A new report reveals the bullishness of small and medium businesses across the world about their operations and preparedness to harness disruption to drive commercial growth at home and abroad, despite concerns around geopolitical disruption, slowing global GDP, and a gradual decline in international collaboration that are dampening commercial outlooks for many public companies.
Now in its second iteration, accounting network Kreston Global surveyed 1400 ‘interpreneurs’ – leaders of businesses with revenue up to approximately US$372 million who have successfully expanded their business into international markets – across 14 different countries. The research explores small-to-medium business global mobility trends, and the strategies business leaders are using to navigate the commercial pressures of global entrepreneurship today.
While interpreneurs acknowledge the challenging macroeconomic headwinds facing global expansion, majority of those surveyed believe that the reward outweighs the risk. In fact, 96 per cent agree that global expansion has been of benefit to their business, citing commercial growth across increased sales and revenue (53 per cent) and profitability (46 per cent) as the top benefits.
Evaluating their own international expansion journey, 52 per cent of interpreneurs said their business’ primary motivation was to secure market growth opportunities, followed by a desire to gain a competitive advantage by establishing a foothold in new regions before rivals (36 per cent). The biggest challenges faced were adapting logistics and supply chain issues (41 per cent), finding the right local partners (39 per cent) and managing economic volatility (38 per cent).
Looking ahead, 87 per cent said they expect an increase in the number of businesses expanding overseas in the next 12 months. The most popular destinations respondents said their business would consider expanding into are Western Europe (52 per cent) and North America (48 per cent). When evaluating what makes a country or region most attractive for international expansion, respondents cited favourable economic prospects (43 per cent), favourable trade agreements (41 per cent), and availability of skills and talent (41 per cent).
