Foreign acquisitions and political retaliation as threats to supply security in an era of strategic decoupling (ForAc)

This research project, funded by the Academy of Finland, started at the end of 2020. The project studies how small open economies can shield enterprises critical for their supply security from strategic foreign acquisitions and political retaliation, while still maintaining their open economies. This question has become pressing, as recent years have seen active efforts by state-linked economic organisations to acquire foreign enterprises that possess critical technological know-how, or perform vital tasks in national supply systems. This project combines three research areas in an innovative, interdisciplinary way: supply security, economic statecraft and strategic enterprise acquisitions. There are critical knowledge gaps in the inter-linkages between these research areas with urgent policy implications, which this project will address.