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Behind the Headlines: Europe's diversity benefits the cautious dot-com

By Felicity Ussher

Published: Friday 01 September 2000

European dot-com start-ups will soon rival those in the US because they are comfortable with diversity of culture and language, according to this week's guests on Behind the Headlines.

The panel agreed that overcoming the linguistic and cultural barriers was perfect training for developing good strategic skills. Consolidating a presence in Europe can lead to much greater maturity in the long-run.

Richard Sykes, chairman of outsourcing consultancy Morgan Chambers, said: "I would keep my money strong in Europe and think the diversity helps. There is a lot of evidence that, over time, European businesses take a slightly more mature approach as they go international than the Americans do."

Rebecca Ulph, media analyst at US-based consultancy Forrester Research, agreed: "Launching across Europe simultaneously is like a baptism of fire. I wouldn't advise it unless you have partnerships in each country. But if a company is successful, it opens the door to South America, via Spain or Portugal, and the rest of the world."

But no company should underestimate the difficulty of setting up operations across Europe and the panel predicted a wave of change as dot-coms reconsidered the wisdom of trying to launch across fourteen countries simultaneously.

Natalie Calvert, MD of call centre consultancy Calcom, described as "crazy" the practice of trying to go pan-European overnight, advising: "Focus on one market and get that right - then expansion can happen."

Speaking in the wake of the failure of Swedish e-tailer Dressmart, she said even Scandinavia should be treated as an entire market to be conquered before expansion is considered.

This week's Behind the Headlines is an entrepreneurship special. It can be viewed in the Finance channel (http://www.silicon.com/a39399 ).