Doing business abroad can make strategic sense. However, it can tie you down for years if you underestimate the liability risks. <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n
When medium-sized companies consider expanding abroad, they usually focus on sales, service and costs. When it comes to large deals, there is another issue that many SMEs underestimate: legal and liability risks<\/b><\/span>. The Bayer\/Monsanto case is striking \u2013 precisely because it shows how long a risk can have an impact.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bayer completed its acquisition of Monsanto in 2018. Bayer itself puts the purchase price at 63 billion US dollars (including debt)<\/b><\/span>.<\/p>\n This also brought the Roundup product and the associated wave of lawsuits into the company.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lawsuits have been ongoing in the US for years, claiming that Roundup causes cancer (Bayer disputes this). The important thing here is not the medical debate, but the economic reality: The dynamics of litigation and settlements create uncertainty for many years.<\/b><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n In mid-February 2026, Reuters reported on a new proposal: Bayer had submitted a plan for a settlement of up to 7.25 billion US dollars<\/b><\/span> to address tens of thousands of current and future lawsuits.<\/p>\n The AP also describes the same proposal, emphasising that court approval and acceptance rates are relevant and that the debate surrounding a possible decision by the US Supreme Court is further influencing the situation.<\/p>\n Reuters also reports that investors remain sceptical about the proposal \u2013 precisely because of these uncertainties.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A medium-sized company does not make \u00a363 billion deals. But the pattern<\/b><\/span> is identical in:<\/p>\n Entering the US market with product responsibility<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Acquisition of a local competitor<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Distributor models with product liability<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Chemicals\/industrial water\/plant engineering (environment, safety, standards)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/p>\n The most common misconception:<\/b><\/span> “We have a good product, so it’ll be fine.”<\/p>\n Abroad, the following also apply: class action logic, labelling rules, burden of proof mechanics, legal costs, settlement pressure. Even if you are convinced that you are technically correct, this can tie you down financially.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Instead of “Is the risk real?” (endless debate), it is better for decision-makers to ask:<\/p>\n Scenarios<\/b><\/span>: Best case \/ Base \/ Worst case<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Probabilities<\/b><\/span>: estimate conservatively<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Costs per scenario<\/b><\/span>: incl. legal costs, time, management commitment<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Mitigation<\/b><\/span>: what can be controlled? (contracts, insurance, product changes, warnings, partner structure)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Stop criteria<\/b><\/span>: when should the process be terminated?<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Pricing logic<\/b><\/span>: what must the deal\/market entry look like to make the risk worthwhile?<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Foreign countries are not just markets, they are also legal jurisdictions<\/b><\/span>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Risk is rarely a simple “yes\/no” question. Risk is price, duration, controllability<\/b><\/span>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Good decision-making templates need scenarios \u2013 not just arguments.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n “AI-supported” helps with collecting and organising. People have to evaluate and decide.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/p>\n Sources:<\/b><\/span> Bayer press release on the Monsanto acquisition; Reuters\/Associated Press on the settlement initiative Feb 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Doing business abroad can make strategic sense. However, it can tie you down for years if you underestimate the liability risks. When medium-sized companies consider expanding abroad, they usually focus on sales, service and costs. When it comes to large deals, there is another issue that many SMEs underestimate: legal and liability risks. The Bayer\/Monsanto […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nicht-kategorisiert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aiquiro-research.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aiquiro-research.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aiquiro-research.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aiquiro-research.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aiquiro-research.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2560"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aiquiro-research.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2578,"href":"https:\/\/aiquiro-research.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2560\/revisions\/2578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aiquiro-research.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aiquiro-research.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aiquiro-research.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aiquiro-research.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The deal: large, strategic \u2013 and risky<\/b><\/h3>\n
The bottom line: the risk of lawsuits remains \u2013 even if you might be “right”<\/b><\/h3>\n
What SMEs can learn from this \u2013 without corporate bias<\/b><\/h3>\n
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The practical toolbox: “Price” risk, don’t “discuss” it<\/b><\/h3>\n
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What SMEs can learn from this<\/b><\/h3>\n
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