Digital Risk in International Business Management and Allied Areas in India, the UAE, and Austria

Abstract

The new era of international business is dominated by digital global connectivity, which also serves to address growing levels of uncertainty. The process of digitization is fraught with numerous dangers, and despite its importance to business on a global scale, it has received little attention, either theoretical or empirical. In this background, this paper specifically addresses three questions on digital risks in international business and related areas in India, Austria, and the United Arab Emirates: (1) Identify the key determinants to predict digital risks based on their feature importance, (2) design artificial intelligence quantitative and qualitative models to address the risk features, and (3) suggest strategies for MNCs to effectively handle the business risks as a value-added proposition. Secondary data from World Bank sources covering World Development Indicators on trade, exports, imports, ICT breadth, and depth for three countries (India, Austria, and the United Emirates) and four regional blocks such as BRICS, GCC, EU, and the QUAD regions are used to identify features important for input-output analysis using artificial intelligence tools. Preliminary results using random forest tree (machine learning tool) confirmed the superiority of AI models over traditional models for identifying features of importance for effectively addressing digital risk in international business management and related areas. The research helps the three countries to take appropriate steps to meet 2030 targets related to SDG-8 (growth and economic development) and SDG-9 (ICT) captured by political and financial crises besides pandemic events and macroeconomic variables in general.