New Friends: Oxford Analytica
Posted By Rob Millard - 1 Comments -
I've just spent a fascinating morning with Oxford Analytica here in Oxford, England. Oxford Analytica is the organization that Clifford Chance turned to, to undertake their scenario planning exercise that underpinned their strategy review last year.
I was privileged to be invited to attend their daily briefing as an observer. This meeting was a round-table "what has happened in the world in last 24 hours that we need to know about," that is modeled on the 'daily briefing' instituted by Henry Kissinger for Richard Nixon. Oxford Analytica's founder, Dr David Young, was one of Kissinger's key advisors.
Oxford Analytica have a formidable depth of expertise and knowledge that they can draw on, across the world. In the Clifford Chance scenarios, they developed four models that Clifford Chance could measure their strategic intent against. One was the 'status quo.' The other three were:
-China being removed as one of the biggest economic opportunities at the moment. In the example, China becomes aggressive and invades Taiwan. This triggers a strong reaction from America and prompts strict trade embargoes on Beijing.
-A reversal of American foreign policy, perhaps as a result of military setbacks in the Middle East leading to a decision to renounce the policy of overseas democratisation in favour of becoming more isolationist and inward focused.
-Instead of globalisation, the world regresses "back to the future" - countries and continents become separate and protectionist. For instance, America and Europe would construct trade barriers to block cheap imports from China and India, and countries would look to protect their domestic markets.
Peter Cornell, the then global managing partner of Clifford Chance, had this to say: "These are purely hypothetical predictions designed to get us thinking about our international business in a different and more innovative way. Thinking about the consequences of these scenarios and their impact on our business and our clients has been fascinating."
For those interested in macro-risk and global trends, Oxford Analytica's web site is well worth a visit. So, perhaps, may be their services. I can see how the kind of carefully codified global intelligence that they produce could be structured to be useful for a wide range of the larger professional service firms.
Comments, as always, are most welcome and may be posted below.
http://www.robmillard.com/admin/trackback/16366
Dear Rob!
So did I - attended a daily briefing in Oxford and experienced what I missed working as Senior Political Advisor for NATO/EU in the Balkans! Professional information sharing and strategic analysis! It was a good reason to ask founding CEO David Young, if could support him to spread the good news about Oxford Analytica.
Dear Reader!
If you are located in Germany or German-speaking area of Europe - we are happy to provide you more information about the conference and Oxford Analytica's services:
Friedrich Christian Haas, MA
Advisor & German Office
Oxford Analytica
c/o Convincet
Unter den Linden 21
D-10117 Berlin
Direct: +49 (160) 96 20 47 56
Tel: +49 (2732) 58 10 227
Fax: +49 (30) 20 92 42 00
Email: haas.oxan@gmx-topmail.de
Skype: fckhaas
5 Alfred Street, Oxford
OX1 4EH, United Kingdom
Direct: +44 (0) 1865 261639
Fax: +44 (0) 1865 242018
www.oxan.com
www.oxan.com/worldnextweek/
www.linkedin.com/in/oxfordanalyticagermanyhaas
_______________________
25th Oxford Analytica International Conference
Programm http://www.oxan.com/conferences/oaic/
Oxford Analytica + IHT: Global Business Outlook for 2009 Conference
Program http://www.oxan.com/conferences/gbosingapore/
Oxford Analytica + E&Y: Strategic Business Risk Report 2008: The top ten global risks for business
http://www.ey.com/global/content.nsf/International/AABS_-_Strategic_Business_Risk_Report_2008
