ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
An AI-native strategy firmGlobal Advisors: a consulting leader in defining quantified strategy, decreasing uncertainty, improving decisions, achieving measureable results.
A Different Kind of Partner in an AI World
AI-native strategy
consulting
Experienced hires
We are hiring experienced top-tier strategy consultants
Quantified Strategy
Decreased uncertainty, improved decisions
Global Advisors is a leader in defining quantified strategies, decreasing uncertainty, improving decisions and achieving measureable results.
We specialise in providing highly-analytical data-driven recommendations in the face of significant uncertainty.
We utilise advanced predictive analytics to build robust strategies and enable our clients to make calculated decisions.
We support implementation of adaptive capability and capacity.
Our latest
Thoughts
Podcast – The Real AI Signal from Davos 2026
While the headlines from Davos were dominated by geopolitical conflict and debates on AGI timelines and asset bubbles, a different signal emerged from the noise. It wasn’t about if AI works, but how it is being ruthlessly integrated into the real economy.
In our latest podcast, we break down the “Diffusion Strategy” defining 2026.
3 Key Takeaways:
- China and the “Global South” are trying to leapfrog: While the West debates regulation, emerging economies are treating AI as essential infrastructure.
- China has set a goal for 70% AI diffusion by 2027.
- The UAE has mandated AI literacy in public schools from K-12.
- Rwanda is using AI to quadruple its healthcare workforce.
- The Rise of the “Agentic Self”: We aren’t just using chatbots anymore; we are employing agents. Entrepreneur Steven Bartlett revealed he has established a “Head of Experimentation and Failure” to use AI to disrupt his own business before competitors do. Musician will.i.am argued that in an age of predictive machines, humans must cultivate their “agentic self” to handle the predictable, while remaining unpredictable themselves.
- Rewiring the Core: Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi noted the difference between an “AI veneer” and a fundamental rewire. It’s no longer about summarising meetings; it’s about autonomous agents resolving customer issues without scripts.
The Global Advisors Perspective: Don’t wait for AGI. The current generation of models is sufficient to drive massive value today. The winners will be those who control their “sovereign capabilities” – embedding their tacit knowledge into models they own.
Read our original perspective here – https://with.ga/w1bd5
Listen to the full breakdown here – https://with.ga/2vg0z
Strategy Tools
PODCAST: Effective Transfer Pricing
Our Spotify podcast discusses how to get transfer pricing right.
We discuss effective transfer pricing within organizations, highlighting the prevalent challenges and proposing solutions. The core issue is that poorly implemented internal pricing leads to suboptimal economic decisions, resource allocation problems, and interdepartmental conflict. The hosts advocate for market-based pricing over cost recovery, emphasizing the importance of clear price signals for efficient resource allocation and accurate decision-making. They stress the need for service level agreements, fair cost allocation, and a comprehensive process to manage the political and emotional aspects of internal pricing, ultimately aiming for improved organizational performance and profitability. The podcast includes case studies illustrating successful implementations and the authors’ expertise in this field.
Read more from the original article.
Fast Facts
Fast Fact: Great returns aren’t enough
Key insights
It’s not enough to just have great returns – top-line growth is just as critical.
In fact, S&P 500 investors rewarded high-growth companies more than high-ROIC companies over the past decade.
While the distinction was less clear on the JSE, what is clear is that getting a balance of growth and returns is critical.
Strong and consistent ROIC or RONA performers provide investors with a steady flow of discounted cash flows – without growth effectively a fixed-income instrument.
Improvements in ROIC through margin improvements, efficiencies and working-capital optimisation provide point-in-time uplifts to share price.
Top-line growth presents a compounding mechanism – ROIC (and improvements) are compounded each year leading to on-going increases in share price.
However, without acceptable levels of ROIC, the benefits of compounding will be subdued and share price appreciation will be depressed – and when ROIC is below WACC value will be destroyed.
Maintaining high levels of growth is not as sustainable as maintaining high levels of ROIC – while both typically decline as industries mature, growth is usually more affected.
Getting the right balance between ROIC and growth is critical to optimising shareholder value.
Selected News
Term: Stablecoin
“A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value, unlike volatile assets like Bitcoin, by pegging its price to a stable reserve asset, usually a fiat currency (like the USD) or a commodity (like gold).” – Stablecoin
What is a Stablecoin?
