LONDON, Feb. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Appetite for international expansion is high as businesses looking to resume their expansion plans following years of disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to new research by Auxadi.
The research, which explored the expansion plans of 100 global businesses already internationally, found that 97% of respondents were planning on expanding into new markets by 2023. Of those, over two thirds (69%) planned to expand to Asia Pacific, followed by Central America and Africa (59%). Surprisingly, less than half (47%) were planning on expanding to Europe.
Overall, 82% of respondents believe that changes made to their expansion plans over the past two years have left them in a situation where they are reaping the benefits, either through having made significant changes (38%), slight changes (34%) or even doing nothing at all (10%). Less than a fifth (18%) of respondents, meanwhile, felt that they were now having to make up ground following the pandemic.
Overall expansion optimism is high among businesses, with two fifths (40%) of those expanding believing that their investments will become profitable within a year. The average anticipated timeframe for profitability standing at 18 months. Europe, at one year is viewed as the market that will yield returns the fastest, ahead of the UK (one year and one month) and Central America (one year and four months).
Looking at drivers that impact a firm's choice of jurisdiction to expand into, top factures included, potential for growth and capturing market share (53%), demand for similar products (50%), market conditions (43%) and the ease of setting up a business (41%). Interestingly, a country's track record in dealing with COVID-19 was rated as the least important driver, with just 4% of respondents citing this as a factor.
Raimundo Diaz, Global Head of International Corporations at Auxadi: "Since the start of the pandemic, expansion plans have had to be re-evaluated and revised, leading to a pent-up demand for growth. It's promising to see that businesses have adapted to market conditions and used this flexibility to their benefit, exemplified by the fact that U.S. businesses (88%) are most optimistic abut the decisions made during the pandemic.
"2022 promises to be an exciting time for business growth as they look to put the difficulties of the past few years behind them."
SOURCE Auxadi
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