Matt Jackson, France Houdard and Matt Highfield
Building a sustainable global business platform is increasingly a fundamental requirement for success in today's marketplace. What is less well understood by many companies is…
Abstract
Purpose
Building a sustainable global business platform is increasingly a fundamental requirement for success in today's marketplace. What is less well understood by many companies is that international locations can bring with them concealed business establishment and mid‐ to long‐term operational risks that are specific and unique to each micro‐geography. This paper discusses some of the challenges and risks associated with the oversubscription of local resources.
Design/methodology/approach
The article discusses some of the issues a company is likely to encounter when establishing business operations in emerging markets. Observations and viewpoints have been derived from working in emerging markets and assisting companies select locations for business operations.
Findings
This article examines the hidden risks of international expansion. We find there are at three common challenges that are often encountered: labor market issues, land availability, and provision of utilities.
Originality/value
Executives charged with determining where to expand the company operations should be aware of the challenges associated with the over‐subscription of resources in emerging markets and plan accordingly. If you are not considering the issue of oversubscription of resources and are inflexible with project requirements, it is likely that the project will likely incur significant time delays identifying appropriate locations for operations, delays in the start‐up and challenges with long‐term sustainability of operations. In some cases, a lack of flexibility results in failure for the project.
Details
Keywords
JohnBosco Kakooza, Immaculate Tusiime, Sophia Namiyingo, Ruth Nabwami and Mellan Basemera
This paper aims to report on the results of a study carried out to establish the contribution of business choice and location decision to the success of small and medium…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to report on the results of a study carried out to establish the contribution of business choice and location decision to the success of small and medium enterprises in an emerging economy like Uganda.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is cross-sectional and correlational. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey of 181 small and medium restaurants. The data were analyzed through correlation coefficients and hierarchical regression using statistical package for social sciences.
Findings
The findings reveal that both business choice and location decisions positively and significantly contribute to the success of small and medium enterprises. However, it was noted that more attention should be paid to location decision than business choice as determinants of SME success.
Originality/value
To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the contribution of business choice and location decision to the success of SMEs using evidence from a developing African country like Uganda. Finally, this research offers practical contributions to managers and owners of SMEs who have to make strategic decisions for firm profitability, survival and growth in the competitive business arena.