“Who ordered the battered cod” doesn’t sound like a book about exporting. But it is, written by a real expert in the field, Doug Jackson. We think it’s a must-read for anyone in business thinking about exporting – and even those who are seasoned exporters will find many useful insights. Doug explains the important methodologies of export through a whole panoply of his own anecdotal experiences, as well as those of others. In this podcast, Doug talks about his book and life experiences with our host Oliver Dowson.

More countries off the usual business radar.

Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia…. Most business people don’t know much about them, except they were long ago part of the USSR, and are popular for weekends away in summer months.

In this podcast, Oliver Dowson talks to Martins Tiknuss, CEO of Gateway Partners, based in Riga, Latvia, about business opportunities across all three of the Baltic states, and also in Bulgaria, Romania and less travelled but rapidly emerging countries such as Georgia and Moldova.

What do you know about Bosnia and Herzogivina? Chances are, not very much. And certainly there don’t seem to be many business leaders talking about international expansion who’ve got it on their radar. Maybe that’s a significant oversight.

Oliver is often telling people that they shouldn’t just consider the “usual suspects” but look more widely, as there can be real advantages in expanding in countries that the competition have also not yet reached. Recently he was able to update his own knowledge about the country and was honoured to meet with Zlatan Vujanovic, the Minister of Trade for Bosnia-Herzogovina.

In another recent podcast we talked about why businesses expand to the United States. But it’s a huge country with 50 states and they’re all different – not just geographically, but in terms of laws, culture and doing business generally. So where do you go?

Well, that depends on why you’re setting up in the States, what sort of business you’re in and what markets you’re trying to reach. Recently I met up with Joe Anwyl to talk about one state in which he specialises, Southern Virginia.

Joe’s professional background is in engineering project delivery, team management, and business development, and he has first-hand experience of trading in USA, UK, Europe, Middle East, South America, India, China, ​and Malaysia.

In our conversation, Joe’s talking about the advantages of Southern Virginia and the businesses it should appeal to. However, whatever your business, and even if that state is not the right destination for you, I think you’ll find Joe’s commentary really interesting and helpful.

Since 2013, Joe has been working to support UK and EU firms expanding to Virginia. He’s worked closely with Rolls-Royce North America and has helped a dozen firms establish companies in the US. Most recently Joe has been helping international companies make the engineering and tech-centric location of Southern Virginia their operational base in the USA.

BPO offshore operations have continued to mature. Staff are experienced, local management has progressed and they have expanded to take on more advanced work such as R&D.

They may no longer be sited in the lowest cost countries, but strategically located to deliver the best value based on skills, languages and time zone. They’ve also gained a better name – Shared Service Centres.

On a recent visit to Montevideo, Oliver Dowson met with Nelson Gonzalez, General Manager of Travel Leaders Group’s Global SSC. It’s a great example of how Shared Services Centres can play a key role in business success.

UK companies, faced with the uncertainties of Brexit, are rushing to establish bases in the EU. Germany is a favourite, but it’s not so easy - business methods, finance and laws are all very different and complex. So it’s essential to get clued-up, and to have a guide to make sure that you do everything right and to make the difficult things easy.

In this podcast, Oliver Dowson talks to Burkhard Schneider of Basch Consult about how he helps businesses set up in Germany.

Those of us born in English speaking countries have that great advantage that we can make ourselves understood just about anywhere. The problem is that it also makes us lazy about learning other languages.

In business, we can’t just rely on English. Obviously legal documents have to be in the language of the country we’re working in. So do all our operational materials and of course marketing and sales. We’ve all seen “howler” translations – most obviously on menus in restaurants. At least then all we do is laugh or wonder. Like a lot of business people, the menu writers have probably relied on online translation software – that’s getting better all the time, but it’s a long way from perfect.

Just imagine how one’s business can be damaged by bad translations. And even in conversation, it’s easy to assume that someone with great English understands everything we’re saying – yet most of us have suddenly found that we’ve been misunderstood, or, worse still, unintentionally said something we shouldn’t.

So there’s a very important role for professional translators. In this podcast, Oliver Dowson talks to Helen Provart, the Managing Director of Peak Translations, about the need for getting it right.

Almost every business with international ambitions wants to expand to the United States. It’s easy to understand why. It’s the biggest economy and market on earth. It’s English-speaking, it’s got great people, great communications and since its founding has always been considered as the Land of Opportunity.

But how easy is it? And, with all we hear about the backlash against globalisation epitomised by the “America First” policy, the tariffs and the fear of trade wars, is now the right time for foreign companies to really be considering expanding there?

In this podcast, Oliver Dowson talks with Gary Leskun, the President and COO of Cross Border Advisory Services, about these issues, and how companies can best expand to and from the USA.

Gary has impressive qualifications and a vast range of international business experience. He and his team have helped many companies to identify export markets and recommend market entry strategies for products and services to get the best return on international investments.

Think of Kuwait and one thinks of oil. It’s got the world’s sixth largest oil reserves. But there’s a lot more to it than that. It’s one of the oldest countries in the region, at the top of the Arabian Gulf, bordered by Iraq and Saudi Arabia. But it’s not really like either of them.

In this podcast, Oliver Dowson talks with Hessa Rashed Bouresli, the Head of the Communications Division of the Kuwait Direct Investment Authority, about the opportunities the country has to offer to international companies.

Kuwait, with a population of around 4 million, has a high-income economy – and, indeed, according to the World Bank, the Kuwaiti dinar is the highest valued currency in the world and the country has the fourth highest per capita income. It’s a democracy and it’s liberal – women are empowered and make up more than half the workforce.

It’s even arguably the cultural centre of the Middle East, with arts festivals and even the largest opera house in the region.

But back to business. Kuwait is working to seriously reinvent itself, aiming to transform the country into a financial and commercial leader in the region. It’s making institutional reforms, investing in infrastructure and actively supporting growth of the private sector.

One reason people fear international expansion is bureaucracy. It’s always there. But you shouldn’t be discouraged. International expansion brings so many benefits, worth the effort. You just need to be prepared.