Helsinki Geoeconomics Week

Our article “From global integration to geopolitical insulation: How geopolitics shapes corporate governance of tech companies” has been selected by the journal “Law and Geoeconomics” for presentation during the Helsinki Geoeconomics Week (August 12th ff). Short teaser of the article below. Check out the program of the conference here.

This article highlights how companies increasingly are affected by external geopolitical events, particularly technology decoupling between the West and China. We argue that this development will force a choice for companies who operate in both markets. Companies will either have to create a fully duplicative corporate structure or be prepared to fully exit China. We discuss how geopolitics will change the corporate governance, including legal structure, of companies who decide to play in both markets. In essence, as the world becomes bipolar, so do corporations. We call those companies who adapt and play in both markets “Geopolitical Enterprises” (GPE) and contrast them with the “globally integrated enterprise” (GIE), first proposed in 2007 by IBM’s then-CEO Sam Palmisano.