geopolitical risk. A poll of C-Suite executives conducted by PwC show that 41% of respondents state that geopolitical risk is their number one concern. Why is Geo-economics important today? The 20th Century ended with (relative) peace and international cooperation, and relatively low geopolitical risk. In this environment, economies globalized, and businesses thrived. Traditional businesses like fast food chains and entertainment expanded around the world. Innovation exploded as the best and brightest of the world met and created synergies that resulted in new technologies like smart phones, e-commerce, AI, green energies and EVs. Sophisticated global supply chains made these new products and traditional ones such as textiles and electronics affordable to billions of people. The beginning of the 21st Century has been marked by a shift. Post-Cold War political tolerance and economic cooperation between many of the world’s largest economies, the U.S., the Europe Union, China, Russia, has transformed into competition, and in some cases, outright hostility. News headlines are full of words like “tariffs”, “trade wars”, “de-coupling”, “armed conflict” and “supply chain disruptions”. Today, geopolitical risk affects nearly every sector. What can you do? Business leaders today must be able to understand and navigate the rapidly changing geo-economic landscape being creative and nimble. How will this class help? This class aims to provide a framework for understanding complex geo-economic challenges and help students develop strategies for addressing them. It will combine real-world knowledge with concepts from core classes, emphasize thoughtful discussion, and rigorous and creative thinking. The class will use a combination of in-class lectures to describe the issues and connect to economic concepts, small-group work to allow students to discuss and debate possible solutions, in-class presentations to crystallize ideas and encourage and bring in a wider set of perspectives, and a final individual assignment for students to take a holistic view of the material covered in the course and synthesize new learning. The class is conceptually demanding (think hard and take into account market analysis and results from data analytics performed by others). It is not technically demanding (no math or programming). Who should take this class? You should take this class if you enjoy constructive deliberation, and to combine big-picture and deep thinking with practical application and analytical problem solving. This class aims to challenge students’ problem-solving abilities at the highest level by confronting new, complex and very challenging situations, in which business leaders must make the best decision they can without a ready-made or obvious solution. Who should not take this class? This class asks students to design solutions and will not offer “one right” answer.