Author: Condoleezza Rice
Publisher: Twelve
ISBN: 1455542369
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 302
Book Description
From New York Times bestselling author and former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Stanford University professor Amy B. Zegart comes an examination of the rapidly evolving state of political risk, and how to navigate it. The world is changing fast. Political risk-the probability that a political action could significantly impact a company's business-is affecting more businesses in more ways than ever before. A generation ago, political risk mostly involved a handful of industries dealing with governments in a few frontier markets. Today, political risk stems from a widening array of actors, including Twitter users, local officials, activists, terrorists, hackers, and more. The very institutions and laws that were supposed to reduce business uncertainty and risk are often having the opposite effect. In today's globalized world, there are no "safe" bets. POLITICAL RISK investigates and analyzes this evolving landscape, what businesses can do to navigate it, and what all of us can learn about how to better understand and grapple with these rapidly changing global political dynamics. Drawing on lessons from the successes and failures of companies across multiple industries as well as examples from aircraft carrier operations, NASA missions, and other unusual places, POLITICAL RISK offers a first-of-its-kind framework that can be deployed in any organization, from startups to Fortune 500 companies. Organizations that take a serious, systematic approach to political risk management are likely to be surprised less often and recover better. Companies that don't get these basics right are more likely to get blindsided.
Political Risk
Author: Condoleezza Rice
Publisher: Twelve
ISBN: 1455542369
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 302
Book Description
From New York Times bestselling author and former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Stanford University professor Amy B. Zegart comes an examination of the rapidly evolving state of political risk, and how to navigate it. The world is changing fast. Political risk-the probability that a political action could significantly impact a company's business-is affecting more businesses in more ways than ever before. A generation ago, political risk mostly involved a handful of industries dealing with governments in a few frontier markets. Today, political risk stems from a widening array of actors, including Twitter users, local officials, activists, terrorists, hackers, and more. The very institutions and laws that were supposed to reduce business uncertainty and risk are often having the opposite effect. In today's globalized world, there are no "safe" bets. POLITICAL RISK investigates and analyzes this evolving landscape, what businesses can do to navigate it, and what all of us can learn about how to better understand and grapple with these rapidly changing global political dynamics. Drawing on lessons from the successes and failures of companies across multiple industries as well as examples from aircraft carrier operations, NASA missions, and other unusual places, POLITICAL RISK offers a first-of-its-kind framework that can be deployed in any organization, from startups to Fortune 500 companies. Organizations that take a serious, systematic approach to political risk management are likely to be surprised less often and recover better. Companies that don't get these basics right are more likely to get blindsided.
Publisher: Twelve
ISBN: 1455542369
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 302
Book Description
From New York Times bestselling author and former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Stanford University professor Amy B. Zegart comes an examination of the rapidly evolving state of political risk, and how to navigate it. The world is changing fast. Political risk-the probability that a political action could significantly impact a company's business-is affecting more businesses in more ways than ever before. A generation ago, political risk mostly involved a handful of industries dealing with governments in a few frontier markets. Today, political risk stems from a widening array of actors, including Twitter users, local officials, activists, terrorists, hackers, and more. The very institutions and laws that were supposed to reduce business uncertainty and risk are often having the opposite effect. In today's globalized world, there are no "safe" bets. POLITICAL RISK investigates and analyzes this evolving landscape, what businesses can do to navigate it, and what all of us can learn about how to better understand and grapple with these rapidly changing global political dynamics. Drawing on lessons from the successes and failures of companies across multiple industries as well as examples from aircraft carrier operations, NASA missions, and other unusual places, POLITICAL RISK offers a first-of-its-kind framework that can be deployed in any organization, from startups to Fortune 500 companies. Organizations that take a serious, systematic approach to political risk management are likely to be surprised less often and recover better. Companies that don't get these basics right are more likely to get blindsided.
