Geopolitical Trends and Their Impact on Business Management

Introduction

Dynamics of geopolitical continuities – from shifting global alliances to regional conflicts – are reshaping the business landscape at an unprecedented pace. These dynamics challenge existing management paradigms and constrain leaders to develop new capacities, tactics, and structures to navigate the uncertainty of the international system (Flint, 2006).

This special issue of Management Decision invites conceptual and empirical papers that explore how geopolitical trends (both (a) long-term geopolitical dynamics of continuity, and (b) short-term geopolitical events) influence managerial decision-making, organisational behaviour, strategic planning, and leadership across industries, national borders, and governments (Li et al., 2022; Teece, 2025). It aims to attract multi-disciplinary research drawing on qualitative and quantitative methods, including mixed methods, to explicate the historical, socio-political, and geographical factors of geopolitics and its respective implications for management.

The accelerating pace of geopolitical changes of the last years has emerged as critically impacting on organisational strategy, structure, and decision-making. Increasing political volatility, protectionist policies, armed conflicts, and the reconfiguration of global economic power dynamics are actively reshaping the managerial landscape (Hartwell and Zadarozhna, 2024; Vrontis et al., 2024). This special issue aims to bring, amongst others, these key themes from current academic research, exploring how geopolitical trends impact management theory and practice.

A growing body of literature highlights how geopolitical risk – defined as a set of threats posed by political developments to corporate operations – has become central to Foreign Direct Investment (Godsell et al., 2023) and strategic planning (Kobrin, 2017). Firms increasingly integrate geopolitical forecasting into risk management practices to mitigate potential disruptions to supply chains, market access, and capital flows, as demonstrated in recent research on the effect of geopolitical risks on the economy in general (stocks, oil, inflation) (Jawadi et al., 2024).

Multinational corporations operate at the intersection of divergent national interests, making them particularly vulnerable to geopolitical shifts. Scholars argue that multinational corporations must adapt to diverse regulatory regimes and engage in non-market strategies such as lobbying, diplomacy, and local engagement to safeguard operations. Research in this line includes findings on how multinational enterprises can benefit from political connections (Ayyagari et al., 2024), on business–government–society interface (Saittakari et al., 2023), or emerging research that explores the use of corporate diplomacy to navigate international tensions (Henisz, 2014).

Not only these long-term dynamics of geopolitical continuities impact management, but short-term geopolitical events such as trade wars, sanctions, transportation obstacles, and regional instability may also have critical impact (He et al., 2024), namely in global supply chains which have been increasingly disrupted. Management literature has responded with models of supply chain resilience that incorporate geopolitical risk assessments and scenario planning (Sheth & Uslay, 2023). Decoupling strategies are also receiving renewed attention as firms reevaluate dependencies on politically sensitive regions, particularly China and its global ambitions (Tse et al., 2024).

Technological advancement is another arena of geopolitical contestation, particularly in areas like AI, 5G, and cybersecurity (Khan et al., 2024; Uddin, 2025). Managers must consider not only the commercial viability of technologies but also the political implications of sourcing, regulation, and data sovereignty. This is particularly evident in the U.S.–China rivalry in economic relations and technology, where managerial decisions are increasingly shaped by national security concerns (Wang et al., 2024).

The integration of geopolitical reasoning into corporate strategy is gaining traction. Geopolitical reasoning encompasses tools and frameworks that help decision-makers anticipate and respond to international political developments (Chauprade, 2007; Sicker, 2010; Kelly, 2016; O’Reilly, 2019). Studies indicate that firms with robust geopolitical scanning capabilities outperform peers in responding to crises. However, integrating geopolitical reasoning into managerial processes remains underdeveloped in theory and practice, suggesting an avenue for future research overcoming critical geopolitics and its excessive level of vagueness (Kelly, 2006; Haverluck et al., 2014; Morgado, 2023).

The literature provides strong evidence that geopolitical trends are deeply intertwined with management decisions across all levels – from operational risk to strategic planning and leadership development – as, for example, Pringpong et al (2023) demonstrated in their study measuring the impact of geopolitical risk on emerging markets, or Dai et al.’s (2023) analysis on the timing and mode of firm exits from host-country conflict zones.

List of topic areas

• Methodological frameworks linking geopolitical trends to managerial approaches and outcomes
• The impact of geopolitical risk and its analysis on strategic decision-making
• The role of geopolitical literacy in dealing with global challenges from managerial viewpoint
• Management direct responses to trade wars, tariffs, transportation disruption, and protectionism
• Sector-specific impacts, particularly in energy, defence, cybersecurity, and tech with geopolitical relevance
• Company’s leadership behaviour in politically unstable and restrictive environments
• How multinational companies navigate global political dynamics and economic cooperation
• Talent management and cross-border workforce challenges amid geopolitical shifts
• The influence of international policy, regulation, and diplomacy on corporate strategy
• Scenario planning, forecasting, and risk assessment tools in volatile environments
• Transportations corridors and their vulnerabilities

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available here. 

Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see here.

Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to ““Please select the issue you are submitting to”.

Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.

Key deadlines

Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 01/12/2025

Closing date for manuscripts submission: 30/04/2026

Guest Editors

Alberto Ferraris, Department of Management, University of Turin, Italy, alberto.ferraris@unito.it

Nuno Morgado, CIAS, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary, nuno.morgado@uni-corvinus.hu