If on a budget, business owners should forget expanding into volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) markets on a budget due to the considerations and costs involved. Such countries include BRIC [Brazil, Russia, India and China], and parts of Africa and Latin America.

Speaking at an event organised by the RES Forum in London today, global mobility expert Anita Blanchett advised companies expanding into these countries to take financial data and figure out the costs for certain activities and processes, developing a cost model. 

This should then be given to the sales team negotiating with local officials about the business’s expansion. Advice should also be sought from consulates (both home and host), as well as the CBI [Confederation of British Industry] and trade commissions.

Businesses should also:

• find out the tax and social security position for both locals and third-party nationals 

• discover if local partners in the country hire minors

• negotiate the number of locals they have to hire at the earliest point before they move into the country

• find out about currency restrictions from local payroll experts, such as how much money can be taken out of the country by workers

• embed their exit strategy into the entry strategy, so they know how long they will be in that country.

In such countries, Blanchett says, firms may need to get workers out at short notice, so they should make sure they have an evacuation plan in place, and have one for locals and third-party nationals, as well as knowing where the local centre of medical excellence is.

"It's costly. It's dangerous,” said Blanchett. “The people you are going to send to these locations are going to want a lot of money, and it costs a lot of money to set this all up."

The RES Forum is a community of senior in-house HR professionals from more than 35 countries.

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