How do you establish on new markets and what is the focus going forward?
When we enter a new market, in eight out of ten cases we seek assistance from Business Sweden. They help us find good dealers / agents. In some countries we get help from their chamber of commerce and other interest organisations to find suitable partners.
It usually begins with a dealer or agent for a couple of years. In some cases, the partnership works so well that they eventually become a subsidiary. Today we own twelve sales companies abroad, in addition to which we have a couple of partnerships in France and Thailand. The decisive factor in establishing a subsidiary in a new country is the size of the market. There has to be sales grounds for it to be strategically viable.
Thus far Axelent has met the expansion goals and is expanding by one to three new countries a year. We are still very big in Scandinavia and Germany but are even growing rapidly in the USA and Asia. In some countries we have only scraped the surface.
In 2018 our focus will turn to Asian markets. In Thailand, for example, we are building what we hope will become a logistics hub for Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and, eventually, other countries in the ASEAN free trade area.
Also, in Hillerstorp we are expanding the business with a new logistics centre and an even more efficient order management system to ensure profitable flows and speedy deliveries to all corners of the earth. The aim is to leave all manufacturing in Sweden, but in the long term it might be necessary, for logistical reasons, to establish manufacturing in other countries as well.