In an inextricably interconnected world, businesses are exposed to many risk factors, not only those coming out of countries or regions in which they themselves have a physical presence, but also from the countries and regions in which their suppliers and their suppliers’ suppliers are based.

Without rigorous monitoring, management and mitigation, any one of a myriad of risks has the potential to cause irreparable damage to a particular operation or, in the most serious of cases, to an entire organisation.

Corruption. Terrorism. Political Instability. Kidnap. Organised Crime.

These represent a mere fraction of the plethora of political risk factors challenging organisations. Utilising a combination of open source intelligence, human intelligence and horizon-scanning intelligence software, our analysts provide clients with actionable intelligence, enabling them manage and mitigate threats to their organisation within the context of their own crisis management policies and procedures.

• A comprehensive breakdown of our daily, weekly and monthly reports, and more information on the bespoke report services we offer, can be found on our publications page

It is not sufficient for an organisation to address the physical risk to its operations, it must also seek to manage and mitigate the risk to its reputation. A 2010 Oxford Metrica Reputation Study of the world’s 1,000 largest companies found that 80% of companies lose more than 20% of their value every five years due to what is euphemistically described as a “reputational event”.

Reputation is vital to shareholders, to employees and of course to customers. Reputational risk can be managed simply by having a thorough understanding of the cultural and socio-economic environment into which an organisation is going to operate.

As the situation wrought by the global financial crisis continues to stifle economic recovery, particularly in European and American markets, now, more than ever, companies do not have the luxury of second chances. At the same time, the economic realities in the West mean that businesses are increasingly willing to enter new markets in search of demand which cannot be captured in its domestic market. However, the trade-off for potentially significant gains is correspondingly high levels of risk.

In order for companies to protect their facilities, fulfil their duty of care to their employees and preserve their hard-won reputations, they need to have a complete picture of the political, social and economic context. This enables them to make an informed decision as to the feasibility of a given operation and, if they choose to proceed, to continue with their operations confident that they are aware of any potential vulnerabilities. Armed with this information, clients are able to take steps to mitigate these risks, either in-house or utilising the expertise of our Operations Team, who actively support our clients in meeting these global challenges.