Inspired by UKTI's Exporting is GREAT initiative to inspire and support an additional 100,000 businesses to trade abroad by 2020, here are my top 10 reasons to expand your business horizons. It's vital to look for new customers overseas as …
Meetings are different in China. As leader of the delegation, I sit in an armchair side by side with my Chinese opposite number, making long interventions. So we don’t look at each other, we don’t spark off each other’s ideas, …
I’m preparing before heading off to London for the rest of the week. I have a string of meetings but I’m excited about attending UKTI’s Global Marketing Conference. As somebody who used to be a Marketing Director, I feel strongly …
I left the UK a year and a month ago, to the day. And now I'm on my first business development visit (BDV) back in Blighty.
After a long flight, I land at Heathrow and, apart from the rain, spot the new Terminal 5 building. I'm taken aback by the sheer scale of glass in the building, and honoured by the fact that Lord Richard Rogers, the architect of this sustainable terminal, spoke less than 48 hours earlier in our boardroom back in Australia.
This is my first time in Exeter. I enjoyed the drive down through Somerset and into Devon. I tried out my best West Country accent in the car on the way down with lots of drawn out vowels. Glaaaaaastonbury, Yeooooooovil and salvaaaage! Probably good that it stayed in the car!
Chinese infrastructure efficiency hits me as I arrived at Shanghai’s Pudong airport. The BA flight was over an hour late, so I had 20 minutes to get through quarantine and immigration, to change terminal, check in, go through security and find the right gate. At Heathrow this would have taken two hours minimum. The officials were helpful, the system worked, the new China.
I love airports and always have. They’re such a great place to people watch but for us in international business they are the embodiment of everything that we do. I was invited to John Lennon Airport this week by Neil …
I have a soft spot for Bristol. A great combination of old and new UK and lots of innovative SMEs!
We have seen large numbers of companies from the South West in Australia in recent months and they have demonstrated many times that smart companies with good products who prepare well often do good business in Australia.
I have decided to write this blog because I am passionate about international trade and proud of the achievements of many of our great North West businesses, which I would like to share with you. We in the North West …
I had forgotten how beautiful the scenery is across the North West of England and into Southern Scotland. Even the heavy, dark sky did not take away from the majestic vistas. The journey put me in a great mood for my first working visit to Glasgow. I met with five fantastic companies all looking to build their export markets into Australia. They told me that the retail sector had been hit quite hard by the recession. But they, and many other companies, were seeing great opportunities for export. The weaker pound meant UK exports looked better value in overseas markets and that UKTI could support them to make the most of these opportunities.
I am writing this as I sit on the new Qantas A380 heading for UK. It’s over a year since I was back in UK. The last time I arrived I turned on the radio in my hire car to hear the news that Lehman Brothers had collapsed. The subsequent four hour drive to my home in Yorkshire left me concerned for the first time in my life that the banks might just fall over and something which had always felt guaranteed was actually at risk. So what will I find this time?
