1stDraftEcon 277f
Spring 2015FRIDAY12:30-3:15p.m. and
One required field trip to NYC on Friday, April 4th
Prof. Kevin Steinberg (President & Head of Client Services, Purpose): or
With Prof. John W. Ballantine, Jr.:
Office hours: after or before class, or by appointment (please email)
TA:Chancellor Suite
NOTE: enrollment is limited to 28 students.
OVERVIEW
How do leaders with different agendas, backgrounds, and supporters find a way toaddress the world’s most challenging problems? The Public Policy, Business Leadership and World Affairs class will introduce students tothe unique approaches of several organizations at the intersection of the private, public and social sectors, in particular the international organization responsible for its Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum ( a “B Corp” focused on mobilizing social change, Purpose ( The class willanalyzenumerous global challenges, and the various constituencies most involved in each, including: growing pension obligations, scarcity ofnatural resources,the plight of humanitarian refugees, and the evolving influence of private equity. Students will work with leaders /experts who know the issues, understand the conflicting perspectives of the players, and have managed the dialogue to arrive at practical solutions.
The World Economic Forum, conceived in 1971,brings togetherleaders from the private sector, public sector, academia, and other parts of society to address the challenges of the day. It usesa "multi-stakeholder" philosophy / dialogue to find ways to resolve issues such as trade, financial structure, climate change, pensions, poverty, health, gender, new media, and global governance. The goal is to bring people together to debate their differences and develop concrete action steps.
Purpose is a revolutionary social business working at the intersection of the private, public and social sectors that builds movements driven by people and enabled by technology. It creates and launches new ventures and organizations in the areas where it can make the most social impact, calling this approach movement entrepreneurship. Purpose also deploys its experience to consult to and advise the world's leading organizations, helping put purpose and participation at the core of what they do.
After spending 12 years with the World Economic Forum, with the latter eight serving as the Chief Operating Officer of the World Economic Forum USA, Kevin recently left the Forum to become Purpose’s President:
Through this course, studentswill therefore receive an insider’s view on public policy, business leadership and world affairs; will meet with guest lecturers who know the facts and the players;review the extensive background material; and debate the issues by assuming the roles of the main players. The class will also visit Purpose’sGlobal Headquarters in New York City to meet with staffandits affiliates.
LEARNING GOALS & OUTCOMES
Through a combination of lectures, cases, readings, debates, class discussions, and individual research papers students will gain a better understanding of the complexities of our global economy and how the Forum approaches these challenges. The course will incorporate the following learning goals:
- Understanding the role of individual players / stakeholders in the global economy
- characteristics and perspectives
- priorities and influence
- venues and frameworks in which different stakeholders operate - Understanding institutional frameworks
- role of different national / stakeholder institutions
- agenda / scope of international institutions
- other players and the way theyinteractaround specific issues - Understanding specific global challenges
- priority of Forum issues, such as private equity, pensions, natural resources
- other issues and areas of focus of the World Economic Forum
- Understanding the critical importance of dialogue and “listening” to other stakeholders
- Gaining insight into governance in our global economy
Prerequisite
ECON 201a, (GEE)and students should have familiarity with the business press.
Grading
Course grades will be determined according to the following schedule:
Topic and case discussions / papers20%
Member and group role play20%
Class participation20%
Final paper40%
Course material / requirements
The course requiresapproximately 300-400 pages of readingover the sixclass sessionswith more extensive background readings (100 pages per class) from selected books / studies that are available on LATTE. Student groups will also prepare and play the role of different stakeholders for each topic.
Readings and cases will be provided through HBS and Latte links.
Instructions to Access the Harvard Business Course Materials Online:
Course link: (to be updated)
Regarding the World Economic Forum documents, you can download them from the WEF official website ( or directly on Latte.
Group work policy: Student groups are expected to participate in one topic role play and discussion, assuming the role of a key constituency for a given issue. Each role play exercise will involve 6-8 students,divided into teams of 2, each taking the perspective of an assigned group (e.g., private equity firms, governments, etc.). In this way, students will simulate the Forum’s approach to discussions with many different stakeholder groupswith varying agendas. .
Final papers: At the end of the modulestudents will individually write a research paper on one of the Forum’s discussion topics currently under active discussion. The paper (of 6 to 8 pages + exhibits) shoulddefine the global topic challenge and then map out the perspectives of the different stakeholders engaged in the issue, by focusing on: What are the stakeholders’ concerns?What are their perspectives?How will the various players interact with other stakeholders? Duringthis mapping exercise students should apply the Forum framework to examine the issue.
