Companies are concerned about ‘place’ and ‘people’ when contemplating foreign expansion. Foreign workspace has to be flexible with only very short-term commitments. Opinion is divided over whether foreign operations should be overseen by local managers or whether a boss should be shipped in from the home country. This decision probably rests on the level of direct customer interaction that the firm envisages in the foreign market.
The report concludes that the more companies expand and diversify outside their domestic markets, the more productive they are likely to be, making a significant contribution to the vibrancy and stability of the global economy.