Abstract
International business research increasingly portrays intensifying geopolitical rivalry and global disorder as leading to economic decoupling, bloc separation, and the erosion of cross-border collaboration. This paper examines why and how cross-bloc collaboration persists under conditions of geopolitical fragmentation, thereby challenging decoupling-centric assumptions. Drawing on complex interdependence theory from International Relations and extending it into the firm-level domain, global disorder is conceptualized as producing reorganized rather than dissolved interdependence. Empirically, the study analyzes collaboration between German and Chinese firms in African infrastructure and industrial projects, based on 24 semi-structured interviews with senior managers of German firms. The preliminary findings indicate that although geopolitical rivalry fragments markets into rival, state-anchored governance regimes and politically gates access to finance and projects, firms do not exit cross-bloc relationships. Instead, they engage in selective re-coupling, pragmatically re-embedding themselves into rival-anchored project ecosystems in third markets where mutual dependence remains high. Business pragmatism is developed as the micro-foundation of this process, understood as a survival-oriented strategic logic prioritizing feasibility and continuity over geopolitical alignment.