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The most important advice is to take politics seriously. Oil and mining companies have always done this. Royal Dutch Shell has run a profitable business in Nigeria for more than 50 years despite a dangerous and volatile environment. “New economy” companies have tended to be much more naive. The Egyptian crisis demonstrates that they cannot avoid being caught up in political battles which are now fought over the internet. A Google executive in the region, Wael Ghonim, also doubled as a leading political activist.

A bit of help
Companies can buy advice from political-risk consultancies such as Control Risks, a British outfit, or Eurasia Group, an American one, or various niche consultancies set up by political bigwigs, from Henry Kissinger on down, and ex-ambassadors. (Full disclosure: the Economist Intelligence Unit, a sister organisation of The Economist, also offers advice on political risk.) Ian Bremmer, the president of Eurasia Group and a rising guru in the area, has written some provocative books on the subject.
But companies need to go further than just buying advice. They need to put more emphasis on local knowledge: many globalisation-obsessed companies may come to regret the fashion for downgrading country managers. They also need to be less impressed by the appearance of stability. The rapid collapse of Egypt’s autocracy should be food for thought for companies that have bet big on China (with its appearance of order) rather than India (with its messy democracy).

A. 어휘
mining 광업. profitable 이익이 나는. volatile 대단히 불안정한, 휘발성의.
naive 순진한. crisis 위기. demonstrates 증명하다.
double 1人 2役(역)을 하다. political-risk consultancies 정치위험상담소.
outfit 단체. niche 틈새시장, 適所(적소), 수익가능성이 높은 분야.
bigwigs 거물, 중요인물. ambassadors 大使(대사).
disclosure 공개. guru 정신적 지도자, 敎父(교부). provocative 도발적인.
emphasis 重點(중점), 力點(역점), 강조. obsessed 强迫觀念(강박관념)에 사로잡힌.
stability 안정. the appearance of stability 外見上(외견상)의 안정.
collapse 붕괴. autocracy 독재. order 질서. messy 난잡한.