Management of International Political Risk

The Huddersfield Business School has heard Dr Anna John, a Lecturer of Strategic Management at the Open University present her research on “Managing International Political Risk: Approaches and Emerging Agendas”.

Anna’s presentation was based on an article co-authored with Professor Thomas Lawton and published in the International Journal of Management Reviews.

Anna says “For managers, financial, operational and other forms of risk can arise unexpectedly and have a significant impact on business structure and strategy. But how do you manage the risk to your foreign direct investments in the conditions of a sudden regime change, an unexpected policy shift by government or the political instability caused by a civil unrest? These are the questions that we now need to be increasingly asking.”.

Professor John Anchor says “Anna gave an extremely comprehensive presentation which identified that political risk and political risk management can be seen in a number of different contexts. The traditional approach to the subject has identified political risk as a negative and something to be managed in that context. However a comprehensive review of the literature makes it clear that there are other ways of approaching the subject”.