The China Question

Like never before, senior finance professionals hunger for information that can help to determine the economic impact of events around the globe. And, once they have captured that information, they must correctly assess the impact such developing events may have on their business.

The recent Mattel Inc. toy recall and other publicized product liability and product recall events emanating from China are perhaps excellent examples of such events.

While CFOs often turn to their risk managers to get a quick read on such developments, where do risk managers turn? Certainly, firsthand knowledge of the dynamics of China's complex regulatory environment is not necessarily a prerequisite for most risk management positions. This is why the Mattel recall and events like it are helping to energize partnerships between risk managers and their sources of global expertise, of which insurance brokers are among the most active.

The fact is that risk managers should today expect their insurance brokers to be consistently bringing them timely, relevant, risk-related information from all over the world to help them assess the impact of events on their businesses. Meanwhile, to meet this rise in demand for global information, insurance brokers must develop an international network that includes an effective global communication process specially designed to help their clients recognize, understand, and evaluate international exposures.