A manager’s guide to geoeconomic statecraft

This is from The Intersection column that appears every other Monday in Mint. Dear top, middle and junior manager, I am writing this in response to the questions you have been asking me after hearing my talks on geoeconomics and economic statecraft. I know that you are anxious about your career path and the future of your company, and that neither business school nor recent working experience has prepared you for what your job has become. Economic statecraft is the use of economic measures to achieve political objectives. It is different from diplomacy and warfare in that a government uses private firms and individuals to carry it out. So in today’s world, where governments are catching the contagion of tariffs, sanctions, quotas and chokepoint diplomacy, it is the private firm that finds itself caught in the middle. It’s not a comfortable place. While corporate boards are beginning to grasp the new realities, managers and entrepreneurs have not yet internalised that the scene has…