Business Diplomacy

Riordan and Zhang share the skills, techniques, and mindsets used by diplomats and foreign ministries, and adapt them to the needs of executives and MNCs.

Their guide employs real-life case studies in understanding the international business environment, and:

• Examines the shift to multipolarity and the rise of Permacrisis and Policrisis

• Highlights the long-term approach of diplomatic strategy and how it may be applied to business

• Provides a framework for companies to understand geopolitical risks

• Offers techniques to build resilience via network building and coalitions

Engaging with topics such as cybersecurity, the re-shoring/friend-shoring phenomenon, and the evolution of technology companies as geopolitical actors, the authors demonstrate how the diplomat’s perspective offers insights to companies looking to navigate the increasingly complex geopolitical environments of international trade.

With an emphasis on practical guidance, this book would interest business executives and strategy planners, as well as diplomats and government officials.

Shaun Riordan is senior advisor on Public Diplomacy to UNDP Saudi Arabia. He is a research fellow of the Chahar Institute in China and a senior consultant on digital, cyber and public diplomacy with UNITAR. He has been a visiting fellow of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations (“Clingendael”) and the London School of Economics. Shaun served for 16 years as a British diplomat with postings in New York, Taiwan, Beijing and Madrid, as well as the United Nations, Counter-Terrorism and Eastern Adriatic departments in the Foreign Office in London. He has taught at diplomatic academies in Romania, the Dominican Republic, Bulgaria and Spain.

Zhang Xiaotong is Professor of International Relations at KIMEP University in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where he also serves as Director of the university’s China and Central Asia Studies Center (CCASC). He is Editor-in-Chief of Economic Diplomacy. Before joining KIMEP, he held professorships at Wuhan University and Fudan University. His research focuses on economic diplomacy and geopolitics. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Zhang worked at the U.S. Desk of China’s Ministry of Commerce (2010–2012) and served as Trade Attaché at the Mission of China to the European Union in Brussels (2004–2010).