The Challenge

There are a bewildering number of country choices open to British companies wishing to export their goods and services.  As with any major strategic decision the challenge of prioritizing countries for export involves taking into consideration many different factors.

These include cost and ease of transportation, warehousing and logistics, insurance issues, language, cultural preferences, geographical considerations (climate etc), exchange rates, politics, legal practices and a host of other issues.

The last ten years has seen a massive rise in Far Eastern competition which has forced many British manufacturers to become leaner or more specialized but in many cases has driven them out of business. There has also been a significant shift of focus to the Middle East for many UK companies due to the demand for European products and the wealth of these oil rich nations.  Eastern European opportunities have also opened up with nations such as Poland, the Czech Republic and other former Eastern Block countries emerging over recent years.

A Logical Choice

However factors such as political instability, nationalism and high level corruption to name a few can have a negative impact on the trading relationships with some of these areas.  When it comes down to it there are few nations with which the UK can claim as solid an international tie as with the USA.

But what would be the most compelling reasons for choosing the USA over other potential export territories?  The USA is Britain’s largest single export market.

The UK is also the sixth biggest exporter to the US, after Canada, Mexico, Japan, China and Germany.

Because the USA is such a large market it is wise to view it in terms of a group of different regions.  These regions are different in terms of ethnic populations, geographical characteristics, time zones and so on.

British products have been well received in the USA and the favorable political relationship between the UK and the USA has helped with Trans-Atlantic trade and cooperation.  The increased use of the worldwide web has certainly opened up export opportunities for UK companies especially where budgets have been somewhat limited.

Americans have a keen interest in heritage and have a fondness for knowing the history behind companies. Further to this British engineering is respected in the US and it can often be the case that UK engineered product will possess a degree of advancement and technical superiority over certain US products that will be recognized. Further to this the language and culture throughout the majority of the US is similar to that of the UK. There is a strong synergy between the business practices of the two nations and the respective currencies are also closely tied.