Just Don’t Go There – Part 2
Myanmar - How Risky Is It?
Last week I posted about why I don’t think small exporters should start out trying to conquer China. Now, a British risk assessment outfit called Maplecroft has issued an index of countries not to do business in. More accurately, the Maplecroft Global Risks Index ranks 175 countries according to 26 non-financial risks faced by international business. These include political risk, legal shortcomings, likelihood of disease, war risk or terrorism, climate change, natural disasters and more. In short, anything that might adversely impact an investment, a major project, long-term contracts, or logistics.
Of 24 countries that Maplecroft assesses as extremely risky, 17 are in Africa. It’s no great surprise that Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zimbabwe and Sudan take the four riskiest positions. Others in the worst two dozen include Myanmar, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Yemen. None of these are high on my list of favorites, either.
More companies will be interested in the slightly better “high risk” category, which includes such hot destinations as the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Russia and Thailand. China, Brazil and Mexico are all medium risk. I assume you have to pay big money to get the complete list and associated analysis, but Maplecroft does show a world map with countries color-coded by their classification: extreme, high, medium and low risk.
I don’t see – squinting at the map – any real surprises, but the index is a good confirmation for what seems common sense.
