ABSTRACT
Many companies enter unfamiliar markets around the globe. The concept of doing business in these markets requires significant changes in the way commercial activities are carried out. For instance, risk managers have to make sure that overseas representatives do not offer bribes to obtain lucrative contracts. Or that engineers sent to carry out tests at a highway construction site in a developing country are covered with a kidnap and ransom insurance policy that includes a provision for a local crisis team trained to deal with such situations. Some countries are more closely linked to home markets through former colonial ties, common history, or similar political developments. For instance, Tunisia is a new emerging market set to make an impact in the immediate future. This Mediterranean country is very closely linked to Europe, which makes it today a platform for investment as well as for production and trade. Especially tourism is a strategic sector and thanks to an extensive and diversified tourism base Tunisia has enjoyed an
increase in numbers of tourists (Figure 2.1 for a typical tourist hotel in the country). Diversification of the offer was further consolidated by an increasingly developed infrastructure. Tunisia’s property market may just be in its early stages, but with its strong economy and tourist sector, large-scale property investment by Middle East developers, and low-entry prices, Tunisia looks well set to become one of the most interesting emerging markets. As the economy recovers, Tunisia is bringing budget and current account deficits under control, shoring up the country’s financial system, bringing down high unemployment, and reducing economic disparities between the more developed coastal region and the impoverished interior. GDP in 2014 amounted to US$47 billion with GDP per capita US$4,226. Overall, there is a positive outlook with expected new business and consumer confidence that led to growth of 3.9 percent in 2015.1
To succeed in emerging market countries, even more than in developed markets, responsible managers must collect a variety of data, preferably in a systematic and clearly structured manner rather than on an ad hoc basis. To date, many studies focus on a selection of underlying factors that should be considered for doing business abroad.
