Napoleon Bonaparte once famously described the UK as a ‘nation of shopkeepers’, and, while that description might not quite hold up some 200 years later, it’s certainly true that the UK is a nation of small to medium enterprises (SMEs).
And the success of each SME is essential to the prosperity of the UK economy, including yours.
It’s not an overall success story though, and the UK may actually have too many small businesses, here’s why…
Located at the heart of the Balkan peninsula in south east Europe, Bosnia and Herzegovina is a middle income country with a small population of just under 4 million. The country split from Yugoslavia in 1992, but the war in the region didn’t end until three years later with the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
2015 saw UK exports to Bosnia and Herzegovina reach the £59 million mark, up almost two-thirds (63%) on 2014, and the top UK exports are:
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s application to join the EU is still under review, even so, there are several benefits for UK businesses exporting there, including:
So if the Balkan nation looks like a good business opportunity, here’s everything you need to know about exporting to Bosnia and Herzegovina…
Cloud computing is a technology that enables companies to manage data and files online, rather than on a computer’s hard drive, and has been a driving force behind the growth of flexible working across the UK.
And 2017 is expected to be the year when we reach the tipping point where flexible working becomes more common than working from an office, according to a report from Lancaster University’s Work Foundation.
So what is the future of flexible working? And how will cloud computing feature in this brave new world?
Belgium is an affluent and multicultural nation with an open market that offers opportunities to businesses in most sectors. There are over 1,000 public and private international organisations with headquarters in Belgium, including some big-name UK businesses such as BP, BT and Shell.
Belgium is the UK’s eighth largest export market – worth £12.5 billion in 2014 – and the top exports to Belgium include:
The Belgian economy is growing at a rate of about 1% each year, and the country’as top priority sectors for economic development include:
If you think this looks like a good opportunity for your business, here’s all you need to know about exporting to Belgium…
If you work in an office you’re not much of a man, or at least your career isn’t very manly.
Even if you’ve no less than five days’ worth of stubble on your face at all times, bath in Acqua Di Parma, and swill your mouth with single malt every morning, office work just isn’t man’s work..
That is unless you happen to work as an intelligence analyst, in which case you’ll be considered quite manly, but even then you’ll be nowhere near as manly as a marine engineer, which is the most manly job there is. Apparently.
Confused? Read on…
Bahrain is one of the most important economic partners and bases for UK companies in the Gulf and the two nations have always had a very strong bilateral commercial relationship.
It can be notoriously difficult to do business in certain areas of the Middle East but Bahrain is relatively relaxed, having the freest economy in the area and the most liberalised in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Bahrain is one of the UK’s largest export markets in the GCC and the UK exported £295.5 million in goods to Bahrain in 2014, up 9% on 2013. The total value of bilateral trade in 2014 was also up from 2013, it rose by 2% to £451.4 million.
Around 100 UK companies have set up base in Bahrain as the country is a major trading hub and financial centre in the region, with one of the most open economies and a liberal tax regime.
Austria is a relatively small nation with a population of just 8.5 million – the big plus point from a trade point-of-view is that, being located right in the centre of Europe, it has over 48 million people within a 400km radius of Vienna, its capital city, which means exporting to Austria will put your products and services within reach of a lot of potential customers.
It’s also one of the wealthiest nations in Europe, with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per head of €33,200 compared with a European Union (EU) average of €25,700. Austria’s high standard of living and relatively low living costs results in high non-essential disposable income.
If you want to take advantage of this, here’s everything you need to know about exporting to Austria…
The internet of things (IoT) is the name given to all those devices that are connected and communicate with us, each other, and compatible apps over the internet.
The idea of the IoT has been around for decades, at least since 1989 when the first connected toaster (!) was mooted at that year’s Interop Internet networking show – a year later, at the 1990 Interop, a Sunbeam Deluxe Automatic Radiant Control Toaster was connected to the internet, and so the fledgling IoT was born.
And now pretty much every electrical device you can think of is connected, from televisions, to printers, to fridges – and we all know the endgame is that the machines will one day rise up and take over the world, but that’s another story…
It might surprise you to learn that marketing is the UK’s hardest working industry, especially if you know anyone who does digital marketing for a living.
If you’re in marketing yourself, though, you’re more likely to spend more time checking and sending emails when than those in other industries. And being ‘always on’ isn’t good for you or your productivity.
So here’s why you need to take a break from your marketing job.
Argentina is the second biggest economy in South America, and there are currently more than 100 UK companies operating out there, ranging from SMEs to FTSE 100 companies such as BT, HSBC and Unilever.
If you’re thinking of doing business in South America, here’s everything you need to know about exporting to Argentina…