A **stablecoin** is a type of cryptocurrency engineered to preserve a consistent value relative to a specified asset, such as a fiat currency (e.g., the US dollar), a commodity (e.g., gold), or a basket of assets, in stark contrast to the high volatility of assets like Bitcoin.
Unlike traditional cryptocurrencies, stablecoins employ stabilisation mechanisms including reserve assets held by custodians or algorithmic protocols that adjust supply and demand to sustain the peg. Fiat-backed stablecoins, the most common variant, mirror money market funds by holding reserves in short-term assets like treasury bonds, commercial paper, or bank deposits. Commodity-backed stablecoins peg to physical assets like gold, while cryptocurrency-backed ones, such as DAI or Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), use overcollateralised crypto reserves managed via smart contracts on decentralised networks.
Types of Stablecoins
- Fiat-backed: Centralised issuers hold equivalent fiat reserves (e.g., USD) to support 1:1 redeemability.
- Commodity-backed: Pegged to commodities, with issuers maintaining physical reserves.
- Cryptocurrency-backed: Collateralised by other cryptocurrencies, often overcollateralised to buffer volatility.
- Algorithmic: Rely on smart contracts to dynamically adjust supply without full reserves, though prone to failure.
Despite the name, stablecoins are not immune to depegging, as evidenced by historical failures amid market stress or redemption pressures, potentially triggering systemic risks akin to fire-sale contagions in traditional finance. They facilitate rapid, low-cost blockchain transactions, serving as a bridge between fiat and crypto ecosystems for payments, settlements, and trading.
Regulatory Landscape
Governments worldwide are intensifying oversight due to stablecoins’ growing role in transactions. For instance, Nebraska’s Financial Innovation Act (2021, updated 2024) permits digital asset depositories to issue stablecoins backed by reserves in FDIC-insured institutions.
Key Theorist: Robert Shiller and the Conceptual Foundations
The most relevant strategy theorist linked to stablecoins is **Robert Shiller**, a Nobel Prize-winning economist whose pioneering work on financial stability, behavioural finance, and asset pricing underpins the economic rationale for pegged digital assets. Shiller’s theories address the volatility that stablecoins explicitly counter, positioning them as practical applications of stabilising speculative markets.
Born in 1946 in Detroit, Michigan, Shiller earned his PhD in economics from MIT in 1972 under advisor Robert Solow. He joined Yale University in 1982, where he remains the Sterling Professor of Economics. Shiller gained prominence for developing the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, a leading US housing market benchmark. His seminal book, Irrational Exuberance (2000), presciently warned of the dot-com bubble and later the 2008 financial crisis, critiquing how narratives drive asset bubbles.
Shiller’s relationship to stablecoins stems from his advocacy for financial innovations that mitigate volatility. In works like Finance and the Good Society (2012), he explores stabilising mechanisms such as index funds and derivatives, which parallel stablecoin pegs by tethering values to underlying assets. He has discussed cryptocurrencies in interviews and writings, noting their potential to enhance financial inclusion if stabilised-echoing stablecoins’ design to combine crypto’s efficiency with fiat-like reliability. Shiller’s CAPE (Cyclically Adjusted Price-to-Earnings) ratio exemplifies pegging metrics to long-term fundamentals, a concept mirrored in stablecoin reserves. While not a crypto native, his behavioural insights explain depegging risks from herd mentality, making him the foremost theorist for stablecoin strategy in volatile markets.
References
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stablecoin
2. https://csrc.nist.gov/glossary/term/stablecoin
3. https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/trading-investing/what-is-a-stablecoin
5. https://klrd.gov/2024/11/15/stablecoin-overview/
7. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/explainers/what-are-stablecoins-and-how-do-they-work
8. https://bvnk.com/blog/stablecoins-vs-bitcoin
9. https://business.cornell.edu/article/2025/08/stablecoins/
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Take the poll – “What determines your success?”
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Services
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We help clients to measurably improve strategic decision-making and the results they achieve through defining clearly prioritised choices, reducing uncertainty, winning hearts and minds and partnering to deliver.
Our difference is embodied in our team. Our values define us.
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Define optimal business portfolios aligned with investor expectations
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We hire and grow amazing people
Consultants join our firm based on a fit with our values, culture and vision. They believe in and are excited by our differentiated approach. They realise that working on our clients’ most important projects is a privilege. While the problems we solve are strategic to clients, consultants recognise that solutions primarily require hard work – rigorous and thorough analysis, partnering with client team members to overcome political and emotional obstacles, and a large investment in knowledge development and self-growth.
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