OAGR 2230 - Managing Geopolitics as an Enterprise Risk

***NEW COURSE***

Geopolitics has become a boardroom risk, as the new global operating environment – characterised by uncertainty and geopolitical/geoeconomic fragmentation – tests corporate resilience and threatens profit margins. Successfully embedding geopolitical risk management in corporate strategy is a key differentiator between winners and losers.

Through a practical and business-focussed lens, this interactive course will combine Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), intelligence and risk analysis, and selected business strategy fundamentals to equip students with analytic frameworks and risk governance structures needed to manage geopolitical risk within a business context. The seminar will also elucidate the role of businesses as geopolitical actors, and highlight the competitive advantage of a robust and proactive geopolitical risk management program.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course will prepare students for a career in geopolitical risk management. By the end of the course, students will learn how to:

• Analyse geopolitical risks and assess their impact on business operations and business strategy
• Critically evaluate corporate risk management programs against relevant international standards and frameworks
• Prepare (oral & written) pitches or briefings for different types of business audiences, with an understanding of stakeholder concerns and priorities
• Design a geopolitical risk register for any given organization
• Evaluate the advantages and risks of AI use in geopolitical risk analysis/management

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

• Stakeholder management: Understanding, managing and influencing stakeholders, considering sometimes diverging priorities and concerns
• Written & oral communication: Communicating effectively and adequately orally and in writing/visuals, including with senior business audiences
• Research & Analysis: Collecting and analysing information to increase understanding of a topic or issue
• Critical thinking: Engaging in reflective and independent thinking
• Leadership & Management: Leading, influencing and guiding other members of an organisation

None

Students will be immersed in the world of geopolitical risk management within a corporation, with all assessments solving a geopolitical risk problem for a fictitious company.

Students will receive feedback:

• informally throughout sessions via verbal comment;
• immediately after group presentations with brief oral remarks to the class, and in-depth commentary in writing within two weeks;
• immediately during the case study peer discussion and individually in writing within two weeks of the case study deadline; and
• individually in writing within two weeks of the take-home paper deadline.

• Preparation of a very short case study (max. 650 words in writing, and for peer discussion in class) - a company’s geopolitical success or failure: 10%, due around session 3
• Individual written report/paper, incl. 1-slide stakeholder briefing (take-home paper): 40% of final grade, 3 weeks to complete, due around session 10
• Group oral & visual presentation (individual grading): 40% of final grade, presentations delivered in class during sessions 7-11
• In-class participation throughout 10%

• In Class Presence: 2 hours a week / 24 hours a semester
• Reading and Preparation for Class: 2.5 hours a week / 30 hours a semester
• Research and Preparation for Group Work: 50 hours a semester
• Research and Preparation for Case Study: 4 hours
• Research and Writing for Individual Assessment(s): 42 hours a semester