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After the Nov. 20 terrorist attacks in Istanbul, the US State Department advised Americans to skip nonessential travel to Turkey. Five other Western nations sounded similar calls.

But one of the bombers' private-sector targets responded quite differently. Within a day of the blast that sheared off the face of its 18-floor Istanbul headquarters, the British bank HSBC issued a release calling business there "almost back to normal." The bold statement underscored HSBC's resolve to remain in Turkey, one of 79 countries served by the firm, and to live up to its slogan: "the world's local bank."

That a big, "branded" multinational would stick it out in a place where business conditions appear to have soured - and where the firm seems fixed in someone's cross hairs - illustrates the increasingly complex ethical dilemmas multinationals face in the world's hot spots. War and instability have long forced corporations to weigh the market opportunity against the risks to employees. Now, however, the issues are getting more complex.

Years of activist pressure have made many Western corporations work to become better global citizens - much more deeply involved with their host communities. Now that shift has made high-profile Western firms less able to withdraw - and more vulnerable. Terrorism has thrown a wild card into the deck. Not knowing where the next attack may be makes contingency planning practically impossible.

"Terrorism against 'soft' targets is creating an entirely new ethical conundrum for companies," writes Dale Neef, a political economist and knowledge-management specialist, in an e-mail. He adds that companies immersed abroad now face a variation of the dilemma often faced by humanitarian groups such as Médecins Sans Frontièrs or the United Nations: Stay and put employees at possible risk, or leave at the expense of the local community. "The reality is, I think, that we are entering a new phase of globalism that is characterized by potential terrorist attacks anywhere - if not Istanbul, it will be Karachi, Hong Kong, Rio, or Pittsburgh - and most companies are still simply winging it."

To be sure, market realities often push firms to remain in troubled areas. Governments can generally withdraw diplomats and be sure that they can one day redeploy them. But a company that ignores a market during tough times - the long financial crisis in Asia, for example, or wars in Africa - can wind up struggling with aggressive new corporate players when recovery or stability finally comes, experts say.

Nor can companies easily choose "safe" regions for expansion. The HSBC building had been identified by Western intelligence agencies as a possible target six months before the attack. McDonald's has been targeted abroad - even in Europe - for what it is seen to represent. Starbucks has weathered recent protests, though the firm shuttered six stores in Israel last spring, worried about suicide bombings.

But a deepening level of corporate commitment to the foreign communities they inhabit - and sometimes serve - has made decisions about operating abroad more complex. The issues go beyond rising insurance costs, and the possibility of employee casualties - or lawsuits. Increasingly, some experts say, staying on has become an issue of integrity.

"The decision to stay may be reflecting, 'Yes, we have a commitment to this community, we have a commitment to these people, and to walk away due to the trouble would be to abrogate that commitment,' " says Sandra Waddock, professor of management at Boston College and senior fellow at the Ethics Resource Center in Washington. "I'm sure they're also thinking long-term in terms of developing their business as the situation stabilizes."

Then, too, many multinationals staff their overseas offices with local residents.

"The very significant majority of our staff in local markets are members of the local community," explains Richard Beck, HSBC's head of group external relations, in London. Even HSBC's chief executive in Istanbul is Turkish, says Mr. Beck. "The notion that somehow HSBC might want to remove itself from a country doesn't quite work, when you consider that the bank is embedded there."

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