PROGRAMMES & CURRICULA
must build and maintain long-term, trust-based relationships with regulators, governments and other actors critical to business operations. • Cross-cultural negotiation and communication: It is essential for managers to develop cultural intelligence to navigate cross-border government relationships and prevent misunderstandings that can undermine business goals. • Non-market strategy: Going beyond market- centric thinking to master stakeholder engagement, lobbying, alliance building and crisis management as part of a broader corporate strategy becomes a key skill for managers. • Ethics, values and purpose: Corporate diplomats must consider if their actions are responsible and ethical, demonstrate principled leadership and align the company’s global purpose with local realities. A learning curve To support business school students in their learning, modules related to corporate diplomacy can be integrated within courses typically included in the curriculum, such as those in the areas of strategy, international business, risk management and leadership. Yet, an increasing number of business schools are now offering tailored courses and immersive modules on geopolitics and corporate diplomacy. It is likely to be a learning curve for many programme administrators, as focused, customised or dedicated courses on these subjects and skills can be harder to put together. Ultimately, however, training in corporate diplomacy that allows managers to assess, navigate and thrive in today’s increasingly fragmented world is not a luxury but a necessity.
One aspect here is the customisation of analytical insights to the specific business case. A second aspect is gathering and monitoring data that is relevant to the firm’s specific operational challenges. Often, this means collecting relevant data from within the firm rather than relying on external primary or secondary sources. • Planning: After collecting information about the most relevant geopolitical indicators, managers need to evaluate how shifts in the geopolitical environment will affect their business. This is a difficult task that calls for combining existing data or trends with imagination and domain knowledge to explore potential future world scenarios. A common method advocated for this is scenario planning, through which decision makers can simplify a large volume of data into a limited number of possible future circumstances. Managers can then explore how the different scenarios would reshape their firm’s business and the various actions the company could take. Individuals participating in a scenario-planning exercise should be able to articulate their sense of the future, as well as the main building blocks of the company’s current strategy. This process is collaborative and involves groups at different levels and functional backgrounds. • Pivoting: If the analysis indicates that a business is facing serious headwinds, managers need to be able to pivot and reorient strategic direction through the reallocation or restructuring of resources, attention or activities to survive in a new world. Pivots must be aligned with long-term expectations or trends, reflect the company’s existing capabilities and not undermine its strategic intent. The ultimate goal is to provide a path towards a sustainable and profitable future. Shaping external actors As mentioned, the other key element of corporate diplomacy is for managers to ensure their companies have the “social licence to operate”. To this end, business school students would benefit from developing the following skills. • Global stakeholder engagement: This includes mapping who the relevant stakeholders are. Understanding and prioritising stakeholder interests, power dynamics and expectations is crucial. Managers
Srividya Jandhyala is a professor of management at ESSEC Business School and the author of The Great Disruption: How Geopolitics is Changing Companies, Managers and Work
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Business Impact • ISSUE 5 • 2025
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