There are many reasons for which you might be angling to start a business abroad. Your current business might be exceeding expectations, and you might be looking at a rare opportunity to expand into international territories – something that many small businesses aspire towards, but that only a few lucky successes manage to achieve. Alternatively, you might be looking to move to a new country for personal reasons, and naturally looking to bring your entrepreneurial expertise along for the ride.
Whatever the reason for your idea to start a business abroad, you’ll naturally encounter a fair few barriers to achieving this equitably. Some are financial, others are personal, and the remainder – and majority – are regulatory in nature. With this in mind: what do you need to know before start a business abroad?
1. Understanding Legal and Regulatory Requirements
The first major barriers are, of course, legal and regulatory barriers. Before you begin putting money where mouth is, you need to have a firm grasp on your requirements and responsibilities in these regards. This is an incredible hurdle for any one business to cross, even with a team dedicated to orchestrating expansion.
Just as you need to be intimately aware of employment law – and health and safety law with respect to protecting staff – here in the UK, so too do you need to be intimately aware of laws as they apply in your target country. Likewise with tax legislation, and understanding your liabilities with regard to profits and asset ownership. There are a few pitfalls here, included the dreaded possibility of double taxation on profits; as such, specific tax guidance from cross-border tax and planning lawyers can be worth its weight in gold here.
2. Developing a Market Entry Strategy
With the legal side of the equation balanced, you should now look to the more practical aspects of opening and operating a business in new international territory. In so many words: a well-planned market entry strategy is vital for success in a new country.
Again, lessons learned from domestic operations can be handily applied to your international efforts. Market research is crucial for understanding where and how you might sit in a new economy, and for identifying target audiences. It may be necessary for you to adapt your products or services to meet local preferences and mitigate cultural differences – so your research and development team should also be weaponised here.
3. Building Local Partnerships and Networks
The key to a successful expansion on practical terms is the swift development of local relations. Sending an advance party out to oversee the foundational aspects of your expansion will give you oversight, and allow you to make direct contact with potential partners and collaborators. It is from here, and after hiring locally with your wants in mind, that you can thrive on your terms.
