Mandarin Business Acumen: Missing, Barely Attended

What should MBAs teach their students about doing business in China

Jul 10, 2025

MBA programs attract no shortage of skeptics about their utility. Perhaps most glaring is the continued parochialism of many top American programs, which continue to rely on catch-all international courses, under-contextualized cases, junkets, and regional themed conferences to complete the veneer of a global orientation.

China in particular demands far greater attention than it receives on most campuses - not only due to the size of its market, but because of how its companies are poised to drive a new wave of disruption across the global economy.

Stanford’s Graduate School of Business currently offers a course on US-China strategic competition and cooperation and its implications for businesses. Harvard Business School has recently featured a forward-looking course on doing business with China in 2035. (Among other top programs, University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School has the option of completing a concurrent MA in International Studies).

Both types of courses are welcome, but risk a less comprehensive understanding than what is possible even within a single course. An overemphasis on policy may downplay the still significant role of market competition and the agency corporations still have in their success or failure in China. Likewise, it is hard to appreciate how China is evolving without some appreciation for where it is now.

Business schools’ underemphasis on China is rivalled only by the disinterest of their students. US university enrollment in Chinese language had fallen 21% from 2016 to 2020, the last year for which data is available. Fewer than one thousand American students studied in China in 2024, a fraction of the 2019 peak of nearly 12,000. Multiple factors are at work, including the aftermath of the pandemic, geopolitical pessimism, and diminished opportunities for foreigners as local talent rises to the fore. Students are making a short-sighted choice: China as a competitor merits even more study than when it was principally seen as an opportunity.

What would an ideal seminar on doing business in China look like? China Books Review has drafted a model syllabus organized around five themes: history and society, politics and policy, economics, business functions, and strategy. Below, we include a suggested reading, case study, and, in lieu of guest speaker, an illustrative podcast episode. The model syllabus seeks to strike a balance between international and Chinese firms, with a primary focus on the consumer and technology sectors, and a diverse sampling of views from practitioners, policymakers, and academics.

No single course can replace the wisdom of spending meaningful time in China. At the same time, too many who do operate in the country lack a comprehensive intellectual framework for their experiences. So long as America’s global business schools continue to underemphasize China in their curricula, they do a disservice to their students and the future of capitalism.