Course Content and Objectives

The US-China bilateral relationship is in its worst shape since the two nations normalized diplomatic relations in 1979. The deterioration in Sino-American relations, and the intensely competitive rivalry that has developed, have important implications for the rest of the world, including the business sector. This course has three principal goals: (i) to leave students with a significantly better understanding of this most consequential bilateral relationship, and of the multiple dimensions of the rivalry; (ii) to expose students to a range of perspectives, encouraging them to challenge and refine their own; and (iii) to engage students in creative ideation toward progress—as they define that—in some aspect of the US-China relationship.

Among the rivalry dimensions on which class sessions will focus are the following: economics (macroeconomic performance and prospects, trade and supply chains, investment flows, technology); political economy and business (form of capitalism, role of the business firm, corporate governance); and national security (geopolitics, geoeconomics). This will be an atypical HBS course. A seminar capped at 25 students, it will be reading- and discussion-intensive. It will not be case-based. It will emphasize practitioner-oriented readings (e.g. articles drawn from Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy, think tank reports from Council on Foreign Relations, Brookings, Belfer and Carnegie), supplemented by a mix of book chapters/essays, scholarly journal articles, podcasts, newsletters, blogs, videos and guest speakers. Through these media, students will be exposed to American and Chinese perspectives, as well as other Asian and European views.

Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to respectfully challenge perspectives and taken-for-granted assumptions--those of the assigned reading authors, the instructor’s, classmates’, and their own. The course aims to help students further refine the substantive world views they will have been developing at HBS, while enhancing their capacities for empathy and perspective-taking.

The final paper assignment may (but need not) be completed in teams of two or three. The assignment will ask students to creatively ideate potential “solutions” to an aspect of the US-China rivalry that both interests and concerns them. (This could, but need not, target solutions to address particular concerns of the business community.) Students will likely find that this assignment affords them an opportunity to productively draw on concepts and frameworks from multiple HBS courses they will have taken. In addition, this seminar will introduce students to (or refresh their recollection of) selected tools from negotiation and design thinking that will be useful in their creative ideation process.

A broad range of students should find this seminar interesting and relevant. Among them: those for whom the subject matter is intrinsically fascinating; those who expect that Sino-American geopolitics may significantly impact the broad context of their professional lives; and those whose careers (e.g. in strategy consulting, corporate leadership, equity investing) may be still more directly shaped by this pivotal bilateral relationship.

Course Administration and Grading

The intention is for this course to use a Hybrid Classroom format, in which students will have the option of attending in person or via Zoom. Should circumstances require a switch to all-Zoom format, details will be on Canvas prior to term start.

Students will be graded based on the following: (i) 40% on class participation; (ii) 20% on short-answer assignments submitted prior to class meetings; and (iii) 40% on the final paper.