Economic Statecraft for Business Leaders: A 21st Century Reality

This session sets the stage for the course with an introduction to contemporary economic statecraft, what the threat is, and why business executives should care. It will introduce disconnects between the motivations of business executives (growth and returns, predictable markets, stability) and the practical realities of contemporary economic statecraft. How does the US balance the pursuit of prosperity and security to ensure competitive advantage?  

This session facilitates an exploration of macro trends in global economics related to the industrial and currency policies of peer competitors. For example, treatment of the globalization of the yuan, the rise of alternatives to Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT), the advent of central bank digital currencies to include the recently established US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile, the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative, actualization of trade policies of the “BRICS” (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, et al) organization and its expansion, and other macroeconomic trends underpinning and contributing to shifts in the global geopolitical landscape. 

This session will focus on investing in values and value-driven investments and why it matters to preservation of free, open, and trusted markets. What are the implications of choosing the right partners to invest with, selecting board members, raising capital, customers, and merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions, etc. when it comes to economic statecraft? What sorts of practices are more effective and/or responsive in different areas of concern? What resources (people, agencies, playbooks) are useful to facilitating those practices? How does the US balance pursuit of prosperity and security in a manner congruent with our societal values and ensures competitive advantage? 

Who are the government players in the economic statecraft space and what are they doing? This session examines government agencies and entities involved in economic statecraft. What are their roles and responsibilities, from the Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), Treasury, DoD, the FBI and Congress? What are the laws, authorities, and mechanisms driving their activities? How is the policy evolving and what are the shortfalls?  

This session will explore the role of collaborative networks and public-private partnerships focused on mitigating risks and finding opportunities while navigating the perils of asymmetric economic activity. Why is it important to partner with government and when? What might that look like, and how might businesses be incentivized to collaborate? Also, what are the nongovernmental entities working to help the private sector navigate perils and opportunities (BENS, DIN, etc.). This session will help executives and business leaders understand how they fit in and how to partner with government entities and others.

A workshop culminating the course, this session provides the opportunity for business executives to provide their insight as to what will realistically incentivize them to partner with the USG in economic statecraft activities. It will also explore the role of industry, specifically small and medium sized businesses in partnering with the government to achieve national industrial policy goals and how the government attracts and works with commercial companies. The session will discuss how the USG should think about the problem differently, to be more effective? What private sector views should inform policymakers in their approach to crafting policy and decisions? How should the principles and implications of contemporary economic statecraft be integrated into academia (MBA programs, business school curricula, etc.). How do we educate rising business leaders?