C30.0220.01
Global Perspectives on Enterprise Systems
George D. Smith
Spring 2009
Mondays and Wednesdays
Preliminary Syllabus
Course Description and Requirements
This course compares the development of rich and “emerging market” societies
over time. Through both macro- and micro-economic perspectives, we examine
political, cultural, and economic similarities and differences of national enterprise
systems, paying special attention to impacts of government, financial institutions,
entrepreneurship and management.
The intellectual objectives of the course are to develop an understanding of
different enterprise systems and to hone abilities to think comparatively, both
over time and across national contexts.
We will consider the lessons we can learn from the histories of the UK, the
US, Germany and Japan before examining the more recent progress of
economies and firms in such diverse countries as India, China, the Asian
“Dragons,” Russia, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Chile, and the European Union.
Classes will be a mix of lecture and discussion of the assigned readings.
Attendance is important. Short paragraphs on the assigned readings will be
required for each class as a preparation for discussion. Later in the semester,
student teams will present on cases. There will be a final take home essay,
distributed in the penultimate class session, which will be due one week from the
end of the course.
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C30.0220.01
Global Perspectives
Required readings available in NYU Bookstore:
Books
Thomas C. CMC, Creating Modern Capitalism (Harvard University Press, 1998).
Ezra Vogel, The Four Little Dragons: The Spread of Industrialization in East Asia
(Harvard University Press, 1991).
Readings posted on Blackboard
George David Smith, Richard Sylla and Robert E. Wright, “The Diamond of
sustainable Development,” working paper, 2007.
George David Smith and Richard Sylla, "Capital Markets," from Encyclopedia of
the 20th Century (Scribners, 1996).
Case packet
Chile: The Latin American Tiger?”
“The Welfare State and its Impact on Business Competitiveness:
Sweden, Inc. for Sale?”
“A Wider Europe: The Challenge of EU Enlargement”
“Saudi Arabia”
“The Competitive Advantage of India”
“China Building: Capitalism with Socialist Characteristics”
“Gazprom and Hermitage Capital.”
“Ghana: National Economic Strategy”
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Class Schedule
(subject to modification)
1 Overview of issues and themes
Background reading: “The Diamond of Sustainable Development,” working paper
posted on Blackboard under “Assignments.”
Part 1: Evolution of Rich Societies
Patterns of industrialization: early and late developers
2 Peter Botticelli, “British Capitalism and the Three Industrial Revolutions,” from
McCraw, Creating Modern Capitalism (hereafter CMC).
3 CMC, chapter on “American Capitalism.”
4
CMC, chapter on “German Capitalism.”
5
CMC, chapter on “Japanese Capitalism.”
6 “The Communist Alternative and why it Failed,” reading TBA.
Financial system development
7 CMC, “The Deutsche Bank.”
8 Smith and Sylla, "Capital Markets."
Entrepreneurs and managers
9 CMC, "Josiah Wedgwood."
10 CMC, "Henry Ford and Alfred Sloan.”
11 CMC, “Toyoda.”
12 CMC, “7-Eleven.”
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Part 2: Emerging and Underdeveloped Societies
13
“Chile: The Latin American Tiger?”
Little Dragons
14 Ezra Vogel, The Four Little Dragons, chapters on Hong Kong and
Singapore.
15 Vogel, chapter on Taiwan.
16 Vogel, chapter on South Korea.
Traps?
17 “Saudi Arabia”
18 “Gazprom and Hermitage Capital”
19 "Ghana”
Giants Awakening
20 “The Competitive Advantage of India”
21 “China Building: Capitalism with Socialist Characteristics”
Mature Economies Reforming:
22 "A Wider Europe: The Challenge of EU Enlargement"
23 “The Welfare State and its Impact on Business Competitiveness:
Sweden, Inc. for Sale?”
24 Silicon Valley and Technology Clusters
25
Overview and Conclusions (Final exams due 5/12)
5
Instructor’s Biographical Information
George David Smith is Clinical Professor of Economics and International Business at the NYU Stern
School of Business. He began teaching at Stern in 1984, joined its economics faculty in 1988. He offers
courses in U.S. Economic and Business History, Global Perspectives on Enterprise Systems, Markets,
Ethics and Law, and Entrepreneurial Leadership. He has been a faculty member of the Berkley Center for
Entrepreneurial Studies and is a research associate of the Center for Japan-U.S. Business and Economic
Studies. He has been twice named a Glucksman Faculty Fellow.
Professor Smith holds a Ph.D. in from Harvard University, where he taught from 1972-78. He was project
manager for telecommunications industry antitrust studies at the Cambridge Research Institute from 19791982. In 1982 he co-founded The Winthrop Group, Inc., located today in Cambridge, MA, New York, and
the UK. He has consulted to such firms as ALCOA, AT&T, Citigroup, Comcast Corp., Cotton Incorporated,
Dillon, Read, Inc., Dover Corporation, General Electric Company, Guardian Life Insurance Company,
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., McKinsey & Company, Procter & Gamble, and Shell Oil Company.
Some of his publications include:
“The Public Corporation and Private Property turns 75,” Financial History, Fall 2007.
“The Diamond of Sustainable Growth: A Historical Framework for the Study of Political Economy and
Economic Development”, forthcoming.
A Concise History of Wall Street, with Richard Sylla. Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.
Mutually Beneficial: The Guardian and Life Insurance in America, with Robert Wright, New York University
Press, 2004.
Cotton’s Renaissance, with Timothy Jacobson. Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Wisdom from the Robber Barons, with Frederick Dalzell, Perseus Books, 2000.
“Leveraged Management Buyouts at KKR,” with George Baker, in Private Equity. ,Euromoney/Institutional
Investor, 2000).
The New Financial Capitalists: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the Creation of Corporate Value , with George
P. Baker. Cambridge University Press, 1998.
“The Rise and Transformation of the American Corporation,” in The Corporation Today, ed. Karl Kaysen.
Oxford University Press, 1996.
The Transformation of Financial Capitalism, with R. Sylla. Blackwell, 1993.
From Monopoly to Competition: The Transformations of Alcoa. Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Anatomy of a Business Strategy: Bell, Western Electric and the Origins of the American Telephone
Industry. John Hopkins University Press, 1985. (co-winner, Best Book on Business, American Publishers
Association, Scholarly Division.