Business Challenges of the 21st Century
Equip yourself with frameworks to pursue business opportunities in the current global environment.
About This Specialization
Learning Outcomes for the Specialization:
Upon completion of this specialization, you will be able to:
Understand how businesses function in the global marketplace.
Make ethical decisions to run a responsible business in the global marketplace.
Understand the role of business in addressing global challenges such as poverty and the environment.
Understand how business can pursue opportunities and confront challenges in the complex global marketplace.
Created by:
7 courses
Follow the suggested order or choose your own.
Projects
Designed to help you practice and apply the skills you learn.
Certificates
Highlight your new skills on your resume or LinkedIn.
Projects Overview
Courses
- Beginner Specialization.
- No prior experience required.
COURSE 1
Sustainable Innovation for Subsistence Marketplaces
Current session: Jun 26 — Jul 31.- Subtitles
- English
About the Course
This course focuses on understanding subsistence marketplaces and designing business solutions for the billions of people living in poverty in the global marketplace. To develop understanding of subsistence marketplaces, we use exercises to enable participants to view the world from the eyes of subsistence consumers and entrepreneurs, facilitate bottom‐up understanding generated by participants, and provide insights from extensive research. More broadly, the course uses the context of extreme resource constrained contexts to learn about the bottom-up approach pioneered through the Subsistence Marketplaces Initiative, and apply it in any context. The course will involve virtual immersion in subsistence contexts, emersion of unique insights, bottom-up design, innovation and enterprise. A parallel project will focus on understanding a specific need in a subsistence marketplace, and designing a solution and an enterprise plan. Upon successful completion of this course you will be able to: • Develop an understanding of subsistence marketplaces • Design solutions for subsistence marketplaces • Develop enterprise plans to implement solutions for subsistence marketplaces • Apply the bottom-up approach for subsistence marketplaces as well as other contexts This course is part of the iMBA offered by the University of Illinois, a flexible, fully-accredited online MBA at an incredibly competitive price. For more information, please see the Resource page in this course and onlinemba.illinois.edu.COURSE 2
Sustainable Business Enterprises
Upcoming session: Jul 3 — Aug 7.- Subtitles
- English
About the Course
This course will explore current challenges and opportunities facing firms in the area of environmental sustainability. It will begin with an introduction to sustainability, with a particular focus on how environmental sustainability is relevant to business. Topics such as unsustainable consumption/consumer behavior, market research sustainable product design, sustainable value chains and communications will be covered. The bottom-up approach in terms of immersion, emersion, and design as applied to sustainable business enterprise will be covered. The course concludes with a summary of insights on global challenges in business, with particular focus on poverty and the environment, and on the unique approach employed here in terms of bottom-up immersion, emersion, design, innovation, and enterprise. Upon successful completion of this course you will be able to: • Understand the importance of sustainability for business • Learn about specific topics consumer behavior, market research, product design, value chains and communications using the sustainability lens in business • Design solutions and develop enterprise plans for sustainable business initiatives • Apply the bottom-up approach for sustainable business initiatives in any context This course is part of the iMBA offered by the University of Illinois, a flexible, fully-accredited online MBA at an incredibly competitive price. For more information, please see the Resource page in this course and onlinemba.illinois.edu.COURSE 3
Global Strategy I: How The Global Economy Works
Upcoming session: Jul 3 — Aug 7.- Subtitles
- English
About the Course
Starting in the late 1990s, “globalization” became a buzzword to describe the apparent integration of markets in the world economy. Many authors and pundits claimed that the world was converging towards a market-friendly democratic place, while gurus and consulting firms were not short of formulae and advice on how to make profits out of the global economy. Decades later, new realities show that globalization does not mean political, cultural, and economic convergence and that forces against it are strong. This course seeks to help you understand the forces of globalization and how cross-cultural management and the relationship of a multinational organization to various host countries is becoming more and more critical in today’s global economy. This course begins with the discussion of these issues and global relationships and delves into a deeper understanding of business strategy in today’s global business marketplace. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to: • Understand how we got here and why it matters • Understand the complexities of the current globalization (not all countries are the same) • Evaluate the effects of international trade regulations on international business • Evaluate when and why should we operate as multinationals This course is part of the iMBA offered by the University of Illinois, a flexible, fully-accredited online MBA at an incredibly competitive price. For more information, please see the Resource page in this course and onlinemba.illinois.edu.COURSE 4
Global Strategy II: Doing Business in The Global Economy
Upcoming session: Jun 28 — Jul 27.- Subtitles
- English
About the Course
This course explores the ways firms overcome challenges when operating globally. The global economy is characterized for its high complexity and uncertainty. Corporations trying to succeed in the global economy need to develop different types of strategies depending on where they are conducting business or what type business they are in. Students taking this course will learn how to determine the best strategy to follow when expanding globally, the advantages and disadvantages of those strategies, and the appropriate responses to external pressures. This course is part of the iMBA offered by the University of Illinois, a flexible, fully-accredited online MBA at an incredibly competitive price. For more information, please see the Resource page in this course and onlinemba.illinois.edu.
Creators
Marcelo Bucheli
Associate Professor
Patricia Werhane
Adjunct Professor
Carlos J. Torelli
Professor
Madhu Viswanathan
Diane and Steven N. Miller Professor in Business
Joe A. Bradley
Lecturer in Business Administration
FAQs
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