Business diplomacy and international strategic alliances

Abstract

Many of the pressures that internationally active enterprises have to face are related to social issues in management rather than the traditional business of international strategic management. Some of these pressures are linked to non-state actors who can engender conflicts between states and between states and enterprises, often with significant economic impact and can play a powerful role in promoting either the resolution or renewal of conflict. Both companies and government agencies must take this into account in the event of a conflict. Business diplomacy can greatly help prevent a sliding into an impasse of a strategic alliance negotiation and if already in the process of negotiation, business diplomacy competence can help a company face multi-stakeholder issues and multi-actor negotiations which are often part of complex strategic alliance negotiations.