After Western Europe and the US, the Nordics is the third most popular growth market
Senior decision makers in British small and medium enterprises (SMEs) expect international trading to drive 25% of their business’s growth over the next five years, and say mobile technology is critical to international operations.
New online research from EE, conducted by YouGov, has revealed that the US and Western Europe are the top growth markets for Britain’s smaller businesses. Altogether, 55% of senior decision makers in SMEs operating internationally say their businesses are currently or planning to trade with the US market, while 82% said they are currently or planning to trade with Western Europe.
Over two thirds of senior decision makers in SMEs operating internationally (69%) said international calls are critical to their business, and three quarters (75%) said that using mobile devices while abroad for calls, text, email, web and file sharing in the same way they do at home was extremely important when travelling. Also, 70% said mobile technology helps them better interact with overseas customers, partners and prospects.
Manufacturing (71%), media and marketing (67%) and IT/telecoms (43%) are the industries most likely to be trading or planning to trade abroad. Additionally, 40% said that they are currently trading internationally, while a further 6% plan to do so within the next five years.
After Western Europe and the US, the Nordics is the third most popular growth market, with 44% of SMEs currently or with plans to operate internationally saying they are targeting the region.
Asia and Eastern Europe are the fourth and fifth top growth markets, each with 42%, while one third (33%) are targeting Australia and New Zealand. Finally, 22% currently or plan to trade with South America, and 21% currently trade with or are aiming to trade with South Africa.
However, Northern Africa was revealed to be the market SMEs are least likely to be targeting for growth, as just 15% of SMEs saying they currently or plan to trade with it.
Anthony Sinclair, the central London tailors, is the company behind the suits worn by Sean Connery in his first James Bond film. The work takes managing director David Mason and his staff all over the world. Mason said: “International operations are crucial to our business. We travel frequently to Europe and America to meet with suppliers, clients and new business leads, and technology helps us to bring the office with us. EE’s plans will mean that we can call our customers and partners, and access all customer records and virtual catalogues while we’re abroad just as we would at home without worrying what the bill is going to be like.”
