Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi : The Future of Business Survey provides interesting insights on small businesses across the globe and in India. The March to May 2017 module examines the role and impact of online tools on the abilities of Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) (global and India) to trade internationally and grow their businesses.
Ankhi Das, Director of Public Policy for Facebook India and South Asia, said, “More than 270 million people around the world are connected to a small business in India. These businesses are using technology to grow, build new opportunities and find customers at home and abroad. Our research shows that those small businesses who are engaged in international trade are more confident about the future and use online tools at a higher rate than non-traders. With the largest online community of businesses, we want to better understand their challenges and opportunities so we can build effective products and programs to help them grow and, in turn, help the economies in which they operate grow.
This version of the Future of Business Survey drew responses from 49,081 SMEs globally representing economies accounting for 40% of the world’s population and 73% of the global GDP. To date, nearly 200,000 SMEs in more than 40 countries, drawn from the 70 million businesses with an active Facebook Page, have taken the survey. Out of the total SMEs surveyed, 1,301 Indian SMEs were surveyed for the international trade report (accumulated across 3 months, March-May, 2017).
The results indicate that many exporting SMEs are embracing online tools to connect with international customers. Online tools are increasingly becoming an important part of SMEs who seek such options to grow their businesses.
Key findings from India:
· SMEs operating internationally are as confident as national operating traders*
56% of traders and non-traders are confident of their current business (globally: 44%) with almost 3 in 4 SMEs (71%) are confident in the positive future outlook of their business (globally: 61%). Traders operating internationally have created more jobs, as against those exclusively in the domestic markets (35% vs 27%) however Indian SMEs are assured and more likely to increase jobs (28%) than the global average (19%)
· For exporting SMEs, trade is at the core of their business models and success
49% of the exporting SMEs revealed that 25% of their revenue is generated from international trade
· Exporters largely dependent on online tools for international trade
SMEs (43%) report that more than 75% of their international sales depend on online tools
· SMES attribute growth to their use of online tools to trade internationally
63% of exporters agree that using online tools for selling internationally has increased their revenue
· The proportion of male dominated SMEs (i.e. 65%+ male management) is among the highest (67%) in the surveyed markets (global average: 48%)
· International trade, a challenge for majority of SMEs
50% of respondents agreed that “selling to foreign countries” is a challenge
