The Ultimate Guide to Global Expansion

They’re unlikely, though, to help you identify what your customers want but aren’t getting. Smart companies set up systematic dialogues with their primary customers. Other companies, especially those with rapid product cycles, manage the dialogue through new-product testing. Google’s Gmail, for example, was released after five years of beta testing by more than 1,000 technology opinion leaders. Assume you have already chosen the best primary customer and have a good working idea of what the customer wants. You can refine your understanding by leveraging today’s easy and cheap access to data on customer buying habits, preferences, and search activities.

That means you must constantly gather information on shifts in your competitive environment, especially those that might affect the behavior of your primary customer. You must be alert to emerging threats and opportunities that will redefine what your customer values and that customer’s profit potential. If the changes are dramatic, you may need to fundamentally reorient your business model—and even, in the most radical situations, select a different primary customer. Such data can help you fine-tune a product or a website’s functionality to better meet your customer’s known needs.

Economic Reasons

Daimler-Benz merged with Chrysler in 1998 in order to create a Welt AG—a world corporation—but never attained the power over markets and suppliers that this global position was supposed to deliver. Many service businesses go global to generate growth beyond home markets threatened by foreign rivals. Their strategies hinge on coordination of people or processes—no easy feat.

Before you expand globally, it makes sense to count the costs and have a realistic assessment of when you’ll break even or generate a profit on the investment. International businesses may incur higher costs and unexpected expenses that eat away at profit margins. That’s why upfront research, profit projections, and estimates are always helpful. Regardless of how your organization enters a global market, the potential for revenue growth is a realistic possibility. Applying an international strategy involves entering a new market without significantly changing product features or pricing strategy.

Demand analysis

To casual observers, your product would probably be identical regardless of which country or region they buy it in. It wouldn’t be cheaper than it was before, even if local competitors offer a similar product at a different price. An International strategy doesn’t involve lowering the price to compete with local alternatives. Just as founders build businesses for many different reasons, business leaders expand globally with many unique motives and goals in mind. It’s an exciting time for your business, but global expansion is also a complex process and decision with many important considerations.

• Taiwanese consumer electronics company BenQ’s acquisition of Siemens’s mobile-devices business failed because BenQ lacked integration skills.
• International talent may bring a number of advantages you would otherwise have no access to locally.
• Activist share owners have already taken significant positions in some companies mentioned in this article.
• Cash reserve refers to the liquid assets your company keeps on hand to meet short-term and emergency funding needs and can also be referred to as a cash flow reserve.

US Consider The Profit Potential Of International Expansion companies have many ways to explore the likely profitability of different markets. A language service provider can assist you in preparing authentic marketing content to understand the culture and what will resonate with your new audience. Having a set of clear strategies along with guidance allows the entire organization to properly mitigate the risks before expanding to other markets or countries.