UPS has engineered a strong comeback from the economic slowdown. Last month, the package delivery company reported that its revenue surged 8.4% in the fourth quarter amid strong holiday volume. The pick-up included a 4.8% increase in international shipments, with business in China up 30%. Treasury & Risk checked in with CFO Kurt Kuehn on UPS' expansion overseas and the risks involved.

T&R: You've said emerging markets are a key focus in the year ahead. Which markets do you have your eye on? Kuehn: It's really a focus for the next decade ahead. Emerging markets is not going to be a one-year story, certainly for UPS and for most global companies that are looking out. But they have been a priority the last couple of years. We have done a number of joint ventures and acquisitions, whether that's Eastern Europe or Turkey or Malaysia or Indonesia. Vietnam is another exciting area. It's going to continue to be an area of increased focus for us. Clearly some of these economies are past emerging and are rapidly developing, so it's important that we develop enough capabilities there to help be part of the economic growth.

But emerging markets are tricky. You've got to find the right business model in each market. The highly automated processes that we have in the U.S. and parts of Europe that give great returns against fairly high-cost labor do not make sense in some of these emerging markets. So we clearly have learned the lesson that one size does not fit all when it comes to business models across these emerging markets. That's a challenge for a lot of companies.