Geopolitical Resilience for Indian Companies

It's in crisis that inventiveness is born, as well as discoveries made and great strategies arise. He who overcomes crisis, overcomes himself, without getting overcome. - Albert Einstein

- Suhayl Abidi, Manoj Joshi & Ashok Kumar

THERE HAVE BEEN turbulent occurrences recently that have had an impact on the entire world. Among these international events is the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has lasted for two years; the Israeli-Hamas conflict is becoming more and more intense; as is the US-China trade war. All of these things have increased volatility, which emphasises how important it is for leaders to recognise and respond to political and geopolitical dangers. This is especially crucial for the private sector that engages in international trade and investment.

Global functioning and stability assumptions are now frequently put to the test by both predicted and unanticipated events that can happen quickly. More importantly, geopolitics is a component of global risk and a channel of contagion that can turn a liquidity or sovereign crisis into a systemic breakdown of the global order.

Converting geopolitical data into useful consequences for businesses and decision-makers is a crucial task. Company executives may get unduly obsessed with their daily operations and, as a result, fail to approach their assessments with anticipation. Neither the Israel-Hamas wars nor the war in Ukraine occurred overnight. We were unaware of how disputes were developing, which caught us off guard.

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine began when Ukraine decided to join NATO in 1991. Russia perceived this as an effort by the adversarial NATO military alliance to encircle the Russian borders. On gaining independence, Ukraine had previously declared its neutrality and nonalignment with military blocs. However, once pro-Western Zelensky became president and indicated an interest in joining NATO, the country faced criticism from Russia.