Prior to the paper, students will submit a 1-2 page outline of the final paper topic on April 23rd. Students will then receive comments on this outline during the April 30th class, and have until May 7thto submit the final 6-8 pages paper (hard copy and electronic copy).
Class participation: Regular preparation of assigned readings, class attendance, and participation in class discussions are required. Given the importance of the role play and participation, students are expected to attend every class or notify the professor of an unavoidable conflict. All students are expected to attend the field trip to New York City, Purpose offices on Friday, April 4th. A bus will leave from Brandeis at 8:00 am in the morning and return later that evening in time for first day of classes on Wednesday after the break.
Topic papers: For those students not participating in a role play, you are expected to write-up a short one page summary of a key question raised in the topic readings. E.g., the role of private equity in economic growth.
Teaching Assistants: The TA will be available to assist students with their preparations for the role plays; the TA willkeep track of class participation. Both the TA and the professor will grade all the assignments so there will be two readings of all submitted materials.
Special Accommodation: If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately.
Academic Honesty: All students are expected to be familiar with and abide by the academic honesty policies of Brandeis. The University has requested that course syllabi include the following passages:
“Academic integrity is central to the mission of educational excellence at Brandeis University. Each student is expected to turn in work completed independently, except when assignments specifically authorize collaborative effort. It is not acceptable to use the words or ideas of another person – be it a world-class philosopher or your lab partner – without proper acknowledgement of the source. This means that you must use footnotes and quotation marks to indicate the source of any phrases, sentences, paragraphs or ideas found in published volumes, on the internet or created by another student.
“Violations of University policies on academic integrity, described in Section Three of the Rights and Responsibilities, may result in failure in the course or on the assignment, or in suspension from the University. If you are in doubt about the instructions for any assignment in this course, it is your responsibility to ask for clarification.
“If you are working in groups that I have authorized, I will expect your answers to resemble those of your partners; otherwise I expect you to do your work separately from your friends, classmates, family members, and so on. You are not permitted to have anyone other than your professors help you on written assignments outside of class. If you have questions on the type of help you may receive, please ask me before you seek help from someone.”[1]
Final Note:
This course is a lot of work, but it should be a good deal of fun if you put in the effort and discuss the fascinating issues / cases that will be reviewed during the semester. Students must keep name cards up throughout the semester, and sit close to the same seat. NO computers should be open during class, except for debates.
Course Structure and Schedule
The class is divided into several topic modules, each of which has three parts: (a) Topic lecture and discussion of facts covered in the readings;(b) Case discussion that illustrates the topic issues; and (c) a role play involving the different actors involved. For example, we will first learn about the aging demographics of key countries and thefinancial exposure of pension/retirement obligations;after understanding the factswe will then discuss a caselooking at the perspectives of organized labor, retirees, private players, and government officials. Finally, these perspectives will be debated in class as students take on the roles of individual players or stakeholders sitting at the table. Through role plays students will come up with a possibleset of solutions to the growing pension obligations ofa country.
March13:Introduction to the World Economic Forum / Purpose and the way both institutionsengage leaders from all sectors in society. How and why was the Forum created? What is the Forum approach and what has it accomplished over the past 40 years? Why is the Forum framework successful? What social impact void does Purpose try to fill? How do social movements and “movement thinking” have potential to reframe issues? Review syllabus,topics, readings, visit to New York City Purpose offices and class requirements and structure.
Discuss role playing and framework discussions.
Required readings:
- The World Economic Forum, A Partner in Shaping History (published by the Forum, 2009): pp.1-17; 213-263
- Parag Khanna, How To Run The World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance (Random House, Jan. 2011): Ch. 1-3 (p. 3-62)
Required Video:
- A #2030Now Perspective on the Global Agenda: (1st 15 minutes are required as an introduction to Purpose, the rest is optional)
Optional readings:
- The World Economic Forum, A Partner in Shaping History (2010)
- Geoffrey Pigman, The World Economic Forum: A multi-stakeholder approach to global governance, (Routledge, 2007)
March 20Globalization of Private Equity:The economic and political impact of private equity. As the private equity model has grown from a narrow western phenomenon to a global means of financing growth and turnarounds, how has it influenced private and public sector behaviors?
Case study discussion & Role Play Framework:
Achleitner, Nathusius, Herman, Lerner (2008), Messer Griesheim (pp.87-102 World Economic Forum, Globalization of Alternative Investments, Working Papers Volume 1) available at: The role of private equity in Germany.
