Grow Through International Expansion

What’s it like for a business traveller to find himself trapped by a major terrorist incident? Not actually hostage at the point of a gun, but holed up in a room on his own, unable to leave as there is a genuine fear that gunmen are hiding in the corridor outside and could set fire to the building, as they have done in the one next door? If it happened to you, how would you feel? Panicked? Lonely? Stressed? Ready to emulate a superhero as best you are able? Just bored? Or all the above?

Back in November 2008, our Host, Oliver Dowson, was visiting Mumbai and found himself trapped in his hotel room when a major terrorist incident broke out. 175 people were killed and more than 300 injured in eight simultaneous attacks in different locations. Fortunately for him, after more than 36 hours in his room, he was able to just walk out into the welcoming arms of his Indian colleagues. In all this time, he has never told the whole story of his experience – but now, in this Grow through International Expansion podcast, he paints an hour-by-hour description of his confinement, and the positive lessons he learnt through it.

This is the first of a short series of podcasts in which Oliver talks about some of his amazing and unusual international travel experiences, leading up to the publication of his first book, “There’s no Business like International Business”, coming out in early Spring 2022.

If you missed earlier episodes, you can find them on our Grow through International Expansion platform, https://growinternational.org . Our platform is independent, carries no advertising and is not for profit – we seek to deliver useful, valuable content, essential for all those who have interest in international business and global trade.

Like it or not, new international business expansion depends on travel. Maintaining and growing existing business too, whatever one’s definition of international business – export, import, outsourcing, licensing, or operations of any kind in other countries. Sure, there are a number of established ways one can do many kinds of business in other countries without leaving home – selling online, using local distributors and agents, and so on – but without actually going there,  seeing and understanding the market for oneself, and making face to face contact with local people one needs to work with, a company will at best miss out on many of the best opportunities and at worst risks reputational and financial damage.

Now is the time to REIMAGINE every business. Every business owner knows they need to make changes just to succeed in the New Normal. But social distancing shouldn’t need to mean having to reduce the number of customers that you serve or deliver services with fewer resources. Let’s not allow what’s happened to drive our businesses downhill. True, all around us lies news of companies going into administration or laying off staff or downsizing in other ways – but that doesn’t mean it has to happen to you and your business.

How do you adapt? And how can you market effectively and economically, without the need to spend a fortune with agencies and designers?

There’s a lot of ways to grow internationally. Right now, the way forward is to exploit digital media as a means to reach markets around the world. It’s easier than you may think; but it’s got to be done right. If you’re interested, I recommend you start by asking for advice from others; a lot of it comes for free, mine included! Feel free to get in touch with me, or, if you want to know more about digital marketing, with my friend Vinicius at VINX Digital.

If you missed earlier episodes, you can find them on our Grow through International Expansion platform, https://growinternational.org . Our platform is independent, carries no advertising and is not for profit – we seek to deliver useful, valuable content, essential for all those who have interest in international business and global trade.

In the podcast Oliver refers to the digital media company VINX Digital – for more details check https://vinxdigital.com 

Sometimes, something happens that makes a business owner realise that their business really needs a whole new approach if it’s to succeed. 

Sometimes, that something is forced upon them. Like now. 

In a month, two months, three month’s time, life will begin to return to normal. None of us know, but we all already suspect that the “new normal” won’t be like the one before – the normal of just a few weeks ago.

What is that going to mean for your business? Can you just carry on from where you left off? Will your established customers all come back, and will new ones come naturally like they did before? Will your competitors be the same?

No doubt for some of us, it’ll be a case of plus change….

But many of us will be looking for a new approach. 

In the podcast Oliver refers to the digital media company he and GrowInternational have worked with, VINX – for more details check https://vinxdigital.com 

Since we started this series of podcasts a couple of years ago, quite a number of people have asked me to cover franchising as an approach to Grow through International Expansion. Becoming a franchisee has certainly proved a popular business opportunity for many who have a reasonable sum of money to invest, want to run a business that they can get started quickly, but who either don’t have a ready business concept of their own or simply want the increased confidence that operating an established model brings.

However, I admit that franchising is not a topic that I’ve had personal experience of. Indeed, until a few days ago my assumption was that it was limited to fast food restaurants, hotels and quick printing and office services shops. But then I read an article by David Bond and Gordon Drakes of Field Fisher. That was about franchising British schools abroad – definitely not something I had ever considered before.  David and Gordon are lawyers, and have both specialised in franchising for many years. Their article opened my eyes to the opportunities not only for franchisees – those who buy and operate the franchise – but for businesses to become franchisors, and to use that as a route to international expansion. I’m delighted that they accepted my invitation to join me for this Grow through International Expansion podcast.

If you missed earlier episodes, you can find them on our Grow through International Expansion platform, https://growinternational.org . Our platform is independent, carries no advertising and is not for profit – we seek to deliver useful, valuable content, essential for all those who have interest in international business and global trade.

There seems to be a general agreement that companies – both in the manufacturing and services sectors – could export a lot more than they currently do. If that’s so, what’s holding them back? My guest in this podcast, Andy Moylan, points to two key factors. One is simply the lack of accurate information and advice backed up by real practical experience. The other is fear of not getting paid. It can be bad enough chasing payment in your own country – but how do you go about it in a far distant one, and what can you fall back on if all else fails?

