Corporate Strategy Forum Discusses Transformation

On December 11, the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security held a private, roundtable discussion for its Corporate Strategy Forum on the topic of “Near-Death and Transformation.” Speaking to the issues of transformation during a sharp inflection in customer preferences and competition were Michael Bayer, president and CEO of Dumbarton Strategies LLC, and Mike Giersch, vice president of strategic planning at IBM. Atlantic Council M.A. and George Lund Fellow Steven Grundman moderated the session.

Three years past the peak of spending that defense companies used to enjoy, the profound change IBM invoked to pull back from its “near-death” experience in the 1990s is not something even today’s sequestration-shocked defense companies seem ready to embrace. And yet, perhaps more should. Market-inflection may prove deeper and wider than currently envisioned, but also may serve as a check on this industry’s characteristically cramped repertoire of corporate-strategic initiative. 

The Corporate Strategy Forum convenes chief strategists of transatlantic companies in aerospace, defense, security, and government services for a private roundtable discussion about issues confronting the long-term health of these industries.