Risk Management and Political Culture
Author: Sheila Jasanoff
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610443101
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 104
Book Description
This unique comparative study looks at efforts to regulate carcinogenic chemicals in several Western democracies, including the United States, and finds marked national differences in how conflicting scientific interpretations and competing political interests are resolved. Whether risk issues are referred to expert committees without public debate or debated openly in a variety of forums, patterns of interaction among experts, policy makers, and the public reflect fundamental features of each country's political culture. "A provocative argument....Poses interesting questions for the sociology of science, especially science produced for public debate."—Contemporary Sociology A Volume in the Russell Sage Foundation's Social Science Frontiers Series
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610443101
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 104
Book Description
This unique comparative study looks at efforts to regulate carcinogenic chemicals in several Western democracies, including the United States, and finds marked national differences in how conflicting scientific interpretations and competing political interests are resolved. Whether risk issues are referred to expert committees without public debate or debated openly in a variety of forums, patterns of interaction among experts, policy makers, and the public reflect fundamental features of each country's political culture. "A provocative argument....Poses interesting questions for the sociology of science, especially science produced for public debate."—Contemporary Sociology A Volume in the Russell Sage Foundation's Social Science Frontiers Series
Socio-Political Risk Management
Author: Kurt J. Engemann
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110731428
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 175
Book Description
Managing risk necessitates an understanding of both how to avoid detrimental outcomes and to reap beneficial results. Organizations are regularly confronted with complex decisions involving risk and the impending consequences of the negative impact of its manifestation. However, the positive aspects of embracing risk should also be sufficiently evaluated to obtain a full assessment of opportunities. Socio-Political Risk Management: Assessing and Managing Global Insecurity covers a range of viewpoints and issues which can be applied to various organizational agency structures. These perspectives examine how social and political risk can impact an agency, and what recommendations are made to adapt, mitigate, and strengthen the organization against political risk. Accessibility to personnel and agencies via social media, the internet and public exposure compounded with political and social societal shifts have led many agencies in a constant spin to assuage and sustain viability and relevance publicly. Socio-Political Risk Management: Assessing and Managing Global Insecurity serves the readers by raising awareness and the necessity to control social and political risks in their organizations. This volume explores pathways for those in differing organizational structures to find common threads pertaining to social and political risks. An important goal of the work is also to develop a framework for managing and exploiting risk that can be applied at the organizational level.
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110731428
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 175
Book Description
Managing risk necessitates an understanding of both how to avoid detrimental outcomes and to reap beneficial results. Organizations are regularly confronted with complex decisions involving risk and the impending consequences of the negative impact of its manifestation. However, the positive aspects of embracing risk should also be sufficiently evaluated to obtain a full assessment of opportunities. Socio-Political Risk Management: Assessing and Managing Global Insecurity covers a range of viewpoints and issues which can be applied to various organizational agency structures. These perspectives examine how social and political risk can impact an agency, and what recommendations are made to adapt, mitigate, and strengthen the organization against political risk. Accessibility to personnel and agencies via social media, the internet and public exposure compounded with political and social societal shifts have led many agencies in a constant spin to assuage and sustain viability and relevance publicly. Socio-Political Risk Management: Assessing and Managing Global Insecurity serves the readers by raising awareness and the necessity to control social and political risks in their organizations. This volume explores pathways for those in differing organizational structures to find common threads pertaining to social and political risks. An important goal of the work is also to develop a framework for managing and exploiting risk that can be applied at the organizational level.
Climate Intervention
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309314852
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 270
Book Description
The growing problem of changing environmental conditions caused by climate destabilization is well recognized as one of the defining issues of our time. The root problem is greenhouse gas emissions, and the fundamental solution is curbing those emissions. Climate geoengineering has often been considered to be a "last-ditch" response to climate change, to be used only if climate change damage should produce extreme hardship. Although the likelihood of eventually needing to resort to these efforts grows with every year of inaction on emissions control, there is a lack of information on these ways of potentially intervening in the climate system. As one of a two-book report, this volume of Climate Intervention discusses albedo modification - changing the fraction of incoming solar radiation that reaches the surface. This approach would deliberately modify the energy budget of Earth to produce a cooling designed to compensate for some of the effects of warming associated with greenhouse gas increases. The prospect of large-scale albedo modification raises political and governance issues at national and global levels, as well as ethical concerns. Climate Intervention: Reflecting Sunlight to Cool Earth discusses some of the social, political, and legal issues surrounding these proposed techniques. It is far easier to modify Earth's albedo than to determine whether it should be done or what the consequences might be of such an action. One serious concern is that such an action could be unilaterally undertaken by a small nation or smaller entity for its own benefit without international sanction and regardless of international consequences. Transparency in discussing this subject is critical. In the spirit of that transparency, Climate Intervention: Reflecting Sunlight to Cool Earth was based on peer-reviewed literature and the judgments of the authoring committee; no new research was done as part of this study and all data and information used are from entirely open sources. By helping to bring light to this topic area, this book will help leaders to be far more knowledgeable about the consequences of albedo modification approaches before they face a decision whether or not to use them.