As you’ll hear, Andy is a plain speaking entrepreneur. Over the last 30 years, he has helped many small businesses and household brands to export; from identifying the risk in their export plan to raising finance and protecting their sales ledger. Never content to follow the herd, he and his team have always looked for new solutions, and have developed a range of online tools.

Andy is a headline speaker at events around the world, where he shares hard won insights, practical case studies and experience on exporting.

If you missed earlier episodes, you can find them on our Grow through International Expansion platform, https://growinternational.org . Our platform is independent, carries no advertising and is not for profit – we seek to deliver useful, valuable content, essential for all those who have interest in international business and global trade.

In this podcast, I’m going to talk about how I see the future of international business in 2021, what those with small and medium businesses should be doing and planning in the months ahead, why nobody should panic, and why it makes sense to go on listening to Grow through International Expansion podcasts and engaging with our articles and other content.

We’re faced with two major global crises – coronavirus and climate change. Whilst they are not related to each other, both give rise to considerations about international business. Even Brexit gets tied in here. Don’t panic. I’m staying positive here. The one thing to like about crises is that they focus the mind in a way that nothing else does.

If you missed earlier episodes, you can find them on our Grow through International Expansion platform, https://growinternational.org . Our platform is independent, carries no advertising and is not for profit – we seek to deliver useful, valuable content, essential for all those who have interest in international business and global trade.

In today’s podcast I’m talking with Karolina Peret, the International Manager for British Water, the Trade Association for the water industry.

Karolina is responsible for British Water's global programme through the International Forum (IF).  With an international background in the aquatics and environment industry, she brings in-depth knowledge of water and waste-water related issues. Karolina's education is complemented by an MSc in engineering, a passion for sustainability, and broad experience in the private and government sector.

Karolina leads the International British Water portfolio to seek out global markets and opportunities for UK water and waste water supply chain companies to help them export. That includes events, scoping and business development visits, liaising with multi-nationals, world governments and representing the UK water industry in Great Britain and all over the world. British Water’s aim is to align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in the interest of helping develop and promote drinking water and safe sanitation for developing regions of the world.

Our host, Oliver Dowson, first went to set up a business there back in 2006. It had to be a joint venture, and you may have listened to his podcast telling the story of some of the potential partners that he met. Oliver writes “Having decided on my partner, I found it surprisingly easy to get started – in retrospect, so much so that I never asked a thousand questions that I should have done. I’m not saying that anyone was trying to deceive me, but my business would certainly have been more successful had I taken more time to understand the culture and read all the small print more diligently. I should also have talked to someone who had done it all before, and, better still, was based there and achieving success.”

One such person is our guest on this podcast, Jim James. Jim’s original business, and his business now, is public relations, but he’s spent most of the last decade in China. He took the iconic  Morgan cars to Beijing as their founder and managing director; still with cars, he got Lotus started there too. Jim also played a leading role in starting a whole string of other companies in China – you’ll need to check out his LinkedIn profile to marvel at the range. Given that, it’s hardly surprising that he became vice-chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China too.  Now he’s back in the UK, still running EastWest PR, setting up a forum for older business people and... well, let him tell you all that for himself.

When you’re planning international expansion, deciding on the country isn’t enough. Next you need to choose a city or region – and there’s a lot of reasons to consider and, in the bigger countries, a lot of alternatives to consider.

Obviously, the priorities depend on what sort of business you’re in and what you want to achieve in the country you’re expanding to. But the fundamentals are almost always the same.

Last month, our host, Oliver Dowson, visited the annual Going Global exhibition at the London Excel Centre. It’s a big event, part of the Business Show. For those who are looking at expansion, it’s a great opportunity to see a lot of the professionals you’d need to work with in one place, and to get new ideas for countries and regions to expand to.

While he was there, Oliver took the opportunity of recording some short podcast conversations with many of the exhibitors, asking them the questions that potential customers would want to, and we’re including many of those in a special series of our Grow through International Expansion podcasts. So if you can’t wait a year for the next exhibition, this will give you a whistle-stop tour in four episodes, without your needing to get out of your chair.

If you missed earlier episodes, you can find them on our Grow through International Expansion platform, https://growinternational.org . Our platform is independent, carries no advertising and is not for profit – we seek to deliver useful, valuable content, essential for all those who have interest in international business and global trade.

Walking round the Going Global exhibition in November gave visitors the opportunity of talking with representatives of many different countries. As you, our audience, know, here at Grow International we’re firm believers that international expansion to any country in the world can bring real benefits and, specifically, add value in different ways to many kinds of business. Every country, though, brings its own individual opportunities.

Our host, Oliver Dowson, writes: “Most of the countries exhibiting were there, I think, simply because they’re not the ones that business people naturally think of when they’re considering expansion. And I love what I call “countries off the usual business radar”. So often they can bring a company better value than the more mainstream developed countries – there’s less competition, the market may be nascent and ripe for development, and it can be easier and cheaper to hire skilled and enthusiastic workers”.

In visiting the stands, Oliver took the opportunity of recording short conversations for our Grow through International Expansion podcasts, asking the sorts of questions that interested business people would be asking if they wanted to be convinced of the value of a country to them. In this podcast, we’re featuring four of these conversations, talking about some very different countries.

If you missed earlier episodes, you can find them on our Grow through International Expansion platform, https://growinternational.org . Our platform is independent, carries no advertising and is not for profit – we seek to deliver useful, valuable content, essential for all those who have interest in international business and global trade.