Canada has many cultural, historic, and linguistic links with the UK, and it is the UK’s 16th largest export market for goods.
The UK is Canada’s sixth largest source of goods imports and second largest services trading partner, and the latest export figures show UK goods and service exports to Canada were worth £7.5 billion in 2013.
Ever since the 51.9% voted for the UK to leave the EU back in June last year, there’s been a lot of conjecture on what the split will mean for trade – many of those who voted leave are sure the nation is in a stronger position now it can arrange its own trade deals with countries outside of the EU, such as India, New Zealand and Australia.
On the other hand, those in the remain camp find it difficult to see the logic in sorting expensive trade deals with countries halfway around the world when there’s so many willing customers right on our doorstep.
And while there are reasonable arguments from both camps, it’s worth looking at who are currently the UK’s main trading partners…
It seems Bulgaria is a good place to do business – A T Kearny, the global management consultant firm, ranks ninth in the world and number one in Europe as an outsourcing destination, the World Bank put it a 38 for ease of doing business, while Bloomberg places it as the sixth best country for doing business.
If your looking to extend your operation across Europe, Bulgaria could be the ideal destination, so here’s all you need to know about exporting to Bulgaria.
Brazil is the biggest economy in Latin America, with larger states such as São Paulo having a bigger economy than neighboring nationArgentina. Brazil is also the world’s seventh biggest economy with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of USD 2.3 trillion.
The UK and Brazil have a burgeoning trading relationship in place – UK goods exports to Brazil more than doubled in the decade between 2002 and 2012, and services exports increased by 59% in the five years between 2009 and 2014. And even though overall imports to Brazil dropped by 14.3% in 2015, the number of UK goods exported to the country only fell by 5%.
If you’re thinking of exporting to Brazil, the top UK exports include:
If Brazil looks like a good opportunity for your business, here’s all you need to know about exporting there…
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…
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…
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.