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309314852
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 270
Book Description
The growing problem of changing environmental conditions caused by climate destabilization is well recognized as one of the defining issues of our time. The root problem is greenhouse gas emissions, and the fundamental solution is curbing those emissions. Climate geoengineering has often been considered to be a "last-ditch" response to climate change, to be used only if climate change damage should produce extreme hardship. Although the likelihood of eventually needing to resort to these efforts grows with every year of inaction on emissions control, there is a lack of information on these ways of potentially intervening in the climate system. As one of a two-book report, this volume of Climate Intervention discusses albedo modification - changing the fraction of incoming solar radiation that reaches the surface. This approach would deliberately modify the energy budget of Earth to produce a cooling designed to compensate for some of the effects of warming associated with greenhouse gas increases. The prospect of large-scale albedo modification raises political and governance issues at national and global levels, as well as ethical concerns. Climate Intervention: Reflecting Sunlight to Cool Earth discusses some of the social, political, and legal issues surrounding these proposed techniques. It is far easier to modify Earth's albedo than to determine whether it should be done or what the consequences might be of such an action. One serious concern is that such an action could be unilaterally undertaken by a small nation or smaller entity for its own benefit without international sanction and regardless of international consequences. Transparency in discussing this subject is critical. In the spirit of that transparency, Climate Intervention: Reflecting Sunlight to Cool Earth was based on peer-reviewed literature and the judgments of the authoring committee; no new research was done as part of this study and all data and information used are from entirely open sources. By helping to bring light to this topic area, this book will help leaders to be far more knowledgeable about the consequences of albedo modification approaches before they face a decision whether or not to use them.
Managing Country Risk in an Age of Globalization
Author: Michel Henry Bouchet
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319897527
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 542
Book Description
This book provides an up-to-date guide to managing Country Risk. It tackles its various and interlinked dimensions including sovereign risk, socio-political risk, and macroeconomic risk for foreign investors, creditors, and domestic residents. It shows how they are accentuated in the global economy together with new risks such as terrorism, systemic risk, environmental risk, and the rising trend of global volatility and contagion. The book also assesses the limited usefulness of traditional yardsticks of Country Risk, such as ratings and rankings, which at best reflect the market consensus without predictive value and at worst amplify risk aversion and generate crisis contamination. This book goes further than comparing a wide range of risk management methods in that it provides operational and forward-looking warning signs of Country Risk. The combination of the authors’ academic and market-based backgrounds makes the book a useful tool for scholars, analysts, and practitioners.
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319897527
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 542
Book Description
This book provides an up-to-date guide to managing Country Risk. It tackles its various and interlinked dimensions including sovereign risk, socio-political risk, and macroeconomic risk for foreign investors, creditors, and domestic residents. It shows how they are accentuated in the global economy together with new risks such as terrorism, systemic risk, environmental risk, and the rising trend of global volatility and contagion. The book also assesses the limited usefulness of traditional yardsticks of Country Risk, such as ratings and rankings, which at best reflect the market consensus without predictive value and at worst amplify risk aversion and generate crisis contamination. This book goes further than comparing a wide range of risk management methods in that it provides operational and forward-looking warning signs of Country Risk. The combination of the authors’ academic and market-based backgrounds makes the book a useful tool for scholars, analysts, and practitioners.
