This course examines how people learn, practice, and evaluate traditional and contemporary craft techniques. Social science theories of design, embodiment, apprenticeship learning, skill, labor, expertise, and tacit knowledge are used to explore distinctions and connections among art, craft, and science. We will also discuss the commoditization of craft into market goods, collectible art, and tourism industries. Ethnographic and historical case studies include textiles, glassblowing, quilting, cheese making, industrial design, home cooking, factory and laboratory work, CAD-CAM. In-class demonstrations and hands-on craft projects will be included.

Introduction to theories of ethics for organizational managers. Perspectives on ethics are covered, with applications to stakeholders and consideration of government regulations. Analysis of real-world examples.

As markets or production bases, China and India are becoming important and integral players in the global economy. Foreign direct investment (FDI), portfolio investments and outsourcing businesses have increased dramatically in these two economies. Despite the rising importance of these two economies on the world stage, our knowledge and analysis of these two countries in an integrated manner has remained poor. The two are often lumped together by business analysts as “emerging markets,” despite the substantial differences in their political systems, reform policies and business organizations. Academics, in contrast, have tended to treat the two countries separately, preferring to specialize in issues and questions specific to one or the other country.
The purpose of this course is to analyze these two countries within a coherent analytical framework. Our learning model is inductive, and heavily based on class discussions and participation. The group projects should aim at integrating analysis, knowledge and understanding of these two countries. We will also experiment with other forms of group projects, such as creating and working on business plans and those projects that integrate research from field trips with more traditional research, such as library research. There is no prerequisite but 15.012 (Applied Macro- and International Economics) and 15.223 (Global Markets, National Policies and the Competitive Advantage of Firms) are highly recommended.

To understand why people trade, suppose you were limited to consuming only items you could find within walking distance of your house. Or, perhaps even worse, only items you could produce yourself. For most of us, this restriction would severely diminish the variety of goods and services we enjoy on a daily basis. Therefore, the simplest answer to the question is that people (or entire countries) trade because they will enjoy a wider variety of goods.

This course examines opportunities and risks firms face in today’s global market. It provides conceptual tools for analyzing how governments and social institutions influence economic competition among firms embedded in different national settings. Public policies and institutions that shape competitive outcomes are examined through cases and analytical readings on different companies and industries operating in both developed and emerging markets.

This kit provides the materials and background information needed to engage students in a dynamic and constructive process of learning how global media perspectives differ based on country of production, media source, target audience, and political and social context. There are five lessons representing important issues and media documents from: Africa (news and documentary film clips about the food crisis), Latin America (editorial cartoons about immigration), Europe (news and documentary film clips about Islam and cultural identity), India (magazine covers about India's rise in the global economy), and Southeast Asia (websites concerning Islamic majorities and minorities).

This subject examines the paradoxes of contemporary globalization. Through lectures, discussions and student presentations, we will study the cultural, linguistic, social and political impact of globalization across broad international borders.
We will pay attention to the subtle interplay of history, geography, language and cultural norms that gave rise to specific ways of life. The materials for the course include fiction, nonfiction, audio pieces, maps and visual materials.

The aim of this course is to introduce and analyze the international relations of East Asia. With four great powers, three nuclear weapons states, and two of the world’s largest economies, East Asia is one of the most dynamic and consequential regions in world politics. This course will examine the sources of conflict and cooperation in both periods, assessing competing explanations for key events in East Asia’s international relations. Readings will be drawn from international relations theory, political science and history.

This lesson plan will havestudents examine the relationship of Virginia and the US to the global economy with an emphasis on the impacts of technological innovations. Students will also analyze the reasons behind a country’s wealth in a global economy.

This course covers organizational, strategic and operational aspects of managing Supply Networks (SNs) from domestic and international perspectives. Topics include alternative SN structures, strategic alliances, design of delivery systems and the role of third party logistics providers. Many of the activities exchanged among enterprises in a SN are of a service nature, and the final output is often a combination of tangible products and services which the end-customer purchases. A series of concepts, frameworks and analytic tools are provided to better understand the management of service operations. Guest speakers share their experiences in managing SNs and services. Restricted to MIT Sloan Fellows in Innovation and Global Leadership.

This class is a selective survey of Latin American history from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present. Issues studied include Latin America in the global economy, relations between Latin America and the U.S., dictatorships and democracies in the twentieth century, African and Indigenous cultures, feminism and gender, cultural politics, revolution in Mexico, Cuba, and Central America, and Latin American identity.

This course provides students with the opportunity to develop a map of contemporary architectural practice and discourse. The seminar examines six themes in terms of their recent history: city and global economy, urban plan and map of operations, program and performance, drawing and scripting, image and surface, and utopia and projection. Students will study buildings and read relevant texts in order to place recent architectural projects in disciplinary and cultural context.

In this unit, students examine the question: How does access to a specific diet (nutrition) impact human rights? As students explore biological information on how the human body uses food as a source of energy, they will explore the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) document, to examine the crucial question of how access to a proper diet is related to a person’s rights.

This seminar examines the global history of the last millennium, including technological change, commodity exchange, systems of production, and economic growth. Students engage with economic history, medieval and early modern origins of modern systems of production, consumption and global exchange. Topics include the long pre-history of modern economic development; medieval world systems; the age of discovery; the global crisis of the 17th century; demographic systems; global population movements; the industrial revolution; the rise of the modern consumer; colonialism and empire building; patterns of inequality, within and across states; the curse of natural resources fate of Africa; and the threat of climate change to modern economic systems. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments.

The course introduces the main debates about the “new” global economy and their implications for practice and policy. Experts from academia and business will share their findings about, and direct experiences with, different aspects of globalization.