Although local is an increasingly fashionable business concept, particularly on supermarket shelves, few companies would use it as their only model.

Globalisation has made the world a smaller place and few businesses believe that they can operate effectively without exposure to the world’s markets. But for some the international door may be bolted — or at least badly stuck — because they did not move quickly. Local, or at least, national, is as much as they are left with. They find that countries are awash with their competitors, who are quickly turning developing markets into established ones.

Such is the case with Royal Mail, at least according to its main rival in the UK. As TNT accelerates its move into China, India and Brazil and strengthens its grip on the British market, it warns that Royal Mail may never become a proper player on the international stage, unlike all its key competitors.

It is difficult to see how it will. Royal Mail has just one international business — GLS, a European parcels operation. For the first six months of last year, GLS had revenues of £506 million or 11 per cent of Royal Mail’s total sales. TNT’s international operations, meanwhile, accounted for 75 per cent of the Dutch group’s sales last year.

Royal Mail does not have the firepower to splash out on overseas investments. It had only just finalised a £3.9 billion rescue package from the Government before it fell under a European Commission review. A lack of spending ability now and years ago, when arguably Royal Mail should have made more moves, is not entirely its fault, as the Government raked in the organisation’s profits. Its vulnerability in Britain is not helped by the postal market opening more quickly here than anywhere else.

Royal Mail says that its priority is to sort out its home market. After profits recently fell 86 per cent, that is a top priority. Meanwhile, the organisation inevitably misses out on the growth wave that will mark the second phase of development for the burgeoning economies of China and India.

While Royal Mail concentrates on domestic matters, it is seeing its UK market steadily shrink as competitors such as TNT take pole position in the express delivery market and become increasing threats in the mail market.

It is hard to imagine that a largely domestic business will be a credible rival to the likes of TNT and Fed-Ex as they become increasingly global brands.

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