Role Play: For this class, the role play will be based on the above case, and student roles will include:
- Business Owners
- Private Equity Firms
- Employees
- Government
Required readings:
- Jensen (1989), The Eclipse of the Public Corporation, HBR 67, 61-74
- Davis, Lerner, Haltiwagner, Miranda and Jarmin (2008), Private Equity & Employment (pp. 43-64 of World Economic Forum, Globalization of Alternative Investments, Working Papers Volume 1) available at:
Optional readings:
- Kaplan (1991), The Staying Power of Leveraged Buyouts, Journal of Financial Economics 29, 287-313.
- all of the Working Papers Volume 1, 2 and 3
March 27: Entitlements, Demographic shifts and Pensions: The aging of our populations creates many challenges and opportunities for countries across the world.
Case study discussion:
- Richard HK Vietor on Japan: Deficits, Demography and Deflation. The challenge of aging and growth.
Student role play: Exploring the passage of a US Pensions reform bill. Student role play will include:
- 2 elected Republicans
- 2 elected Democrats
- The AARP
- The US Chamber of Commerce
Required readings:
- World Economic Forum (2008), The Future of Pensions and Healthcare in a Rapidly Changing Ageing World: Scenarios to 2030, pp. 6-75
(available at:
- “Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition,” by Roger L. Martin & Sally Osberg. Stanford Social Innovation Review, Spring 2007.
Optional readings:
- World Economic Forum (2008), The Future of Pensions and Healthcare in a Rapidly Ageing World: Scenarios to 2030, available at
April 3: Field trip?. Our NYC field trip to the Purpose Offices will leave the IBS at 8am and return late that evening: How Purpose mobilizes people to bring about social change.
A day long visit in the New York City headquarters office, featuring meetings with key staff, strategists, activists and advisors working on a variety of social movements and issues. 2-3 core campaigns will be featured, likely including:
1. Syria voices – a new campaign to draw attention to the plight and issues facing Syrian refugees as part of the current crisis
2. Everytown – a new movement politically mobilizing gun control advocates across the United States
3. Foodstand – a new consumer movement, starting with a photo-sharing application, bringing attention to healthier, more sustainable food consumption
Role Play: to be announced
Guest Speakers:1-2 to be announced, but will include Jeremy Heimans:
Jeremy Heimans is the co-founder and CEO of Purpose ( a global home for building movements and new ventures that use the power of participation to change the world. Purpose has built global movements to fight cancer (with LIVESTRONG), eliminate nuclear weapons in 20 years (with Global Zero, a new initiative led by more than 200 world leaders and endorsed by President Obama) and launched the first global online LGBT rights organization AllOut.org, which already has more than 1.6m members. Purpose also advises major NGOs, foundations and progressive companies and is currently incubating a new venture to shift demand toward more progressive forms of consumption.
In 2007, Jeremy co-founded Avaaz.org, the world’s largest online political community, with more than 20 million members. In 2005, he co-founded GetUp.org, an Australian online political movement and internationally recognized social movement phenomenon that today has more members than all of Australia's political parties combined. In 2004, he co-founded an advocacy group in the US presidential elections that ran a highly publicized online and media campaign, raising millions of dollars in small online donations.
In 2011, Jeremy received the Ford Foundation's 75th Anniversary Visionary Award for his work as a movement pioneer and he was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He was ranked 11th on Fast Company's list of the Most Creative People in Business, has been recognized as one of the "Top 10 People Who is Changing the World of the Internet and Politics" by the World e-Government Forum and is the 2012 recipient of the Global Australian award for social innovation. His work has been recognized in publications like The Economist and the New York Times. Jeremy began his career with the strategy consultants McKinsey and Company. He was educated at Harvard University and the University of Sydney. He is a citizen of Australia and the Netherlands, and lives in New York.
April 17: Resource Scarcity:How natural resource scarcity drives conflict dynamics in many parts of the world.
Note that 1-2 page outlines of your final papers are due in this class. More details will be shared before then.
Case study discussion:
- Abrami, Ajambo (2010), China in Africa: The Case of Sudan, HBS. Water and Peace in Sudan and the role of different stakeholders. Where are we now?
Student role play concerning natural resource scarcity.
Student role play: A global mining company investment. Student roles will include:
- A global mining company
- International NGO
- Federal Government
- Local community
Required reading:
- World Economic Forum (2010), Mining and Metals: Scenarios to 2030
(report available at
April 24: The final class will also include a group exercise where students provide feedback on each other’s final paper outlines, as well as a final wrap up/discussion on some of the current areas of focus of Purpose and the World Economic Forum.
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1
SteinbergSpring 2015
[1] Shawn McGuirk, Kara Curcio, and Carrie Klugman, “Information for your Syllabi,” Memoradum to Faculty, Department of Student Development and Conduct, BrandeisUniversity, August 1, 2004.