Whether providing B2B services or exporting products, setting up a business or a shared service center or setting up a remote team in a different country for international growth is not easy. But if successful, the benefits go beyond just profitability and brand popularity. International expansion is the business strategy to achieve global success. Needless to say, with numerous growth opportunities across various sectors it is tempting for any SME, startup, or business enthusiast to dive straight toward building remote teams and growing their business footprint.
Growing your business internationally offers various benefits to your company. Your remote teams at cross-border locations, function towards achieving company objectives and goals. This reduces the risk of relying on a single market for profitability. International expansion helps you tap the skilled and diverse workforce into a new competitive market. Also, strategically capturing international markets fosters collaboration with local businesses, and increases partnerships with local service providers such as Employer of Record (EOR) or Professional Employer Organizations (PEO). These service providers prove to be instrumental in simplifying your business expansion journey in the location of your business.
Steps to selecting your target location for global success
A step-by-step, strategic international business expansion process that considers the time, cost, and resource constraints can help you explore potential opportunities a new market can offer. The cultural aspects, operational capacity, market scenario, and legalities of the target countries need to be critically examined. It also helps you understand if your organization is ready to establish its teams in the new market.
Through this article, we go beyond cultural differences, GDP growth, competition level, and communication and focus on all the important factors to consider while choosing your destination. These key factors will help you determine the best-suited destination for growing your business and making your international expansion successful.
Availability of talent
When you start your search for the perfect destination for building remote teams, understand its talent pool and resources. A country may be particularly suitable due to its technology and infrastructure but may be short on skilled resources and expertise.
A strategic approach toward recruiting and hiring remote employees can help you acquire a larger and more diverse talent pool. In addition, the location of your choice should suffice the needs of your remote employees to work efficiently. For instance, half of India’s current population is under the age of 26 and can seize global job opportunities. India offers numerous employee benefits and perks, diverse company culture, and flexible work schedules.
Several policies, business initiatives, and competitive compensation packages are additional factors that make India a promising destination for expanding business and building remote teams. An in-house team of HR professionals in the country of choice can manage hiring and all other HR activities. Moreover, outsourcing human resources or bringing a professional in the house (for example PEO or EOR company) can provide guidance and a network for accessing talent in the desired location and handle all the complexities around hiring.
Calculate the costs
At the offset, it is imperative to know that managing remote teams internationally, is like managing a startup in the global market. Hence, make sure you consider the cost factor while fixing an international location for your business expansion. Apart from operating costs in a foreign country, other monetary aspects to be considered include taxation for employees as well as corporations, production costs, government incentives, and other overhead social costs that affect remote operations.
Research the legalities and estimate the monetary investments required for your business expansion. For instance, Ireland ranks number 11 on Forbes’s best countries for Business list. Ireland’s low corporate taxes, access to other European markets, and high-tech talent pools make it an interesting choice for business expansion. Prioritizing destination based on operational costs, prospective profitability and return on investment (ROI) can give a realistic image of the costs while taking your business into an international location.
The economic and political environment
Growth opportunities in the world are vast. The economic and political environment of a country can help you decipher whether your business capacity aligns with the destination of your choice. Understand the country’s GDP, CPI, and exchange rates, market size. Ideally, a country with stable economic growth is suitable for building remote teams.
The desired destination should encourage your business growth, and market reach, and should pose a little political risk. Forecasting business accessibility, market performance, and general regulatory changes can help you shortlist the most viable business destination for your remote teams.
Go through the taxes and regulations
Before selecting your location for international expansion, research its local laws and regulations. Any foreign business has to pay regional and municipal taxes. The local regulations differ based on the type of services industry and even state and country. Research employment tax laws, income tax breaks, government regulations, grants, land discounts, and other financial benefits. Many countries offer economic and trade benefits in specific locations and zones. Mexico for example, offers free trade agreements with many countries including the US.
Evaluating IP protection permits, trade regulations and laws of a destination can help you determine how business-friendly a destination is for your services. Understanding these laws can mitigate any legal risks and help you determine the bests suitable destination for your remote teams. Going through all these regulations and tax affairs can be challenging at times. In such cases, speaking to trade experts or commissioner offices from desired destinations can help you gather data and analyze your best route to international business expansion.
Logistics and infrastructure
IT-related software and AI have become an integral part of any business and help to streamline online business operations. As per the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc., the worldwide IT expenditure is expected to reach a total of 4.6 trillion dollars in 2023, showing a 5.1% rise from the year 2022. This exponential growth of technology, digital Internet connectivity, and software availability is pushing various SMEs and startups toward global expansion. Hence, when taking your business to a foreign location, considering the country’s logistical capabilities, technological development, and infrastructure becomes essential.
Does the destination of your choice have the resources to scale and enhance your business efficiently? Does it support the business vision of developing your remote teams? Is the country equipped to provide you with the high-end software and technology your business needs? Not all destinations answer these queries and offer everything your business needs.
The best solution is to find a destination offering all the resources and experience at a reasonable cost. For instance, a software company wishing to take its business overseas can prioritize Germany or Japan which have large software markets. Providing the necessary IT support and handling the back-office processes in a foreign location can be taxing. Consequently, reaching out to International PEO or EOR services to overcome these challenges becomes a strategic move.
Choose PEO or EOR services as your local expert
Expanding your business to a new destination is a milestone for any organization wishing to go global. Once you evaluate which country to target and how to manage your services, then business expansion in an international location proves to be fruitful.
However, if you are unsure of moving forward alone, then approaching external support is a good idea. An external vendor can fill the gaps and mitigate potential risks. Also, PEO or EOR services can support you through all your legal hurdles, saving you time and investment in a foreign country. Moreover, you can test the new market by building remote teams in the desired location. Testing the business culture and analyzing the market reaction can help you develop an effective international business expansion strategy before making any permanent commitment such as subsidiary formation.
Conclusion
Global expansion plays a pivotal role in creating brand awareness and enhancing your balance sheet by positively impacting the top and bottom lines. Expanding markets in new locations, helps you reach a larger consumer base by transcending geographical boundaries. At often times, going forward after choosing a destination an organization can face obstacles such as challenges of remote working, managing remote teams, providing technology and infrastructure support, and so on. In such cases, an experienced partner like EOR can streamline your business expansion journey.
Since the Employer of Record services already has a strong foothold in the destination of your choice, they can be your local business guide and take over all your non-core business responsibilities. An EOR with its network and customized solutions, will reduce your legal hurdles and significantly enhance your overall business experience. If building your subsidiary is the right step for your business, then an EOR can guide you in the process. With EOR services, you can hire internationally, manage remote teams and be compliant in the destination you choose for your global success.
You can look at our case studies to gather insights on how EOR plays an important role when you think of building remote teams and expanding your business footprint in the destination of your choice.
