In a study of 500 UK SMEs, HSBC Commercial Banking has uncovered the number of businesses that view international trade as pivotal to success rises to 88% for businesses that are already trading overseas, illustrating how important it is that businesses in the UK look to move into new marketplaces.
However, HSBC's Going International report also reveals that the perception and reality of what it takes to get started internationally is often quite different. Consequently, millions of SMEs are being overly cautious when it comes to acknowledging the positive effect international trade and it is preventing them from realising the potential business growth they could benefit from.
Commenting, Noel Quinn, HSBC head of commercial banking, UK, said: "Conventional wisdom assumes that trading internationally is expensive, complicated and ‘not for businesses like us'. Our study has shown that, in most cases, businesses that adopt an international strategy are growing. In addition, it is costing less than anticipated to set up and the impact on the bottom line is better than expected."
