Business Sweden’s experts, Max Åvall and James Armstrong from our hub office in Chicago, 回答日博体育备用美洲当地网站的重要性的大问题，以及让网站选择的解决方案.
Max Åvall
The Americas have always been a strong expansion market for Swedish companies, 但是，为什么在当地设立机构是有益的，这种需求在过去几年里是否发生了变化?
The Americas as a whole, 甚至在地区和州的层面上都可以获得巨大的客户群，仅美国的经济规模就比日博备用网站大36倍以上. 本地业务可以直接接触到庞大的客户群，这是本地业务的关键原因和驱动因素. It also demonstrates commitment to clients, suppliers and the market. 靠近意味着你的生产、创新、网络和研究都是当地生态系统的一部分.
在美洲的销售额约占日博备用网站公司全球销售额的24%，在当地日博备用网站的存在对于获得日博备用网站份额变得越来越重要.
The current renegotiating of trade agreements e.g. USCMA is creating uncertainties and a sense of urgency among Swedish companies, 促使企业转向在当地建立生产设施或组装厂，以避免关税和进口关税，并满足美国和该地区其他国家立法规定的某些标准.
A decision to expand into the Americas with a local production site is a big step, 日博备用网站公司在做出战略商业决策后面临的主要挑战是什么?
The big question is, where? The Americas is a huge region and trying to understand and assess the benefits, 如果你不了解当地情况，国家、州和地区之间的挑战和机遇就会变得很难, network and experience. Local processes and business culture differ not only from how things are done in Sweden, but across the Americas. That is often a big challenge for Swedish companies to overcome.
Second, there are hard factors that need to be understood. Local regulation, legal structures, taxes and localisation incentives varies greatly in countries and regions. If you’ve never had a presence in the region before, it would be hard to know, for example, 您需要什么样的初始许可证，或者哪个州或地区对您的业务更有利. Gut instincts are one thing, but it is hard to match with data-driven analysis. And this analysis is hard to do if you are geographically distant from the market. And third, there are practical challenges. Physical distance and time zone differences make qualitative analysis hard, 但是，没有一个建立的网络或对关键利益相关者的了解是获得对当地差异的真正理解的障碍. 我们在整个地区都设有当地办事处，我们的团队紧密合作，为公司提供全面的分析支持.
James Armstrong
There is no shortage of data in today’s world, but how does it help to define a site search, what kind of information will a data search provide?
Data is abundant, but you need to make sure that the data is clean, so you know you’re comparing apples with apples between different countries or regions. What we wouldn’t do is just compare land costs between the US and Mexico for example, we would assess what that means for the company’s bottom line.
但重要的是，我们首先要与公司合作，找出他们在当地盈利的主要驱动因素是什么. We workshop to understand if these are labour costs, energy costs, cost of raw materials or logistics. 这意味着我们收集的数据与公司业务案例的重要因素有关. 我们通常将其限制在大约10个数据点，其中一些信息更容易收集，而其他信息则需要通过当地访谈和利益相关者参与进行劳动密集型工作.
But data is a powerful tool to quite quickly cut options. Early in the data analysis process, 我们可以将搜索范围缩小到两到三个最能满足您业务类型特定需求的州. Then we use a combination of subjective and qualitative factors.
What other factors are often over-looked by Swedish companies, either in the selection process, or in the next step of setting up production in a newly selected site?
When Swedish companies relocate to the Americas, the cultural fit of a location is not necessarily on their radar. But it is quite important. 公司了解他们的业务和管理文化，网站反映这一点很重要. Are the values of the area and the local workforce in line with yours, will it be a good cultural fit? 做好这一点很重要，只有在选址过程中经常去美洲才能做到. A location can look great on paper, but when you visit, you immediately discount it based on cultural fit. Meeting with local industry leaders, 了解人们对你作为雇主或供应伙伴的看法都是非常重要的因素. 我们帮助日博备用网站公司找到合适的文化契合度，与他们一起前往当地，进入当地的中心地带.
Also, local incentive opportunities are quite complex. Some Swedish companies will think they are initially quite small, say 20 employees, 但一个地区可能会提供一系列激励措施，这些措施将在短期或长期内起到帮助作用. These could relate to the type of work offered, often the kind of jobs are highly sought after and prioritised by a local authority. 因此，低估激励可能是日博备用网站公司常犯的错误，因为它与欧洲模式大不相同.
