Global Immersion Program: Navigating Argentina’s Business Environment

Argentina offers a unique context for understanding how macroeconomic volatility and shifting global dynamics shape business strategy and innovation. Over the past century, the country has experienced cycles of rapid growth, chronic inflation, sovereign defaults, and deep economic reforms, creating a resilient and highly adaptive business ecosystem. Argentina has globally competitive sectors in agriculture, energy, and technology, and plays an important role in global trade, connecting South America to China, the United States, and Europe. The country is currently undertaking major reform and stabilization efforts, including fiscal adjustment, monetary restructuring, and renewed engagement with international financial partners, such as the U.S. Treasury. Building on the Argentina foundations introduced in the Global Economic Environment core course, this elective expands the coverage of Latin America while exploring the opportunities and challenges of operating in complex dynamics. It examines Argentina’s historical cycles, macroeconomic context, and the strategies that local and multinational companies have used to succeed in a volatile environment. Argentina provides a compelling lens to study resilience and strategic adaptation. Companies in the country have developed sophisticated approaches to pricing, financing, supply chain management, and vertical integration under recurring instability, generating lessons transferable to other emerging and frontier markets. The course highlights the successes of firms such as Mercado Libre, Arcor, and YPF, as well as high-growth technology companies like Ualá and Despegar, analyzing how each navigated structural volatility to build competitive advantage. Through a combination of lectures, guest speakers, case studies, group projects, and site visits, students will gain an in-depth understanding of Argentina’s business landscape and learn how companies navigate volatility, seize growth opportunities, and manage operations in complex economic conditions. Field visits will provide direct exposure to a diverse range of stakeholders, including government officials, entrepreneurs, multinational executives, and leaders across the energy, agriculture, and technology sectors, offering firsthand insight into strategic decision-making, operational execution, and investment dynamics in a complex economic environment. Please note that the in-country component of the course is not tourism. Students should plan to arrive in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Saturday, October 17, 2026 and students should not book departures prior to October 24, 2026. If your calendar conflicts with these dates, do not register for this course. This class will meet weekly in the A term prior to travel, and will have a post travel meeting on Friday, November 6th. Attendance and regular participation both in New York and Argentina are a crucial part of the learning experience and as such attendance is mandatory. Students who miss the first class meeting may be removed from the course. No program fee refunds will be given after the add/drop period has closed. The 2026-2027 Global Immersion Program mandatory fee for all classes is $2500 and provides students with double occupancy lodging, ground transportation and some meals. It does not cover roundtrip international airfare. Attendance both in New York and in-country and regular participation are crucial parts of the learning experience and as such attendance is mandatory. Please visit the Chazen Institute website to learn more about the Global Immersion Program, and visit the Global Immersion Policies page to review policies affecting these courses. Only second year students may participate in Global Immersion Program fall courses; please note exams scheduled during this week may be rescheduled and papers due during this week are expected to be turned in by their due date at the discretion of the faculty. Please reach out to them early to request these exceptions. Please note all international travel involves risk. We do not control the cities and companies we visit. We try our best to plan a safe trip with positive experiences. However, if your tolerance for risk or uncertainties is low, a GIP is not for you.