Road to China: How Does a Small Business Think Global?

Sarah Windrum, Emerald Group CEO spoke on this topic at the Leamington Business Forum and was so thrilled with the response from local businesses, particularly SMEs, we have turned it into a blog post.

Firstly, I gave a brief introduction to Emerald which, if those who know us already will forgive me for, I will do again!

Who are Emerald?

Emerald are a technology group providing IT infrastructure, IT support, and mobile workforce support to companies across the UK. The majority of our customers are small to medium sized businesses and often in the low profit-margin industries of logistics, construction, engineering, property maintenance. We have our head office in Leamington Spa on the Trident Park and also small operations in the North West, Cambridge, and the South Coast.

Our support falls under two main headings. We provide operational support in the form of day to day technical support and replacement hardware to keep your business running; but what sets us apart is our pro-active monitoring and management of both your technology and your costs so neither cause a shock to your business.

And it was this part of our service that led me to China (you can read that story here What Is An Export?) in order to help our existing customers with a global workforce control their communication costs abroad.

Why should a small business think globally?

I heard David Cameron speak pre-election at the Chamber of Commerce conference in London and he said that currently 1 in 5 UK businesses export globally. If that increased to 1 in 4, we would wipe out our deficit. That is a pretty powerful thought! Aside from doing your bit for the country, the business world has changed so much with the advances of technology. Look at the statistics: Facebook founded in 2004 and in less than 10 years a turnover of $100 billion or Alibaba founded in 1999 and now a turnover of $12 billion (mostly in China!). You might not want to be a billion dollar company but if you are an ambitious one that wants to grow and grow quickly you have to look at the global market. Certainly SME size businesses based elsewhere in the world are looking to capture the UK market as part of their growth strategy.

How does a small business expand globally?

I have three core pieces of advice any small business looking to expand globally:

1. Engage with UKTI Trade Missions: This is high level stuff but it opens doors for a small business that you would never do on your own. Use Brand Britain and I suggest seeking out a trade mission that is specific to your industry: be it health, food, automotive, technology etc.
2. Build a Network: Just as you would in the UK, attend networking events with other organisations already exporting to or thinking about exporting to your target market. You learn as much by hearing what not to do as what to do. Those contacts are invaluable and as well as UKTI there are a range of forums and membership organisations linking countries and markets
3. Don’t be daunted: When I left China with an incredible opportunity with a large Chinese mobile technology provider, I was both thrilled and petrified. As I walked down the corridor to the plane I scanned the messages HSBC had put on the walls about the future of business. And the very last one before I got on the plane said: “In the future, even the smallest business will be multinational.”

So thank you HSBC! No matter how small you are as a business, that’s how you think global.

This was first published in 2016