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One of the blogs I regularly read, , recently put together a great post on the concept of in business. They include links to several different articles on variations of the topic, but the one that I found most relevant was from Deloitte, called . The article outlines hidden risks that firms can easily overlook before expanding internationally, and how with due diligence you can identify and neutralize those risks.
A huge issue in doing business internationally is that the lack of face-to-face contact can sometimes lead people to get involved with scam artists and otherwise shady characters. Deloitte conducted a survey and out of 550 financial executives, 70% have pulled out of a transaction as a result of a background/integrity check.
These background checks should be a routine part of the information gathering process before making big international decisions. Firms should ensure that they know if their partners are involved in any grey-market or otherwise illegal activity. Another consideration is whether or not they use questionable practices, even if they are technically legal in their country, like child-labor or pollution. Not only is it the right thing to do, but it can also save you from a lot of bad publicity.
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