IMD business school for management and leadership courses

Escalation Dominance—the ability to credibly threaten escalation to higher levels of conflict while convincing adversaries you would prevail at those levels—depends on unity. So says conventional wisdom. A coherent government that can demonstrate capability and will across the escalation ladder should deter opponents from raising stakes. By this…

In today’s fragmented global economy, successful companies are building systematic capabilities to turn geopolitical awareness into strategic action. A new report, lead-authored by Simon Evenett, examines how firms are developing ‘geopolitical muscle’ to navigate—and capitalize on—opportunities in an increasingly complex environment.

As we enter 2026, the global share of women in executive leadership has fallen below 31%, reversing decades of slow but steady progress – despite unprecedented investment in leadership development, diversity initiatives, and gender equity commitments. This is not a paradox. It is evidence of a system that no longer matches the realities of leade…

Our goal here is to demonstrate how readily available trade statistics can inform debates about the growing threat posed by China’s most successful goods exports to the vanguard firms in her trading partners. We analyse the overlap between China’s top export products and the export portfolios of major trading partners. We calculate the shares of…

Family offices are experiencing a profound transformation. Once quiet back-office structures, they have become strategic engines at the heart of family wealth, legacy, and innovation. This report, a collaboration between IMD and FBN, explores how family offices evolve, adapt, and redefine themselves as families grow, generations shift, and the p…

This report reveals: • Which technologies are scaling profitably and which remain speculative. • How front runners are reconfiguring supply chains and capturing superior returns amid uncertainty. • The critical geopolitical risks that will shape the 2030s. • The strategic moves separating tomorrow’s leaders from the stranded. The path to cleane…

What the 2025 Future Readiness Indicator reveals about tech, pharma, and fashion.

IMD’s 2025 AI Maturity Index highlights how leaders of the most successful companies are scaling AI technologies across 10 industries for competitive advantage

This paper extends the New Industrial Policy Observatory (NIPO) dataset from 2009 to 2023 by employing large language model techniques to identify policy motivations. We document widespread industrial policy adoption across advanced and emerging market economies since the Great Financial Crisis, which was implemented primarily through subsidies …

This paper develops a new toolkit for analysing how global shocks affect the geographical and functional distribution of global value chains (GVCs) at the subnational level. Using the toolkit, which we call the shocks approach to indicator design, we derive a family of GVC indicators that distinguish between import and export‑side GVC exposure, …

Switzerland leads 69 nations in digital competitiveness – but its position is threatened by trade fragmentation. Today’s trade fragmentation means countries and regions are in a race against time to find new strategic advantages in the digital sphere, says IMD’s 2025 Digital Competitiveness Ranking. Switzerland, the US, and Singapore are the mos…

The United States has incorporated restrictive third-country provisions—informally referred to as “poison pills”—in three trade instruments: the 2018 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), and very recently the 2025 United States-Malaysia Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART), and the 2025 United States-Cambodia ART. These provisions allow…

Ahead of the 2025 ASEAN Leaders Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, four texts were released by the White House relating to trade, investment, and security matters. The full text of two trade accords were released for Cambodia and Malaysia. Progress reports on talks with Thailand and Vietnam were released. What follows are reflections on the texts…

The STI weaves together the economic, societal, and environmental factors that underpin sustainable trade, assisting decision-makers in setting priorities for inclusive, long-term growth. This year’s report centers on the strategic trade-offs in sustainable trade. Developing economies often face direct tension between economic priorities and env…

A decade of IMD survey data and interviews with five seasoned supply chain executives from diverse industries reveals supply chain has moved from the sidelines to the center of business strategy. Yet progress remains uneven. Based on the responses of more than 1,000 senior executives across 20 industries, this white paper finds: – Significant g…