At a time of unprecedented political change, companies are struggling to manage political risk. The Wharton Political Risk Lab is undertaking a program of activity that explores the relationship between political risk, corporate performance, and political risk management. Our mission is to help organizations translate political uncertainty and transformation into strategies that create, preserve and realize value.
2020 EY-Wharton Survey Report “Geostrategy in Practice” and related video (full length and short form)
2019 EY-Wharton White Paper Surveying 20+ Years of Academic Literature on Political Risk Management
- Online (shortest) version
- White paper (intermediate length)
- Full length draft chapter & bibliography
At the frontier of big data and conflict analysis, The Business & Conflict Barometer dramatically lowers the barriers for interested parties to explore and gain an understanding of the dynamics of the private sector, conflict, and peaceful development in Africa at the granular level of companies, locations, sectors, or contexts: for research; for policy, project, or investment planning; for due diligence; and for monitoring and evaluation.
Witold Henisz and James McGlinch (2019), ESG, Material Credit Events, and Credit Risk, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance.
Witold Henisz, Business, Inclusive Stakeholder Relations and Conflict.
Gold Mine Studies
- Witold Henisz, Sinziana Dorobantu, Lite Nartey (2014), Spinning Gold: The Financial and Operational Returns to External Stakeholder Engagement, Strategic Management Journal, 35 (12), pp. 1727-1748. 10.1002/smj.2180
- Sinziana Dorobantu, Witold Henisz, Lite Nartey (2017), Not All Sparks Light a Fire: Stakeholder and Shareholder Reactions to Critical Events in Contested Markets, Administrative Science Quarterly, 62 (3), pp. 561-597.
- Lite Nartey, Witold Henisz, Sinziana Dorobantu (2018), Status Climbing Versus Bridging: Multinational Stakeholder Engagement Strategies, Strategy Science, 3 (2), pp. 367-392.
- Lite Nartey, Sinziana Dorobantu, Witold Henisz, A Participatory Approach to Stakeholder Engagement: Defining a Hierarchy of Strategic Action.
- Sinziana Dorobantu, Witold Henisz, Lite Nartey, Proactive Stakeholder Engagement and Stakeholder Preferences for Firm Investments.
International Organizations
- NewGene (collection of easily accessible dyadic and k-adic international political data)
- Trade Agreements
- Investment Agreements
International and National Conflict
National Institutions
- Datasets developed by academics
- Datasets developed by IGOs
- Datasets developed by national governments
- Datasets developed by civil society organizations
- Datasets developed by private sector
National Policies
- Economic Policy Uncertainty Indexes
- Global Trade Alert
- Comparative (Policy) Agendas Project
- USA Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Cases
- International Arbitration Cases
- European Commission merger cases
- OECD Watch
Media Events
Student Fellowship opportunities are now available.
Learn more about the Ackoff Fellowship and the Undergrad Fellows Program. Applications are due 3/22/21.
Events
Slides and video from US-China Series Virtual Conference Panel on Integrating Political Risk into Corporate Strategy with Carolyn Brehm, Mary Cline, Witold Henisz and Kyle Lawless
National Association for Business Economists (Virtual) Panel on “Using Algos to Predict Political Instability”
Political Risk Lab Blog
How to manage political risk in a post-pandemic world by Mary Cline, Jon Shames, and Courtney Rickert McCaffrey
Tips for Corporate Diplomacy in China
Witold Henisz, Dhruv Malhotra, Robin Nuttal, A new measure to assess companies’ external engagement in London School of Economics Blog.
Stay up-to-date
Subscribe to the Political Risk Lab email updates.
Contributing Scholars:
Witold Henisz, Deloitte & Touche Professor of Management in Honor of Russell E. Palmer, former Managing Partner, is the faculty member responsible for leading the Political Risk Lab.
Deloitte & Touche Professor of Management
Research Areas: Political and social risk identification and management
Doctoral Student, Management Department
Research Areas: Non-market strategy, corporate political activity, social movements
Associate Professor of Management
Research Areas: Corporate strategy, diversification, mergers & acquisitions
Doctoral student, Finance Department
Research Areas: Banking, Empirical Corporate Finance, Financial Regulation, Political Economics
Max and Bernice Garchik Family Presidential Associate Professor of Management
Research Areas: Immigration, global networks, firm internationalization, innovation
Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton University and the University of Stellenbosch
Research Areas: International political economy and political risk management
Associate Professor of Management
Research Areas: Organizational theory (political sociology, institutional theory); nonmarket strategy; corporate governance
Doctoral Student, Management Department
Research Areas: Organizational and team dynamics’ impact on the success of companies
Doctoral student, Finance Department
Research Areas: Linkages between macroeconomics and finance
Contact
Witold Henisz, Deloitte & Touche Professor of Management in Honor of Russell E. Palmer, is the faculty member responsible for leading the Political Risk Lab. Please contact him at henisz@wharton.upenn.edu.
