Market Intelligence | Develop a Strategy | Internal Preparation | Legal Documents

DEVELOP A STRATEGY

If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. ¹

Many companies go international without having planned to do so. In some cases they are pulled into international markets by large clients that insist on having the product installed and supported overseas. In other cases a vendor is contacted by distributors via their website or at trade shows, and they end up with a mixed bag of partners in different countries, without really knowing why or how.

The key element of an international plan is to determine the most effective way to reach international markets. There are many channels that can be established, all of which require time and resources to implement successfully. A company needs to analyze its objectives, review budget availability, and determine market priorities. It is usually counter-productive to enter too many markets at once, and different countries often require different approaches. For instance, some companies prefer to have their own offices in key markets, and use indirect channels to establish a presence in secondary markets.

The illustration below shows the most common ways of going international, all of which have distinct advantages and disadvantages that have to be considered. We provide a description of each of these in the section entitled "Implementation".



^{1: Dr. Laurence J. Peter, The Peter Principle; or why things always go wrong}