Episode summary
The Logic of Parallel Lobbying | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · 8 min · Hosts: Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec · Guests: Angel Saz
Summary
Angel Saz argues that the global backdrop for business leaders has shifted from open markets to a more fragile environment shaped by higher oil prices, trade barriers, and governments intervening directly in markets. He says companies are still operating with global value chains built for a more open era, which leaves them exposed to new vulnerabilities and supply-chain risks.
He frames the current moment as a transition to an economic security paradigm, where states prioritize energy security and industrial policy over market openness. In his view, that has pushed companies to monitor their suppliers more closely, rethink exposure to upstream inputs and downstream markets, and prepare for scenarios in which crises last longer than expected.
On the policy side, Saz says collective action is the only durable answer to global shocks like energy disruptions, because unilateral controls can trigger retaliatory “beggar-thy-neighbor” behavior. He also says industrial policy is back in vogue across countries, not just the United States, and that firms now have to engage directly in shaping it rather than relying only on trade associations.
Bloomberg Businessweek’s Dimitra Kessenide adds that this shift is affecting business schools too, as students and institutions respond to a less welcoming and more inward-looking global environment.
Key takeaways
- Saz says companies are stuck with global value chains built for a more open era, which leaves them more vulnerable today.
- He argues that governments are increasingly intervening in markets for energy security and industrial policy, rather than trusting market forces.
- Saz says collective action is the best response to global energy shocks, because unilateral export controls can escalate into wider economic conflict.
- He says industrial policy is now a global trend, not a U.S.-only phenomenon, with China’s Made in China 2025 as an early example.
- Kessenide says top U.S. business schools remain in demand, but international programs are drawing more interest as attitudes toward foreign students harden.
Notable quotes
“what usually works is when we have a collective solution to a global problem”
“industrial policy is back in in in vogue”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios podcasts, radio, news.
You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenc on Bloomberg Radio. I want to continue our coverage of the latest out of the Middle East and the war in Iran. It's affecting markets with stocks lower, oil higher, a drop in treasury stalled.
Suffice it to say, there's a lot for global business leaders to digest right now. That's where Anel Sas comes in. He's professor and director of Assad Geo.
It's the center for global economy and geopolitics at Assad, the business school in Spain. Also with us, Demetri Casanita. She's Bloomberg Business Week senior editor.
She leads business week's coverage of business schools. Anal, good to have you on the program. You are a business school professor, but you're also an expert in geopolitics, international business, the macroeconomic backdrop today.
higher oil prices, barriers to free trade, increasingly countries looking inward. You teach a global community of business leaders who then become leaders, go out in this world. How are you looking at the backdrop today in the context of your research?
Great. Thanks. Thanks for having me.
Uh it's a pleasure to be here. So I think there are two ways to we're looking at it. So one is to understand where we're coming from and where we are.
And I think one of the the the the the difficulties of today for business leaders is that we are stuck with global value chains that are hereditary from that uh from those decades of open markets and we are now in an environment which are is not that open any longer. So you are um you are uh you have many more uh vulnerabilities uh and risks um around you. The second one is more short-term.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- parallel lobbying
- european union lobbying
- business associations
- lobbying strategy
- global business
Watch the episode
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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