Building and Maintaining Overseas Operations
Canadian companies are considering overseas expansion with increasing frequency. Overseas expansion is common and brings increased risks and exposures. Careful risk management analysis and planning is the key to protecting your business and ensuring all of your operations, both overseas and at home, are successful.
Safeguard Your Supply Chain
Suppliers and subcontractors bring with them a set of variables, any of which could mean the difference between a successful or failed end product. Raw material inventories, weather events, quality control and shipping regulations are all factors affecting your business that are mostly uncontrollable.
Perform a risk analysis for each company using as much information as you can get, including upstream suppliers, any quality and safety records, information about the political climate in their country and anything else that could give you insight into potential risks of doing business with them.
Consider your options when it comes to suppliers. Having more than one supplier can provide stability to your supply chain if an unforeseen event happened, preventing a delay in production.
Look Out for Your Employees
Managing and protecting employees in different locations is difficult, even when they’re not separated by an ocean. With overseas operations you need to address safety and human resources issues for your employees moving overseas from the Canada, your employees who are based in the Canada who may have to travel overseas and employees who are native to your overseas location.
Radical political turmoil has occurred across the globe in recent years, highlighting the need for increased protection and risk management for foreign and travelling employees. Accounting for these unpredictable, dangerous situations will keep your company a step ahead.
Protect Your Data
Data storage and security is a substantial issue for companies of all sizes. In the event that your business runs a data centre in a country where the energy infrastructure is undeveloped, power supply backups and procedures for continuing operations are a must.
Navigate Legal Hazards
Every country and region has different legal and regulatory environments for safety, quality, shipping and even insurance. Understanding each region’s specific laws is important to success anywhere in the world. One issue of note for technology companies is regulatory requirements for storage and transmission of sensitive personal data. Make sure your operations are in compliance with regulations in all locations, preventing costly missteps.
To fully understand the risks associated with overseas operations, consult with MHK Insurance, as well as legal and financial professionals.