The problems of U.S. businesses operating abroad in terrorist environments

Based on interviews with 59 businessmen, their advisers, and U.S. government officials, this report focuses on the problems of U.S. businesses that run overseas operations in high-risk environments, particularly Latin America. These problems include operating in a climate of instability, high costs of property damage, ransom payments, and expenditures for security purposes; and managerial and technical adjustments that often lower productivity and hamper quality control. Despite the hardships, most businesses do not pull out of a country as a result of terrorist threats or attacks, but cope with them as with other acts of violence.