Summary of Marko Papic & Steven Drobny's Geopolitical Alpha

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

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#1 The world is undergoing paradigm shifts on multiple fronts: political, geopolitical, generational, and technological. What these changes are and their implications for the future are beyond the scope of this book.

#2 In 1986, my father joined General Export, a conglomerate that controlled 12 to 13 percent of Yugoslav foreign trade and nearly a third of Serbian trade with the rest of the world. The company was based on pure geopolitical alpha. But when the Soviet Union collapsed, so did Genex’s entire corporate strategy.

#3 The same can be said for investors. The training, certifications, and experience they gained during the past 35 years have woefully underprepared investors for the geopolitical paradigm shifts occurring.

#4 Politics and geopolitics have long played a role in investment and business decisions, and have done so for centuries. However, today the curricula of most MBA programs and the CFA curriculum ignore these factors.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Apr 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669380429

IRB Media

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Insights on Marko Papic & Steven Drobny's Geopolitical Alpha

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The world is undergoing paradigm shifts on multiple fronts: political, geopolitical, generational, and technological. What these changes are and their implications for the future are beyond the scope of this book.

#2

In 1986, my father joined General Export, a conglomerate that controlled 12 to 13 percent of Yugoslav foreign trade and nearly a third of Serbian trade with the rest of the world. The company was based on pure geopolitical alpha. But when the Soviet Union collapsed, so did Genex’s entire corporate strategy.

#3

The same can be said for investors. The training, certifications, and experience they gained during the past 35 years have woefully underprepared investors for the geopolitical paradigm shifts occurring.

#4

Politics and geopolitics have long played a role in investment and business decisions, and have done so for centuries. However, today the curricula of most MBA programs and the CFA curriculum ignore these factors.

#5

The defeat of communism in the Soviet Union and the adoption of free-market policies worldwide led to the Third Wave of democratization and the adoption of free-market policies.

#6

The end of American hegemony, multipolarity, the apex of globalization, and the erosion of laissez-faire economics defined the 2010s. These trends also changed the nature of political and geopolitical risk, which had been localized in emerging and frontier markets and thus largely relegated to commodity prices.

#7

The COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on the West, accelerating the paradigm shifts that had begun in the 2010s: geopolitical multipolarity, deglobalization, and the end of the Anglo-Saxon laissez-faire consensus.

#8

The three weaknesses in the financial industry that make it poorly prepared for the geopolitical and political paradigm shifts afoot are the Quant Obsession, Self-selection, and Ideology.

#9

Investors should still use quant tools and approach their craft with scientific rigor, but they should also apply the same rigor to politics.