Podcast series: Meet the Geopolitical Insiders

Geopolitical risks are no longer a marginal issue for businesses – external threats are increasingly becoming a key factor in strategic decision-making. In this episode of our podcast series “Meet the Geopolitical Insiders”, Dr Benedikt Herles, Co-Lead of the Geopolitics & Defence Centre of Excellence at KPMG, discusses this topic with Marc Gustafson, Senior Director of Analysis at the Eurasia Group and former Head of the White House Situation Room as well as Chief of Intelligence at the National Security Council, and with Stefano Moritsch, Global Geopolitics Lead at KPMG International.  

Together, they discuss how the global security landscape is changing and what consequences this has for businesses. Among other things, they address hybrid threats and cyber risks, as well as the question of how companies can better anticipate geopolitical developments.

China remains one of the most important—and at the same time most complex—markets for globally active companies. At the same time, the economic and geopolitical environment surrounding the country is changing rapidly. In this episode of our podcast series “Meet the Geopolitical Insiders,” Dr. Benedikt Herles, Co-Lead of the Geopolitics & Defence Competence Center at KPMG, speaks with two leading China experts about the country’s strategic direction and its implications for international businesses.

Neil Thomas, Fellow on Chinese Politics at the Center for China Analysis of the Asia Society Policy Institute, explains the political priorities of President Xi Jinping and their relevance for companies. In the second part, Andrew Polk, Co-Founder and Head of Economic Research at Trivium China, analyzes the transformation of China’s economic model and its potential impact on global markets and supply chains.

US policy shapes the global economic environment like hardly any other factor. For companies worldwide—and especially for the European economy—decisions made in Washington have a direct impact on trade, investment, and international cooperation.

In this episode of our podcast series “Meet the Geopolitical Insiders,” Dr. Benedikt Herles, Co-Lead of the Geopolitics & Defence Competence Center at KPMG, welcomes U.S. foreign policy expert Peter Rough, Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia at the Hudson Institute. The discussion explores the strategic logic of U.S. foreign and economic policy under President Donald Trump, the political dynamics within the Republican Party, and the developments that German and European companies should pay particularly close attention to in the coming years.