Also in the news...
Foreign Office travel advice updates
Latest travel information for British nationals affected by the situation in the Middle East.
Check if you need a UK visa
You may need a visa to come to the UK to visit, study or work.
Apply to use simplified declarations for imports you entered in your records without authorisation
Choose how you’ll make supplementary declarations for goods that you entered into your own records without authorisation.
UKEF backs Leicester sustainable packaging firm in Australian expansion
UK Export Finance announces support for a UK luxury sustainable packaging company to expand into new foreign markets.
Hundreds of new UK jobs as Nigerian companies confirm millions in investment
Hundreds of new UK jobs are set to be created as Nigerian companies scale up their operations, reinforcing Britain's position as a leading global business hub.
Could You Extend Your Business Abroad?
It is arguably easier than ever to do business overseas than it has been at any point in the past.
By Victoria Cochrane
It is arguably easier than ever to do
business overseas than it has been at any point in the past. The
internet has made the world seem even smaller and that means it is
easy to find out what is going on in another country.
There
are definite benefits to owning your own business, even though there
are downsides too. One of the advantages is that you are in control
of how your business develops and what you do for a living. And that
means that if you are thinking about extending your business into
another country, there is no reason why you cannot start to research
how the idea would actually work.
Starting any business
requires a lot of advance planning and forethought. And of course,
the same would apply if you are going to try and expand into another
country. Different countries may well have very different regulations
in place for running a business, so you will need to consider how
these will affect you.
The good news is that you can do all
this research without even setting foot in the country that you want
to find out more about. The internet can turn up a lot of useful
information; try going to the websites that have been created by the
government in that particular country. They will be reliable and you
know the information you find there will be accurate.
There
are also lots of forums online that deal with specific subjects like
this. So for example, there may be people who have already expanded
their business into the same country you are thinking of going into.
Could they answer any of your questions or help with any problems you
might have encountered?
The one thing you need to bear in
mind is that even when you have finished all your research, you may
decide against moving your business overseas. Your business may be
doing well because the UK market is ideal for it. As a result, it
might not necessarily work out that well if you upped and moved to
another country, or even branched out from your position based in
this country.
You may get to the stage later on where one or
two well placed phone calls would help you in your research. Luckily
it is much cheaper to call other countries now than it used to be.
For example, if Canada is one of the countries you are thinking about
branching out into, cheap calls to Canada are now more widely
available to keep the costs down while you continue your research.
So, find out everything you need to know before you make your
final decision. It might herald the start of a new development for
your business - or it might confirm that you are already in your
ideal market.