Biotech is booming right now, and many companies are looking to expand into new locations and markets. Certainly, this was the case for Sandvik medical wire business. The high-tech business segment, which develops precision wires and wire-based components for various fields of medical technology, was looking to expand in the US before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

Rewriting the rulebook

"Normally, we would be jet-setting around the country, our itineraries packed from dawn to dusk with hard-hat tours and working lunches,” says Gary Davies, head of the medical wire business within Sandvik. "Beyond the standard meetings with local officials, we’d want to get a true feel for each city on the list of contenders, take the temperature of things on the ground, and ask ourselves if we could see this being the next outpost.”

However, in this instance one of the key steps in the selection process – physically visiting a location – was made impossible by Covid-19 and its associated restrictions. "So, we realized that if we wanted to proceed with our plans for growth, we’d have to rewrite the rulebook: We took the whole process online,” adds Davies.