Geopolitics and International Risk

About this course

GPS 403: Geopolitics and International Risk How geopolitical rivalry, sanctions, and conflict reshape supply chains and market access. You will build country risk registers, scenario plans, and resilience programs for Solara Foods' cocoa, palm, wheat, and manufacturing exposure.

This is global business and policy for practitioners, not theory for its own sake. You will move from frameworks to evidence tables, stakeholder maps, and executive memos that survive finance, operations, and public affairs scrutiny.

Anchor company: Solara Foods, a multinational packaged foods company selling dairy alternatives, protein snacks, beverage concentrates, and cooking staples across retail, food service, and e-commerce. Revenue $3.1B, 42 markets, leadership including Amara Osei (Chief Sustainability Officer) and Omar Haddad (Global Policy VP).

Prerequisites: GPS 402: Business, Government and Public Policy. Length: 6 weeks. Assessment: 40% applied project, 35% knowledge checks, 25% reflections.

What you will be able to do

By the end of GPS 403, you should be able to:

• Interpret geopolitical systems and strategic rivalry effects on business
• Quantify country risk using political, economic, and institutional indicators
• Assess sanctions, export controls, and economic security policies
• Map conflict and supply chain exposure with concentration metrics
• Facilitate scenario planning and executive response protocols
• Design governance, intelligence, and resilience systems for multinationals

How the course is organized

Six units, 24 lessons (four per unit). Work in order; each lesson includes Solara worked examples, practice problems with solutions, and managerial reads.

Unit	Topic	Lessons	You will
1	Geopolitical Systems, Rivalry, And Strategic Competition	4	Apply realism versus liberal institutionalism to Solara decisions
2	Country Risk, Political Economy, And Sovereign Exposure	4	Apply country risk scorecard to Solara decisions
3	Sanctions, Trade Controls, And Economic Security	4	Apply sanctions compliance program to Solara decisions
4	Conflict, Supply Chain Exposure, And Business Continuity	4	Apply supply chain concentration index to Solara decisions
5	Scenario Planning And Executive Crisis Response	4	Apply scenario axes to Solara decisions
6	Governance, Intelligence, And Organizational Resilience	4	Apply risk committee charter to Solara decisions

How to study

1. Read lessons sequentially. Early units supply vocabulary and frames; later units stress-test the same choices under uncertainty and scale.
2. Do practice problems without peeking. Policy and sustainability decisions need numeric reconciliation and explicit kill criteria.
3. Carry one decision through the course. Use Vendor localization plan for critical digital systems as a thread for your applied project.
4. Complete unit assessments after all four lessons in that unit. Knowledge checks test application, not definition recall.

Applied work

Across GPS 403 you will build portfolio pieces that compound:

• Country risk dashboard for three Solara sourcing countries
• Sanctions exposure memo with alternative supplier options
• Supply chain concentration heat map with mitigation plan
• Scenario planning workshop output with trigger metrics

What comes next

GPS 402: Business, Government and Public Policy supplies strategic context; GPS 404: Sustainable Business and Climate Strategy continues the Global Business/Policy/Sustainability pathway. CAP 600: Program Capstone Studio integrates global policy evidence into your final recommendation.