Australia, one of the best countries for business - FM Global

Australia has been recognised as one of the best countries for business, ranking 17th overall among 130 countries and territories according to the resilience of its business environment.

This was according to the 2019 edition of the FM Global Resilience Index which was derived from 12 economic, risk quality, and supply chain-related measures to address business concerns around such things as natural hazards, cyber threats, political, and economic risk.

Read more: Revealed - Australia’s top business risks

Australia ranked 15th for its high hazard risk quality, due to the quality and enforcement of its building codes with respect to natural hazards like floods and fires, and eighth for the quality of its fire risk management due to the quality and enforcement of building codes with respect to fire-based design.

The country also placed highly for its control of corruption (14th) and supply chain visibility (22nd).

Australia’s overall rank in the index was held back, however, by its inherent cyber risk, reinforcing the need for business leaders to assess their level of cyber exposure as well as improve their cybersecurity mitigation strategies.

FM Global noted that Australian-based businesses must also take into consideration the vulnerabilities their supply chains are exposed to, especially those outside the country.

Four contributors to the resilience of a country’s business environment include supply chain visibility, control of corruption, quality of infrastructure, and corporate governance. Global supply chains also face considerable potential for severe disruption from natural disasters such as typhoons, floods, and bushfires.

“While many Australian-based businesses have moved their supply chains into Asia to make them more competitive, few have mapped the vulnerabilities that their supply chains are now exposed to,” said Lynette Schultheis, operations manager at FM Global. “This means too few businesses understand the potential political, financial, legal, and reputational risks they may have unintentionally exposed themselves to and now must face and overcome.”