Smaller firms get hit harder overseas, survey finds.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: RISK - Survey

As businesses continue to grow their foreign operations, small to mid-size companies are more likely than larger companies to experience a loss to corporate assets outside the U.S. or Canada, according to Chubb's 2008 Multinational Risk Survey.

In fact, compared to companies with annual revenues above $1 billion, smaller companies experienced at least a 50 percent higher frequency of foreign losses during 2007 for liability lawsuits, theft of intellectual property/piracy and theft of goods in transit. Smaller companies also experienced at least a 35 percent higher frequency of losses for crimes against and injuries to American and Canadian employees traveling or working overseas.

"Larger companies often have the resources needed to take the global patchwork of different laws and languages, currencies and styles of conducting business and create corporate risk management standards throughout the world," says Kathlenn Ellis, senior vice president at Chubb & Son and worldwide manager of the Multinational Risk Group for Chubb Commercial Insurance.

"Small and mid-size companies that do business overseas need to look to their business partners to help them create standards that will help reduce foreign property and liability losses and injuries to employees," adds Ellis.

This year, senior-level executives and risk managers reported that the top three threats to their business operations or business conducted...