Identifying and Managing Risk at Work
Author: Chris L. Peterson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000479331
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248
Book Description
With a focus on five major regions globally (UK, US, Europe, Canada, and Australia) Identifying and Managing Risk at Work outlines key regional factors affecting risk and its management. This volume looks at the social production and social construction of risk as well as taking a labour-process approach and socio-political perspective to investigate the nature and causes of work-related risk. In addition, there are several issues included that contribute to identifying risk at work such as climate change, the "gig" economy and the "Me Too" movement. Readers will gain a picture of some of the major current issues that are affecting risk under globalisation. Drawing on these key aspects of risk, students, academics, practitioners, and policy-makers will gain a better understanding of how risk is conceptualised and identified, and of the roles of management and employees in dealing with risk. This book will be of interest to researchers and practitioners to help gain an understanding of risk for a number of regions, and how several current issues in globalisation can be seen in their risk context.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000479331
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248
Book Description
With a focus on five major regions globally (UK, US, Europe, Canada, and Australia) Identifying and Managing Risk at Work outlines key regional factors affecting risk and its management. This volume looks at the social production and social construction of risk as well as taking a labour-process approach and socio-political perspective to investigate the nature and causes of work-related risk. In addition, there are several issues included that contribute to identifying risk at work such as climate change, the "gig" economy and the "Me Too" movement. Readers will gain a picture of some of the major current issues that are affecting risk under globalisation. Drawing on these key aspects of risk, students, academics, practitioners, and policy-makers will gain a better understanding of how risk is conceptualised and identified, and of the roles of management and employees in dealing with risk. This book will be of interest to researchers and practitioners to help gain an understanding of risk for a number of regions, and how several current issues in globalisation can be seen in their risk context.
Political Risk Intelligence for Business Operations in Complex Environments
Author: Robert Mckellar
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000885380
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 648
Book Description
Macro-level dynamics and modelling are well represented in the mainstream political risk literature. However, not many writings on the subject get their hands dirty in terms of revealing the hard, nuanced and practical work behind knowing what the issues might be for a specific foreign operation in a sensitive or volatile context, and how to plan for them. Political Risk Intelligence for Business Operations in Complex Environments provides international managers, and by extension their organisations, with a foundational understanding of political risk analysis and planning for on-the-ground operations in challenging times and places. This means having a fluid grasp of what political risk means and why it matters in the organisation’s context, and how relevant intelligence can be gathered and analysed to inform decisions and planning towards an operation’s socio-political resilience. The book explains: How and why political risk manifests and the forms it can take Company attitudes and operational attributes as a political risk variable Understanding the operational implications of socio-political dynamics and trends Stakeholder identification and analysis for informed engagement planning Scenario analysis to prepare for long-term contingencies and discontinuities Holistic, intelligence-driven political risk management planning Tactical intelligence exercises to maintain awareness and inform adaptation Intelligence management, collection and quality control Ethical considerations in political risk management Rather than being bound by conventional notions of risk, the book emphasises the dynamic relationship between a foreign operation and its host environment and milieu as a source of both challenges and opportunities to manage them. Concepts, frameworks and practices are rounded out with real-world examples and relevant lessons from the author’s experience as a political risk consultant.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000885380
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 648
Book Description
Macro-level dynamics and modelling are well represented in the mainstream political risk literature. However, not many writings on the subject get their hands dirty in terms of revealing the hard, nuanced and practical work behind knowing what the issues might be for a specific foreign operation in a sensitive or volatile context, and how to plan for them. Political Risk Intelligence for Business Operations in Complex Environments provides international managers, and by extension their organisations, with a foundational understanding of political risk analysis and planning for on-the-ground operations in challenging times and places. This means having a fluid grasp of what political risk means and why it matters in the organisation’s context, and how relevant intelligence can be gathered and analysed to inform decisions and planning towards an operation’s socio-political resilience. The book explains: How and why political risk manifests and the forms it can take Company attitudes and operational attributes as a political risk variable Understanding the operational implications of socio-political dynamics and trends Stakeholder identification and analysis for informed engagement planning Scenario analysis to prepare for long-term contingencies and discontinuities Holistic, intelligence-driven political risk management planning Tactical intelligence exercises to maintain awareness and inform adaptation Intelligence management, collection and quality control Ethical considerations in political risk management Rather than being bound by conventional notions of risk, the book emphasises the dynamic relationship between a foreign operation and its host environment and milieu as a source of both challenges and opportunities to manage them. Concepts, frameworks and practices are rounded out with real-world examples and relevant lessons from the author’s experience as a political risk consultant.
