global business

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Thoughts on the Paris Trade Mission: Optimism and a Warm Welcome

 

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Last month I was part of a two-day trip to Paris from London, representing ABP as part of the Mayor of London’s trade mission into Europe with fellow members of the ‘Go To Grow’ International Business Programme.

The Mayor’s International Business Programme alongside the London & Partners Go To Grow team arranged a very active and quality series of business events and meetings for us with collaborative corporates and supporters of entrepreneurship, as well as high-potential scale-ups in France who are looking to venture and expand into the UK.

Theresa May officially began the Brexit process by triggering Article 50 on Day 2 of our Paris trade mission; thankfully, no one in Paris seemed to hold this against us! The reception we received was tremendous and everyone was incredibly welcoming and positive.  They were excellent hosts, making clear that the British are very welcome in Paris, and reinforcing how much they want to forge closer working relationships with us.

It was also fantastic to see and hear many success stories of innovative companies scaling up in France, along with welcoming firms such as Made.com which was founded in the UK by two French entrepreneurs, and then expanded successfully into France.

Finally, we learnt so much!  ABP were in a cohort from London of 15 scale-ups exploring partnerships and international expansion.  It was good company, and we shared success and failure stories, as well as intelligence on strategic business network contacts.  We also learnt much from the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, VCs, entrepreneurs who have been there and done it before, as well as the mentors and business advisers who were generous with their time at networking events, panel talks and round tables.

Once the trade mission was over, several of us squeezed in a couple of hours’ leisure time into our travel plans to enjoy going to the top of the Eiffel Tower for stunning views, more networking and some wonderful French food and wine.

We came away with a number of fantastic opportunities and meetings to follow up and take our business to greater heights. I’m looking forward to returning to Paris again soon, especially considering it’s only two hours away via Eurostar!

Here are a few points which show how strong the relationship between London and Paris continues to be:

  • London receives more inward investment from France than any other global city, worth an estimated £3.07bn to the capital’s economy, with 11,900 jobs created over the last 10 years.
  • London is also the leading city globally for Foreign Direct Investment from Paris, attracting £2.6bn and 9,498 jobs over the same period.
  • The British capital currently counts over 2,300 companies with a French parent entity.
  • Paris is the largest European destination for Foreign Direct Investment from London. (Data received from The Mayor’s Office)

Everything I saw on the trade mission showed me that Paris is certainly open to collaborating and working with London for business and tourism. We witnessed no negativity resulting from Brexit. Only welcoming optimism.

Daryl Woodhouse is a business mentor, author and Head of Strategy & Leadership at Advantage Business Partnerships.

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How’s It Going, My Old China?

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All the talk about the Hinkley Point negotiations has made me reflect on my experiences of doing business in China, and how business and technology have developed in that country in such a short space of time.

I first went to China in the 1990s to negotiate the sale of a manufacturing line and the resultant product in a place called Cheng Du.  Thomas Cook did not go there, and I soon found out why. It was cold and wet and I felt miserable with my surroundings but it was more than balanced by the friendliness and warmth of the people – until they were sat the other side of the negotiation table. They were tough negotiators!  Clearly, they were determined and very ambitious.

My next experience was a few years later in Wu Hu.  Not a dissimilar experience to the first, except that as well as the same degree of ambition, there was a remarkable shift in the knowledge base. My subjective experience was that the Chinese were learning new skills and gaining new understanding both in business and technology. And they were fast learners.

Roll on to the current century and I returned to Wu Hu.  The town was transformed almost beyond recognition, all because the original factory, which built engines, was now a fully capable car manufacturing factory, with superbly skilled staff.  The owners of the factory had set about recruiting Chinese National automotive engineers from the US and Europe, where they had studied and gained experience with the best automotive companies in the world.  What I witnessed was a complete understanding of what they were doing, how they did it, and a constant focus on improvement.  Their attention to detail on all components and assemblies was as accurate as I have seen anywhere.

There were still inconsistencies. My next stop was Quongqing: the strangest thing I saw was a manufacturing line that produced components to a tolerance of two microns and then threw them on the floor before the next process!  But I’ve followed their progress and I know that company are now making the complete product and holding the tolerance all the way through.

It seems to me that the most important thing the Chinese were doing was taking every opportunity they could to learn, whether this was from the usual training routes at home and abroad, from nationals returning from other countries with new knowledge, or simply from their contact with those who had knowledge they might need, including our business negotiations. Yes, in negotiating I think we shared information that was probably more valuable than the bits and pieces we sold them.

Also, they learnt from their mistakes. And that means not being afraid to make mistakes every now and then – another valuable lesson we should all bear in mind. To learn, make progress and succeed, you have to be ready to accept and deal with the occasional wrong turn.

As we all know, the progress of Chinese industry and technology has been remarkable. I now know of Chinese-owned high tech companies operating in the UK that sell their products back to China.  In 25 years China has progressed from being a nation of technology buyers for internal consumption to a producer of high tech for international consumption. I wonder what I’ll see on my next visit. I’ll probably learn a thing or two.

 

Garry Smith is a business coach at Advantage Business Partnerships and the co-author of Creating Business Advantage: Setting Up and Running A Successful Business (SRA Books, 2015) ISBN 978-1-909116-43-6

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To Brexit or Not to Brexit – That is the Question

Brexit blog imageApparently, there’s a debate going on as to whether Britain should stay in or exit the European Union.  I have to say that this is news to me. A debate, from my point of view, would be welcome but, in the main, all I witness is Animal Farm-type slogans being written on the barn wall: “British legs good, European legs bad” or “Whatever goes upon European legs is a friend”.  How is this supposed to help our country make such an important decision?

Even more insidious are the gagging orders which are preventing well-considered views from being openly voiced. This is not a debate – it’s more like two opposing crowds of football fans counter-chanting across the field at each other.  What’s more, the game is still being played on the pitch between them. The analogy here is becoming stronger as the “campaigns” progress as the antipathy heightens, while the clarity of the arguments become more blurred. At the moment we’re witnessing a playground spat as the children come out of class to play in Parliament Square.

I admit that this may be idealistic naivety on my part but I really long for some objective, considered information on the real issues.  The nearest I have got to this was both the “personal view” expressed by John Longworth before stepping down from the BCC, and Mark Carney in his three-hour inquisition by the Select Committee. Even these beacons have been shouted down rather than discussed.

My fear in all of this is that the decision will come down to the accumulation of personal interests and cant rather than a balanced opinion. Surely, we cannot allow a population go to the polls so ill informed? Isn’t it right that a nation should decide its future on the issues and not the personalities?  And as UK business has so much to gain, or lose, perhaps we as business people have a responsibility to look behind the rhetoric?

I’m reminded of a story about Jimmy Carter when, after his term as US president, he was asked what he had longed for most during his time in the White House.  His reply was that most of the time he had wished for a one-armed economist – that way, when he asked for advice he could not be told, “Well, Mr President, on the one hand this but on the other hand that”.  I’m feeling much the same right now.

Garry Smith is an ABP business coach and the co-author of Creating Business Advantage: Setting Up and Running A Successful Business (SRA Books, 2015) ISBN 978-1-909116-43-6