Schortgen Earns Visiting Professorship at Norwegian School of Business and Law
January 25, 2021KRISTIANSAND, Norway — Dr. Francis Schortgen, professor of political science and international studies and business, has started a virtual visiting professorship in the School of Business and Law at the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway.
This semester, Schortgen is teaching a six-week online graduate course on “Emerging Markets” that serves as an elective for the university’s master’s programs in international business, accounting and auditing and business administration. As part of this course offering, he has also developed competency with the CANVAS Learning Management System platform.
With an enrollment of 76 students, the course incorporates recorded lectures highlighting the “three main theoretical and methodological components” (and issues to be covered under each component) listed on Agder’s website:
- systematic assessment of resources for national economic growth
- Natural and human, including education; energy, including renewables; social and cultural capital; Dutch disease and theories on resource curse avoidance; growth models
- Natural and human, including education; energy, including renewables; social and cultural capital; Dutch disease and theories on resource curse avoidance; growth models
- the role of institutions for sustainable economic development and welfare distribution
- The role of institutions: economic, political, judicial; democratic versus authoritarian political systems; the importance of rule of law; corruption
- The role of institutions: economic, political, judicial; democratic versus authoritarian political systems; the importance of rule of law; corruption
- government policies for growth with equity:
- Government policies and their impacts on business, growth, and environmental and social sustainability; monetary and fiscal policies; trade policies and foreign relations; Labor markets and social policies
- Government policies and their impacts on business, growth, and environmental and social sustainability; monetary and fiscal policies; trade policies and foreign relations; Labor markets and social policies
Additionally, the course aims to give students a regional perspective of challenges and opportunities of emerging markets in a weekly synchronous Zoom session devoted to the discussion of emerging/frontier market-specific case studies drawn from Harvard Business Publishing:
| Country/Theme | Case Study |
| Doing Business in Emerging Markets | “Carlsberg in emerging markets.” |
| Angola | “Angola and the resource curse” |
| Argentina | “Argentina: Anatomy of a Financial Crisis.” |
| Cambodia | "Sunton Manufacturing in Cambodia: Exit or remain?” |
| Russia | “Hermitage’s Russian quandary” |
| Turkey | "Diageo and Mey Icki: Turkish Delight or Turkish Hangover.” |
| Ukraine | “Managing a severe crisis: PharmaCorp in Ukraine.” |
| Vietnam | “Vietnam’s Embrace of ICT for Economic Development: Success and Future Challenges.” |
Ultimately, the primary aim of the course is to assist and encourage students to develop an inquisitive, reflective, critical and analytical mindset concerning trends and developments in emerging and frontier markets.