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GEOSTRATEGY BY DESIGN

HOW TO MANAGE GEOPOLITICAL RISK IN THE NEW ERA OF GLOBALIZATION

An effective action plan for companies dealing with geopolitical instability.

McCaffrey, Henisz, and Jones offer a strategy for businesses grappling with an uncertain geopolitical future.

In their collaborative nonfiction debut, the authors (a business consultant, a professor of management, and an analyst) propose approaches to geopolitical risk in the modern era that are intended to remain “evergreen” by “embedding geopolitical analysis into a company’s DNA.” This “geostrategy” (“the holistic and cross-functional integration of political risk management into broader risk management, strategy, and governance,” per the book’s introduction) takes the form of four activities that are all woven together by a fifth: First, companies must first scan the political landscape of the moment, seeking to identify short- and long-term political risks (and opportunities) that result from all kinds of instability. They must then focus, assessing the potential dangers those risks pose. Next, they must manage and strategize, incorporating the variables represented by those risks into actual company policies. Finally, they must reckon with the results, establishing “a cross-functional geostrategic team” to implement their new strategies. In short chapters supplemented by illustrations and buttressed by research, McCaffrey, Henisz, and Jones clarify the key role corporate chief strategy officers and other executives should play in devising plans for such things as “disposing of noncore assets,” “raising and optimizing capital to fund growth,” and “analyzing capital allocation.” The authors convey all of this in direct and forceful prose that is unfortunately often bogged down in turgid business-speak (“the analysis helped to inform a strategy designed to minimize downside risks and capture opportunities associated with these political changes”). Their subject could hardly be timelier; as they point out, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic’s disruption of global supply chains, the international business world has never been keener to work geopolitics into their strategies. The CSOs of such businesses will find a great deal of insightful and highly detailed thinking on that subject here.

An effective action plan for companies dealing with geopolitical instability.

Pub Date: June 25, 2024

ISBN: 9781633310735

Page Count: 225

Publisher: Disruption Books

Review Posted Online: April 11, 2024

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THINKING, FAST AND SLOW

Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...

A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.

The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.

Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1

Page Count: 512

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011

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THE CULTURE MAP

BREAKING THROUGH THE INVISIBLE BOUNDARIES OF GLOBAL BUSINESS

These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.

A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.

“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.

These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.

Pub Date: May 27, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1

Page Count: 288

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014

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