Investments abroad by Danish SMEs – benefits and barriers

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are important to the Danish economy and growth opportunities. SMEs account for 44 percent of employment and 39 percent of value added in Denmark. Further, SMEs account for around 40 percent of the number of investments abroad.

Investments abroad – both acquisitions of foreign companies and physical establishment of facilities abroad – have many possible benefits, and they can help strengthen the company’s global alliances and increase growth. The benefits include access to new markets, proximity to customers, access to skilled labour and access to new knowledge and new production processes. These gains give Danish SMEs considerable opportunities to grow and internationalise their business.

The purpose of this project is to create knowledge about gains and barriers by investing abroad. It can help Danish SMEs make greater use of foreign investments when they are to internationalise and grow. The project is therefore largely aimed at internationalisation-ready SMEs who can use the case collection and the idea catalogue as inspiration to get beyond Denmark’s borders.

The main conclusions of our study are:

• Most SMEs find that the benefits of investing abroad live up to their expectations.
• SMEs investing abroad experience on average higher growth in Denmark than comparable SMEs. This is the case both in terms of revenue (24 per cent), employment (11 per cent) and value added (18 per cent).
• The most important barriers to investing abroad are lack of knowledge about how to establish and operate abroad, as well as legal, bureaucratic and regulatory barriers.

The study is commissioned by Industriens Fond

Looking for additional inspiration? Download a collection of cases and our idea catalogue (in Danish)

On 5 April, we presented our findings of this study at the “Export day: Market Opportunities in the Global Food Industry” event hosted by Danish Food Cluster. Download the presentation from the event