Handbook

Prior to the arrival of the first European settlers and convicts in January 1788, contemporary political and business leaders perceived Australia as terra nullis – the empty land. Today, it is often characterized as the “land down under”: remote, but somehow familiar. This course presents students with an introduction to Australia as a complex economy and society built from successive waves of migration, foreign investment and local innovation. Within 100 years of that first, fledgling penal colony, Australia was home to the world’s wealthiest city (in per capita income terms) and, more recently, Australia has uniquely enjoyed more than two decades of uninterrupted economic growth, while other OECD countries have suffered recession in the wake of the global financial crises. During the same two decades, Australia’s geopolitical focus has shifted from its historical and cultural ties to Britain and Europe to Asia. The course considers Australia’s economic and political systems, the nature of government-business relations, Australian cultural norms, and what they mean for doing business in Australia and Australia as a ‘gateway to Asia’.   The course flexibly blends input from instructors with input from students, mini-cases and exercises, facilitated discussions, unique experiential learning opportunities and corporate site visits to inform students how to operate Australia’s economic, political and social landscape and to challenge them to understand the ‘land down under’ as a place to do business.