Contemporary Issues in Trends in Business World

PREREQUISITES
Contemporary Issues in Business and Management is a core course and the students are supposed to know the Basics of
Business and International Business.
TEXTBOOK
Assorted articles, reports and readings in course pack.
REFERENCE TEXT
 Harvard Business Review
 McKinsey Quarterly
 Forbes
 Pakistan and Gulf Economist

COURSE DESCRIPTION
The current course is shedding light on contemporary issues and topics in the field of business and management. This course
imparts most consolidated knowledge about global to national level issues such as world economic outlook, Pakistan
economic outlook, knowledge economy, Human behavior and decision making, governance, state effectiveness, corruption,
energy crises, institutions, industrialization trade and WTO, China Pakistan trade corridor, Private Sector development in
Pakistan and conflict management. The course provides most updated information pertaining to current topics. It helps students
to gain deep insight how global outlook and country’s current factors relate to each other and to access problem area where
most work should be done in order to bring economic stability and establish soft-skills in Pakistan.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The course objectives are:-
1. To understand global and national economic outlook, dynamics and relations among different factors
contributing to this situation. The role of IMF, World Bank and WTO in international trade.
2. To understand the role of institutions, state, private sector in Pakistan.
3. To know the problem areas of Pakistan such as energy crises, corruption, governance. etc
4. To gain insight about emerging and evolving trends e.g. digital dividend, knowledge economy, human
behavior decision making, conflict management.

COURSE OUTCOMES
After successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

a. Understand and apply the course concepts

b. Solve problems pertaining to economy and state.
c. Understand areas that can contribute to success of Pakistan.

ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT WITH WEIGHTS

 SNR ITEMS MARKS
1 MidTerm Exam 30
2 End Term Exam 50
3 Internal Evaluation Breakdown
Quiz(s)
Assignements(s)
Class Participation
Présentations
Case Discussion
LabWork/Practical Project
AnyOther
Total 20 20
GRAND TOTAL 100

WeekLecture TOPICS TO BE COVERED

No No
1. 1. Brief History of Economic Thought
2. http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~delittle/Encyclopedia%20entries/philosophy%20of

1. %20economics.pdf
https://www.alleywatch.com/2013/08/a-brief-history-of-economic-thought/
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/History_of_economic_thought

3.
4. 2. Global Outlook
 IMF (2018), World Economic Outlook (WEO), Executive Summary update July 2018,
2. Washington.
 G-10 Organization (2018), G20 Leaders' Declaration: 
Building Consensus for Fair and Sustainable Development, December 1, 2018.
5.
6. 3. New Liberal Economic System. (World bank, IMF and WTOs Stabilization, Structural
Adjustments and Trade Reform Programs)
3.  Presentation on Structural Adjustment Program of IMF by S.M. Younus Jafri
 Davis, Leyla, Eccvit and Swiderski, “A First Look at Financial Programing”, pp. 41-43,
Finance and Development, March Issue, Washington D.C.,1993.
4. 7. 4. Pakistan Economic Outlook

8.  IMF (2017), IMF Staff Report # 17/212, July 2017, Article IV Consultation on Pakistan.
 5. Entering the 21st Century
 Planning Commission (2014), Pakistan 2025, One Nation One-Vision, Executive Summary,
9. 6. Knowledge (Acquiring, Absorbing, Communicating and Managing)

10.  World Bank, Knowledge, (Overview) World Development Report, 1998-99, pp.1-14,

5. Washington D.C.,1999.
 World Bank (2016), Digital Dividend, (Overview) World Development Report, 2016, pp 1-
39, May 17, Washington D.C. (Assigned to Students for class Discussion)
11. 7. Human Behavior and Decision Making

6. 12  World Bank (2015), Mind, Society & Behavior, Human Decision Making and Development
(Overview), pp 2-23, April 9, 2015, Washington D.C.

13. 8. Governance

7.  Hayat Ashraf, “Strategies Not Tactics: Better Governance for Social Stability in Pakistan”.
14.
Special Report of United State Institute of Peace, Washington D.C. ,2012 (excerpt)
MID TERM EXAMS
MID TERM BREAK
15. 9. Corruption
16.
 World Bank’s Report on Corruption in Pakistan, Mission Office, Islamabad, 2004 (excerpt).
8.
 Kaufmann Daniel (2015), Corruption Matters, Finance and Development Vol. 52, No.3 Sept.
IMF.
17. 10. Institutions

9.  World Bank, “Building Institutions: Complement, Innovate, Connect and Compete”, pp.3-27, Ch.1,
18.
Building Institutions for Markets, World Development Report, Washington D.C., 2002

19. 11. Private Sector Development in Pakistan

20.
10.  Public Private Partnership, pp. 531-38, Medium Term Development Framework 2005-2010,
Planning Commission Islamabad.

11. 21. 12. Energy Crises

22.
 The Pakistan Academy of Sciences and NUST (2010), Executive Summary, pp. 1-7, Pakistan
Energy Crises – Recommended Solutions, Islamabad.
Jafri, S.M. Younus (2012), Implementation Plan of Framework for Economic Growth, pp.
 18-20, Planning Commission Islamabad.
23. 13. . China Pakistan Trade Corridor
24.
 Shah Asad Ali et al (2013), Pakistan National Energy, Trade, Transport and Industrial
12. Corridor (NTC) for National Development and Regional Cooperation including Western
China, GTTN-NUST, Islamabad.

25. 14. Conflict Management

26.
13.  Rahim, M. Afzalur, “Towards A Theory of Managing Organizational Conflict”, The
International Journal of Conflict Management, 13:3, pp. 206-35, 2002.
27.
14. 28.
Project Presentations of Assigned Topics
END TERM EXAMS