Exporting for growth

With careful management of risk and finance, exporting should increase your company’s profitability and help you grow your business in a sustainable manner. But what are the risks, and what can you do to mitigate these?

Customers

Statistics show that the key barrier to exporting is the fear of not getting paid for goods and services. Once you have researched your target market for opportunities and competition, you should investigate the financial strength of your target customers. Credit reference agency information, combined with advice on payment risk insurance is vital.

People

Staff travelling overseas to negotiate orders will need to be kept safe. With increasing volatility, particularly in emerging economies and market territories, it is important to make sure that employees are educated about risk, trained to deal with it, and protected while travelling. Aon can help protect your people against the risk of kidnap, extortion, detention and hijack.

Property and assets

• Cargo risk
  For most exports, your carrier will organise appropriate cargo insurance, on a warehouse-to-warehouse basis. Unusual loads and high value goods will need separate cover. Aon has negotiated specialist cargo insurances with high quality wordings to ensure that goods are protected at all stages until our clients’ responsibility for delivery ceases.
• Terrorism
  A terrorist attack on or near your business facilities could result in human casualties, property damage, business interruption, relocation costs and long-term damage to reputation and share price. You should seek appropriate levels of terrorism insurance to cover you for the loss and business interruption of such an event.
• Political risk
  Political risk can exist for businesses that invest, operate, trade or lend in emerging markets and relates to the actions or inactions of foreign governments which may deprive you of your assets, prevent or restrict the performance of your contracts and quite possibly affect repayment of loans to financing banks. Aon’s political risk team uses a combination of market experience, innovative analysis tools and tailored risk programmes to help you minimise and manage your exposure.