World Development Report 2014
Author: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank
Publisher: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank
ISBN: 0821399829
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 362
Book Description
The path of economic development is paved with risks and opportunities. On the one hand, facing risk is a difficult challenge; on the other, the opportunity for growth and welfare improvement may never materialize without confronting and even taking risks. This is true for individuals, families, enterprises, and nations. The World Development Report (WDR) 2014 examines how improving risk management can lead to larger gains in development and poverty reduction. It will argue that improving risk management is crucial to reduce the negative impacts of shocks and hazards, but also to enable people to pursue new opportunities for growth and prosperity. Risk management is also a shared responsibility that requires the active participation of different economic and social systems, as well as the State.
Publisher: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank
ISBN: 0821399829
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 362
Book Description
The path of economic development is paved with risks and opportunities. On the one hand, facing risk is a difficult challenge; on the other, the opportunity for growth and welfare improvement may never materialize without confronting and even taking risks. This is true for individuals, families, enterprises, and nations. The World Development Report (WDR) 2014 examines how improving risk management can lead to larger gains in development and poverty reduction. It will argue that improving risk management is crucial to reduce the negative impacts of shocks and hazards, but also to enable people to pursue new opportunities for growth and prosperity. Risk management is also a shared responsibility that requires the active participation of different economic and social systems, as well as the State.
The Paradox of Regulation
Author: Fiona Haines
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 0857933159
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 289
Book Description
The Paradox of Regulation is a tour de force of regulatory scholarship that successfully contextualizes the regulatory project as an effort to reduce multiple forms of risk. Three case studies of regulatory reforms, fascinating in their own right, when read together forcefully demonstrate why context matters to the actuarial assessments, political realities, and possibilities for insuring safety, security and integrity. Haines, penetrating analysis presents no simple answers to what works and why. The Paradox of Regulation nimbly demonstrates that the strengths and limits of a particular regulatory reform must be understood as a complicated response to a dynamic constellation of actuarial, political, and socio-cultural risks.,- Nancy Reichman, University of Denver, US , This new book by Fiona Haines is an elegant but sophisticated analysis of the three risks (technical, social and political) that regulation must address if it is to be effective. This analysis is original and fresh bringing together critiques of risk based regulation with empirical literature on compliance and effectiveness evaluation. This is exactly the sort of book we need more of to develop and deepen empirical and theoretical research in regulatory scholarship: - it helpfully melds together different literatures and theoretical approaches with her own empirical work on regulatory reforms to build a multi-layered theoretical analysis that really pushes forward our understanding of regulation, why it happens and how it fails and succeeds., - Christine Parker, Monash University, Australia ,This is an insightful and nuanced analysis of the strengths and limitations of regulation. Through a close grained analysis of three recent disasters, Haines demonstrates that regulation is not just a technical but also a political and a social project and how a failure to recognise its multiple dimensions can lead to regulatory failure. This book is a major contribution that enriches our understanding of the challenges of risk management and of how best to address them.'- Neil Gunningham, Australian National University, Canberra , Fiona Haines shows us that regulatory policy is complex and paradoxical in ways that should require us to attend to the substance and the politics of specific regulatory regimes. This book is a major contribution to the reconceptualisation of risk and regulation. It is a perceptive treatment of the role of crisis by one of the best scholars of regulation we have., - John Braithwaite, Australian National University, Canberra
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 0857933159
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 289
Book Description
The Paradox of Regulation is a tour de force of regulatory scholarship that successfully contextualizes the regulatory project as an effort to reduce multiple forms of risk. Three case studies of regulatory reforms, fascinating in their own right, when read together forcefully demonstrate why context matters to the actuarial assessments, political realities, and possibilities for insuring safety, security and integrity. Haines, penetrating analysis presents no simple answers to what works and why. The Paradox of Regulation nimbly demonstrates that the strengths and limits of a particular regulatory reform must be understood as a complicated response to a dynamic constellation of actuarial, political, and socio-cultural risks.,- Nancy Reichman, University of Denver, US , This new book by Fiona Haines is an elegant but sophisticated analysis of the three risks (technical, social and political) that regulation must address if it is to be effective. This analysis is original and fresh bringing together critiques of risk based regulation with empirical literature on compliance and effectiveness evaluation. This is exactly the sort