smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

Deciding where to locate a business is vitally important for new start-ups and there are a number of important factors to be taken into consideration, according to a small business expert.

New SMEs must consider factors including the availability of employees, access to link companies and whether they want to locate their company near to similar enterprises, states Sunil Mistry, a local area business advisor with Businesslink.

Outlining the main considerations for any small business choosing its location, Mr Mistry says: 'Number one is the people - what sort of employees a business needs when selecting a location. If it’s in a speciality area, it needs to be in the right catchment area.

'Number two is looking for access to their link companies. If a company is doing something that is reliant on a certain range of other companies, then obviously it would want to be in the best environment to access them and be in touch with them quickly,' he adds.

However, the advent of the internet has made location less important, with businesses that conduct their trade over the web having the potential to locate anywhere.

Research by the Times 100 recently highlighted the impact of the internet on a company's location, arguing that its rise had meant that business is generally less closely tied to centres of population and can instead operate where labour costs are lower.

There are currently no comments on this article