GLOBAL CATALYSTS OF CHANGE IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT DOCTRINE: RECOGNIZING THE CUMULATIVE IMPACT OF DEGLOBALIZATION, GEOPOLITICL TRIBALISM, AND SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVISM ON THE RISE OF HYPER-RISK MANAGEMENT

The practice of strategic management has quietly but dramatically changed in the last twenty years. Three global, macro trends are examined in detail which, when added to existing Sarbanes-Oxley regulations, are interacting to create an unprecedented hyper-risk environment. The three macro trends include changes in long-term risks associated with the emergence of an alternative path of globalization, medium-term risks due to the recent rise of the nationalistic populism movement, and nearly instantaneous risks associated with social media activism. The combination and interaction of these factors is incentivizing executives to reprioritize their behaviors away from their traditional fiduciary objectives of overtly pursuing the maximization of shareholder value (agency theory) to a pre-emptive strategy of avoiding catastrophic risks. Risk mitigation is leading to purposeful obfuscation of strategic activities, which is one reason scholarship has not kept up with the evolutionary changes in practice. Observations and implications at the firm level are then discussed.