Inside a Company in China
Seminar Dates: Aug. 10 -- Aug 28, 2020
Travel Date: Arrive Beijing Aug. 8, 2020; Depart from SHANGHAI after course ends Aug. 29, 2020. (Note: International air travel note: Arrive Beijing, Depart Shanghai)
Location: Beijing, Shanghai, and three other locations in China
Instructor: Jean C. Oi, William Haas Professor of Chinese Politics, Department of Political Science and Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Teaching Assistant: Yiqin Fu, Doctoral student, Dept. of Political Science
Description: This seminar is designed to allow students an in depth, firsthand understanding of how a company operates in China. It will examine how a company secures and manages supply chains, labor, and markets as well as its interactions with local governments and communities. As a window on corporate operations in diverse parts of China we will go inside one company doing fieldwork in different plants within its vast network of hundreds of plants throughout China.
We begin the seminar in Beijing at SCPKU, with approximately a week of classroom work to ensure that students have sufficient background and are prepared to do fieldwork, before undertaking two weeks of site visits and interviews. We will do fieldwork in 4 different sites in China over a two-week period. We will begin and end our fieldwork with discussions at company headquarters in Shanghai. In between we will do research in 3 diverse sites to understand the challenges that companies face as they must adapt to local conditions.
Prerequisites: There are no prerequires for this course. The ideal applicant would have some background on contemporary China and some Chinese language ability.
Fees/Cost: Airfare accommodations and food are covered by the Stanford Center at Peking University. See details under "Program Cost."
Application Process: A seminar application is required plus an official Stanford transcript via Axess. Please submit transcript and the application online at the same time. The deadline to apply is March 15, 2020. Applications received after the deadline will be considered for the waitlist. Transcripts via Axess should be submitted to Leigh Wang.
