Finding the ideal location for growing your business:

Dos and don’ts

Many companies try to expand into international markets but fail when they choose the wrong location.

Even small hurdles in the site selection process can result in complications, delays and additional costs. In the short term, making the wrong choice can threaten the success of your project. Over the medium term, it can threaten the survival of your company.

After up new ventures, we’ve distilled our experience into a list of dos and don’ts to make your project a success.

Assemble your project team

Choosing the right people for your team can make or break your business development project.

Keep your team small—ideally 2 or 3 people—to reduce disagreements and obstacles in the process of finding your ideal site.

Choose complementary skillsets to get a big-picture view of the challenges facing your project.

Finally, make sure you have a team of professionals who are very familiar your target country or region

Map out a preliminary timeline

Setting up a reverse timeline can prevent (or minimize) delays.

For example, you can start from your site’s target start-up date and work backwards through each step of the project.

• On arrival: prepare to open your site, find your place in the local business ecosystem, recruit employees and handle administrative formalities
• Visit the sites on your short list and make a selection
• Evaluate candidate sites and make a short list of possible destinations
• Pre-select candidate sites and start working with local players
• Define the selection criteria for your future site and start exploring options. A preliminary timeline can be extremely useful as you work with your local contacts. An economic development agency can help you accelerate administrative procedures and identify the contacts you need more quickly.

Assemble your toolkit

To choose the best site for your new venture, you need to focus on objective criteria—both quantitative and qualitative.

To benchmark your candidate destinations, you need tools that allow apples-to-apples comparisons: you need comparable criteria to evaluate them all.

At Nord France Invest, we’ve created exactly that: two “turnkey” tools to help you find your site.

• A location decision matrix
• A ready-to-use model specifications

As regions compete with each other to attract investors, they can fall into a war of big promises and competing statistics.

Avoid costly mistakes with rigorous data analysis.

For example, a comparison of corporate tax rates is meaningless if you don’t consider the rules that define taxable income.

Similarly, promises of government assistance must be scrupulously verified. Many assistance programs are limited by ceilings or maximum percentages, and local authorities can be so eager to attract you that they forget to check the fine print.

Bottom line: you may end up with less support than you were promised—or expected.

Evaluate quantitative and qualitative criteria for each site

Investors often focus on quantitative criteria such as:

• Wage levels
• Real estate costs
• Cost of utilities
• Cost of logistics
• Taxation
• Assistance programs

Because it’s so easy to attach hard numbers to these criteria, they create the illusion of an objective, infallible analysis.

But quantitative criteria alone don’t guarantee that your business development project will be a success. Your need qualitative criteria, too, such as:

• Overall environment
• Recruitment
• Infrastructures
• Business ecosystem & innovation
• Quality of life
• Openness

« We chose Bierne for 2 reasons. First, France is our No. 1 market in Europe. Second, the nearby Port of Dunkerque is ideal for importing and exporting our products. »

Mampei Yamamoto, President of Kubota Farm Machinery Europe SAS

Of course, these parameters are more subjective, and that makes them harder to evaluate. But the key to making an informed decision is to consider both quantitative and qualitative criteria.

Find competent advisers

To choose your site intelligently, you need a thorough understanding of your candidate regions.

But it isn’t easy to gather qualitative information about a region if you don’t have local connections. You also need sound advice on the finer points of the administrative and regulatory requirements for your target region.

Local partners can provide support:

• Economic development agencies are at your service, ready to coordinate your search and save you precious time.
• Real estate consultants and site selection specialists can bring additional expertise to complex problems
• Accountants and lawyers can advise you on local financial and legal matters

«We worked closely with Nord France Invest. They were an excellent source of information and supported us 100%»

Wu Liping, President of MG-Valdunes

Want to keep your search under wraps for now?

Don’t hesitate to ask for a confidentiality agreement from all of your local partners.

Plan for several site visits

Even with detailed specifications and support from an economic development agency, the perfect site may not always be available. In that case, make a short list of the locations that come closest and compare them.

Be sure to visit several sites to get an accurate impression—and if there should be a health crisis, you can always take a virtual tour.

To find the ideal site, follow a carefully defined methodology. The goals you set, the project team you assemble, and the selection criteria you define at the beginning of the project can make the difference between success and failure.

Drafting solid specifications and partnering with economic development agencies and other local players are invaluable steps in documenting your decision and accelerating your process.

Still have questions about choosing the ideal site?