'Geopolitics in global business', a research seminar by Prof Thomas Lindner (Copenhagen Business School)

'Geopolitics in global business', by Professor Thomas Lindner

Abstract: Geopolitics has returned to dominate some of the narratives in global business. The emergence of populism has brought geopolitics to the forefront, because national and economic security arguments are particularly suited to strengthen in-group/out-group distinctions. This project starts from the idea that global business research will need consider the populist narrative on top of traditional political categorizations if we want to understand how geopolitics influences business decisions. The project proceeds to suggest that narrow studies of individual business decisions are unlikely to capture the complex interplay between geopolitics and global business. We present a simulation approach built on deep reinforcement learning that allows investigating the complex interplay of businesses, competitors, and political actors. This simulation approach leads to nuanced propositions explaining how companies react to external influences and expected competitor moves. We close with an outlook for a larger-scale project set to investigate how geopolitics and business strategy interact.

About the speaker: Thomas Lindner is a professor of international business with affiliations at Copenhagen Business School, the University of Innsbruck, and WU Vienna. In his research, Thomas works on understanding how companies make business decisions, with a focus on the global political environment, the role of artificial intelligence, and company finances. His research predominantly uses quantitative methods, and Thomas has contributed to developing such methods in the context of editorials, perspective papers, and special interest groups. In his policy-oriented work, Thomas works together with central banks and governments to improve data-driven decision-making as well as the education of gifted students. In his work oriented towards business practice, Thomas advises companies on internationalization strategies, the valuation of acquisition targets, and on developing measurement systems for social impact. Outside work, Thomas enjoys skiing, beach volleyball, reading science fiction, and travelling the world.