July 2014 BCBusiness 139 bcbusiness.ca
Readers weigh in on our historical ties to the U.S. and the hope
(and reality) of doing business in Asia. Plus: What you think
about must-learn languages (Mandarin or Spanish?), free trade
(Too much? Too little?) and whether pesky things like a country's
human rights record really matter when doing business abroad
Y
ou said it: B.C.'s trade ambi-
tions lie in Asia, but its goals
are far from being achieved.
Growth opportunities beckon
from across the Pacific, but
as the results of the 2014
BCBusiness Survey on International
Business show, the province's compa-
nies are mostly sticking much closer
to home.
Five hundred and fifty BCBusiness
readers completed the online survey
between March 20 and April 2 of this
year. Nearly two-thirds of readers say
their firms don't do business outside
of Canada, and of those that do,
more than 80 per cent choose a close
and reliable trading partner: the U.S.
Perhaps that's of little surprise, given
that our neighbour has the world's
largest economy, and that we share a
language, longstanding business ties
and a nearly seamless transportation
infrastructure with the Americans.
Yet while that relationship has long
served B.C.'s economic interests, it has
also left the province trailing many
of its global competitors in pursu-
ing opportunities in other foreign
markets—especially markets whose
economic growth far surpasses that
of Canada's domestic market or that
of the U.S. Our readers see those
opportunities—survey respondents
overwhelmingly chose Mandarin as
the most advantageous non-English
language to learn—but only a minority
listed emerging markets in countries
in Asia and elsewhere among those
with which they do business.
2 0 1 4 B C B u s i n e s s S u r v e y o n I n t e r n a t I o n a l B u S I n e S S
World
B.C. takes
on the
S t o r I e S B y D e e h o n
[ for complete survey results, go to BCBusiness.ca/InternationalBiz ]
PLUS: You're invited to the BCBusiness International Business Outlook breakfast on September 17th
at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia in Vancouver, sponsored by HSBC. events@bcbusiness.ca
p138-146-HSBC_advertorial.indd 139 14-06-04 10:27 AM
