Beyond economics: Factoring politics into investment strategies

From nationalization to terrorism, social revolutions to government regulations, sudden political changes can generate acute economic reverberations in markets and investments across the globe. In this video interview, Ian Bremmer discusses the value of developing business strategies that help companies and investors limit their risk exposure to these shocks. He also shares political risk–management lessons from his new book, The Fat Tail: The Power of Political Knowledge for Strategic Investing, cowritten with colleague Preston Keat. Bremmer, the president and founder of political-risk consultancy Eurasia Group, spoke with McKinsey’s director of publishing, Rik Kirkland, in Eurasia Group’s New York office in March 2009.

Can Tom Cruise's Valkyrie Save MGM?

Valkyrie, the $75 million Nazi thriller, is MGM’s most pricey film since private equity backers bought the studio in 2004. A lot is riding on it

In case you missed all the billboards and guest spots on television, Tom Cruise has a new movie coming out. There was the Toothy One, grinning in the wee-morning hours at Today show host Matt Lauer, offering before their sit-down interview to get doughnuts for the newscaster that our man Tom three years back demeaned as “glib” for asking those pesky questions journalists sometimes ask. But this is the new Tom Cruise. He appeared the next night on Late Show with David Letterman, poking fun at himself in a Top 10 list that included the Scientologist’s belief that “all emotional and physiological disorders can be cured with Vicks VapoRub.”