Building a successful business requires more than a great idea; every new for-profit venture must address significant policy, ethical, and legal considerations as it builds products for global markets. Using interactive presentations, analysis of current events, input from established experts, and practical tools and frameworks, this course equips students to make these challenging choices. Students learn the intricacies of different business functions and how they uniquely analyze issues. We navigate policy problem solving within a corporation by examining trade-offs and cost-benefit analyses of technology product design. Representative topics that may be covered include: creation and maintenance of company values and their impact on policy decisions; how different interpretations of the same law result in different commercial outcomes; privacy considerations; trust and safety concerns; national security implications; dark patterns and deceptive marketing; role of government policy and politics; and corporate social responsibility programs in theory and in practice.
3 units · Letter or Credit/No Credit
Building a successful business requires more than a great idea; every new for-profit venture must address significant policy, ethical, and legal considerations as it builds products for global markets. Using interactive presentations, analysis of current events, input from established experts, and practical tools and frameworks, this course equips students to make these challenging choices. Students learn the intricacies of different business functions and how they uniquely analyze issues. We navigate policy problem solving within a corporation by examining trade-offs and cost-benefit analyses of technology product design. Representative topics that may be covered include: creation and maintenance of company values and their impact on policy decisions; how different interpretations of the same law result in different commercial outcomes; privacy considerations; trust and safety concerns; national security implications; dark patterns and deceptive marketing; role of government policy and politics; and corporate social responsibility programs in theory and in practice.
Offered in Spring 2026 at Stanford University.