Riordan and Zhang share the skills, techniques and mindsets used by diplomats in both Western and Chinese contexts, and adapt them to the needs of executives and multinational corporations (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 and investments.

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 a 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 in the United Nations, Counter-Terrorism and Eastern Adriatic departments of the Foreign and Commonwealth 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). Before entering academia, he spent 12 years in government service, including six years posted abroad in Brussels as Trade Attaché at the Mission of China to the European Union. After returning from Brussels, he worked at the U.S. Desk of China's Ministry of Commerce. Prior to joining KIMEP, he was Professor at Wuhan University and Fudan University, China. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Economic Diplomacy.