Small Business Networking | Information for small business owners

Terrorism, kidnapping, robbery, theft. In some lucrative emerging markets, these hazards come with the territory. The key to staying out of harm’s way: Be prepared.

The U.S. and the U.K. may be mired in what was once thought of as a Third World style of financial crisis, but what was once considered the Third World is not. As the centre of economic growth shifts away from the West and Japan, emerging markets like the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), Mexico, South Africa, and parts of South America are ripe for Western investment. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that doing business in those parts can still be downright dangerous. In recent years Brazil’s murder rate has matched that of some war zones. Since 2007, crime networks in Johannesburg have increasingly targeted foreigners, following them as they leave the airport in taxis and then robbing them at gunpoint down the road. Or consider the attacks last year on Mumbai’s Taj Mahal hotel, where executives from Tata and consumer giant Unilever happened to be staying at the same time.

Read the rest of the article on BNet here