The Political Environment of the Multinational Firm

Catalog description

The financial significance of stakeholder opinions of the acceptability of a firm’s operations and geopolitical risk is mounting, yet the data, frameworks, and tools informing investors, consultants, and corporates are unreliable. The course provides students with novel data, frameworks, and tools that can link and aid in the alignment of stakeholder opinions of corporate impact on natural, social, and human capitals, financial valuation, strategy, and sustainable business. Estimates of the capital expenditures necessary to achieve a net-zero emissions and the 1.5 degrees Celsius global warming target exceed $50 Trillion over the next 30 years. The cost of inaction is, however, much higher, with $10-$25 Trillion dollars in annual losses forecast for GDP from the physical risks of climate change alone. Despite this simple financial calculus, we continue to debate whether climate change is real, and whether policies to achieve a climate transition are justified, and whether the allocation of the costs necessary to do so is fair. Such discussions are made more difficult by the reemergence of geopolitical rivalries between great powers as well as the strengthening of political divisions within many countries. Populism, nationalism, and nativism have moved from the fringes of political systems to the corridors of power. These international and national forces have led to a pause in globalization and increasingly threaten global growth. Which firms or investors are best poised to navigate these risks and seize related opportunities? This course provides students the latest tools to assess and map stakeholder opinions as well as integrate them into financial valuation. It also offers behavioral skills critical for external stakeholder engagement including communications as well as for the engagement of stakeholders inside the firm. In short, it prepares students to engage…