Small, medium-size firms see tech driving their trade growth
New tech boosts export prospects
DUBAI, May 10: Small and medium-size businesses that have struggled for equal footing in the global economy are increasingly looking to cross-border trade for growth, seeing technology as a way past obstacles in shipping and compliance, according to new research from Shipa Freight.
Shipa Freight’s global study of 800 SMEs from developed and emerging markets shows that smaller companies are remarkably upbeat about their ability to expand through trade.
Eighty-nine percent of exporting SMEs surveyed say their export revenue will grow over the next three years. Seventy-one percent say they are concentrating more on international markets than on their home markets. The Shipa Freight survey included exporters and importers from the UK, USA, Germany, Italy, China, India, Indonesia and UAE.
Smaller companies account for an estimated 95% of all businesses and employ two-thirds of the world’s workers. Critics of globalization have argued that decades of efforts aimed at easing the flow of goods, capital and jobs across borders has come at the expense of SMEs and disproportionately benefitted multinationals and other large businesses.
Smaller businesses used to think they couldn’t compete in trade. Now many see it as their best path for growth, says Toby Edwards, CEO of Shipa Freight, the online freight service. SMEs are not naïve about the obstacles to unlocking new markets. They see online tools and other technology as a way to conduct transactions, get financing and gather market intelligence.
Three-quarters of SME executives surveyed by Shipa Freight believe businesses that operate internationally are more resilient. Nearly 80% say they are already using online platforms for freight quotes and bookings.
SMEs identified numerous obstacles they face in international trade. Forty-two percent say the costs of shipping abroad are too high, or that they don’t have an accurate picture of their costs. Forty percent say they find it difficult to understand documentation requirements.
A significant minority say their cargo has been held up in customs (39%) or lost in transit (27%).
Small and medium-sized businesses based in emerging markets are finding export regulations particularly challenging: 67% identify export regulations as a difficult issue, compared with just 44% of SMEs based in mature European markets. Seventy-nine percent of exporters from India, China and Indonesia say they find it challenging to penetrate markets in Europe.
SMEs that view the UK as one of their top export markets are looking elsewhere because of Brexit. Seventy-three percent say Britain’s vote to leave the European Union has prompted them to prioritize trade with other European countries. Sixty percent of UK SMEs that export and 52% of UK SMEs that import say that leaving the EU Single Market would be “disastrous” for them.
Smaller companies clearly see technology as a way to close the gap with bigger competitors, cope with documentation requirements and get quick access to competitive shipping options. Eighty-six percent say that tech is “leveling the playing field” for SMEs to operate globally; 89% believe technology is transforming the logistics industry.
“The logistics industry has traditionally ignored SMEs and done far too little to help them find new markets and grow,” Edwards says. “Technology is giving them the ‘virtual’ scale that they’ve needed to lower their costs, get real-time information and compete.”