Opportunities

Challenges

Access to customers in new countries

New competition for existing customers in domestic markets

Learning about customers in new markets

Adjusting products to local tastes and cultural peculiarities

Access to new, cheaper sources of finance

Global financial contagion

Government incentives to relocate

Costs of meeting a multitude of local/national laws and regulations

Access to regional trading agreements/avoidance of trade barriers

Exchange rate fluctuations

Economies of scale

Managing long supply chains

Access to new resources (e.g. cheap of skilled labor, natural resources)

New competition for local resources (e.g. more demand for labor pushing up local wage costs)

Cross-cultural communication e.g. language barriers, differing body language and etiquette

Corporate social responsibility issues

Capricious political environments/political risk/bias in favour of domestic companies