-: And Simon, you've been doing a lot of research
in the realm of geopolitics.
And let me start by asking you, how do you read
the reactions of the firms, of corporate entities
within the space of
the rise of geopolitical issues globally?
-: So geopolitical issues are clearly on the radar
screen of most companies.
We see in publicly listed companies, many,
many more mentions of geopolitical risks
and some cases opportunities.
So it's on people's radar screens.
How they're actually reacting to this
and how deep those reactions go, I think is very mixed.
Some companies, I think, are much more used
to operating in geopolitically sensitive areas,
and so they're a bit more attuned to this.
Others were completely surprised
by things like the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022
and other disruptions that we've seen in the last few years.
And so I think companies are at different places
on this, on this journey.
And of course, within companies, some of the responses
and shock is in certain operational units,
maybe supply chain managers and the like,
sometimes I've seen a lot of disruption.
Other cases we see boards beginning to take a much stronger
interest in this.
And I think the c-suite in many companies is beginning
to realize that geopolitics isn't just a plus,
it's not an add-on, it's now becoming core
to making proper strategies, strategic decisions.
-: And you mentioned how basically the thought
on how to incorporate geopolitics within the frames
was developing.
What do you see as those critical components
within the frames to actually develop this acumen,
this geopolitical acumen inside the firm?
-: So let me break this down.
I think ultimately, of course, what we want companies
to be able to do is to make much more informed decisions
about the opportunities and risks
which geopolitics presents, along, of course,
with all the other drivers of strategic decisions.
To get to that point, we need to ensure
that boards are better informed and also senior managers,
and to get them better informed, companies need to develop
a much more sophisticated geopolitical radar.
They need to figure out how they're gonna acquire
information on geopolitical factors,
how they're gonna retain it, store it when they can,
which decisions they're gonna use it in.
And then companies have also gotta figure out
how geopolitical factors should be taking into account of,
in addition to all the other factors which are there too.
I think to the extent that we can start putting numbers
and magnitudes on geopolitical factors,
then things will become a lot more tangible
for many companies, which are used to thinking in
hard numbers and the like.
So I think companies are on a very significant journey
in this respect.
I see some companies making a lot of very serious
investments in this regard.
And it's interesting that the geopolitical function
sometimes is being built out of the strategy units,
sometimes out of public affairs units,
government affairs units, sometimes out of compliance.
And it differs across companies
and it'll be very interesting to see
whether the origins or the assignment of these roles
initially shapes the type of geopolitical function
that emerges.