of book we need more of to develop and deepen empirical and theoretical research in regulatory scholarship: - it helpfully melds together different literatures and theoretical approaches with her own empirical work on regulatory reforms to build a multi-layered theoretical analysis that really pushes forward our understanding of regulation, why it happens and how it fails and succeeds., - Christine Parker, Monash University, Australia ,This is an insightful and nuanced analysis of the strengths and limitations of regulation. Through a close grained analysis of three recent disasters, Haines demonstrates that regulation is not just a technical but also a political and a social project and how a failure to recognise its multiple dimensions can lead to regulatory failure. This book is a major contribution that enriches our understanding of the challenges of risk management and of how best to address them.'- Neil Gunningham, Australian National University, Canberra , Fiona Haines shows us that regulatory policy is complex and paradoxical in ways that should require us to attend to the substance and the politics of specific regulatory regimes. This book is a major contribution to the reconceptualisation of risk and regulation. It is a perceptive treatment of the role of crisis by one of the best scholars of regulation we have., - John Braithwaite, Australian National University, Canberra
Corporate Diplomacy
Author: Witold J. Henisz
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351287869
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 174
Book Description
Managers of multinational organizations are struggling to win the strategic competition for the hearts and minds of external stakeholders. These stakeholders differ fundamentally in their worldview, their understanding of the market economy and their aspirations and fears for the future. Their collective opinions of managers and corporations will shape the competitive landscape of the global economy and have serious consequences for businesses that fail to meet their expectations. This important new book argues that the strategic management of relationships with external stakeholders – what the author calls "Corporate Diplomacy" – is not just canny PR, but creates real and lasting business value.Using a mix of colourful examples, practically relevant tools and considered perspectives, the book hones in on a fundamental challenge that managers of multinational corporations face as they strive to compete in the 21st century. As falling communication costs shrink, the distance between external stakeholders and shareholder value is increasingly created and protected through a strategic integration of the external stakeholder facing functions. These include government affairs, stakeholder relations, sustainability, enterprise risk management, community relations and corporate communications. Through such integration, the place where business, politics and society intersect need not be a source of nasty surprises or unexpected expenses. Most of the firms profiled in the book are now at the frontier of corporate diplomacy. But they didn’t start there. Many of them were motivated by past failings. They fell into conflicts with critical stakeholders – politicians, communities, NGO staffers, or activists – and they suffered. They experienced delays or disruptions to their operations, higher costs, angry customers, or thwarted attempts at expansion. Eventually, the managers of these companies developed smarter strategies for stakeholder engagement. They became corporate diplomats. The book draws on their experiences to take the reader to the forefront of stakeholder engagement and to highlight the six elements of corprate diplomacy.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351287869
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 174
Book Description
Managers of multinational organizations are struggling to win the strategic competition for the hearts and minds of external stakeholders. These stakeholders differ fundamentally in their worldview, their understanding of the market economy and their aspirations and fears for the future. Their collective opinions of managers and corporations will shape the competitive landscape of the global economy and have serious consequences for businesses that fail to meet their expectations. This important new book argues that the strategic management of relationships with external stakeholders – what the author calls "Corporate Diplomacy" – is not just canny PR, but creates real and lasting business value.Using a mix of colourful examples, practically relevant tools and considered perspectives, the book hones in on a fundamental challenge that managers of multinational corporations face as they strive to compete in the 21st century. As falling communication costs shrink, the distance between external stakeholders and shareholder value is increasingly created and protected through a strategic integration of the external stakeholder facing functions. These include government affairs, stakeholder relations, sustainability, enterprise risk management, community relations and corporate communications. Through such integration, the place where business, politics and society intersect need not be a source of nasty surprises or unexpected expenses. Most of the firms profiled in the book are now at the frontier of corporate diplomacy. But they didn’t start there. Many of them were motivated by past failings. They fell into conflicts with critical stakeholders – politicians, communities, NGO staffers, or activists – and they suffered. They experienced delays or disruptions to their operations, higher costs, angry customers, or thwarted attempts at expansion. Eventually, the managers of these companies developed smarter strategies for stakeholder engagement. They became corporate diplomats. The book draws on their experiences to take the reader to the forefront of stakeholder engagement and to highlight the six elements of corprate diplomacy.