The Politics of Expanding Into New Markets

A majority of U.S. companies (82%) would like to expand into new markets and 36% are considering expansion opportunities in the BRICS and MINT countries, according to a new survey of U.S. business decision makers by connected planning company Vuealta.

However, 55% of respondents say political uncertainty and its impact on their supply chains is a key factor holding them back from moving into new markets.

The findings also demonstrate that those surveyed don’t believe that their business leadership understands how different factors could dramatically impact their supply chain. Nearly half (47%) say they did not believe their leadership understood the potential impacts of political and market uncertainty, 51% a cyberattack, and 49% a natural disaster.

As companies grow globally, they inherently assume more risk as they manage more complex, global supply chains. Unfortunately, the majority of respondents indicate that they felt fairly unprepared to address unexpected challenges. Nearly one-fifth of respondents (18%) state that their customer base is likely to feel the impact of a supply chain failure in less than one day.

As a result, more than half (57%) of U.S. companies are currently looking to re-shore a significant portion of their supply chain operations to the United States.