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