After a relatively quiet period following the end of the Cold War,
geopolitics is back. With the United States displaying a reduced
appetite for violent confrontation, there are now no world policemen,
few effective “neighborhood watch” schemes, and a growing number of
vigilante groups and countries eager to challenge the existing rules of
the game. Companies cannot assume, in any region of the world, that the
strategic status quo will be sustained by neat balances of power or
unbreakable promises of foreign-policy assistance from superpower
states. In this new reality, the most successful multinational companies
will be those that make expertise in international affairs central to
their operations, adopting what John Chipman, the chief executive of the
International Institute for Strategic Studies, calls a corporate
foreign policy. A corporate foreign policy has two components.
Geopolitical due diligence involves the assessment of local, regional,
and transnational risks facing a company. Corporate diplomacy aims to
enhance a company’s ability to operate internationally and to ensure its
success in each particular country with which it is engaged. Chipman
lays out the principles of geopolitical due diligence and corporate
diplomacy and argues that their successful execution can be a new source
of competitive advantage for multinational businesses in a time of
increased geopolitical volatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]