UNIT 5
MANAGEMENT OF STRATEGIES
LESSON 20
ENTERING INTO NEW MARKET,
HOW TO ENTER INTO NEW MARKET
Learning objectives:
• Explain the cut throat competition in the industrial world
• Dilemmas on deciding how and which markets to enter by
the industries.
Introduction:
Hello, how are you doing? You will have to come out of the
local market and get into the global market, don’t worry I am
not taking you abroad or asking you to leave the country, but
what I am trying to say is that you will now study the global
environment and the global market in this chapter for getting
ready to face the challenges.
Competing on a Global Basis
You know that competition is tough and you need to pull up
your socks for your survival or else ready to get doomed. So lets
learn how to get more competent and get through in this tough
competitive world. Although some U.S. business may want to
eliminate foreign competition through protective legislation, the
better way to compete is to continuously improve products at
home and expand into foreign markets. Ironically, although
companies need to enter and compete in foreign, markets, the
risks are high; huge foreign indebtedness, shifting borders,
unstable governments, foreign-exchange problems, tariffs and
other trade barriers, corruption, and technological pirating. Still,
we argue that companies selling in global industries have no
choice but to internationalize their operations. To do this, they
must make a series of decisions. Each of these decisions will be
examined here.
You should know that the global industry is an industry in
which the strategic positions of competitors in major geo-
graphic or national markets are fundamentally affected by their
overall global positions. A global firm is a firm that operates in
more that one country and captures R & D, production,
logistical, marketing, and financial advantages in its costs and
reputation that are not available to purely domestic competitors.
Global firms plan, operate, and coordinate their activities on a
worldwide basis. Ford’s “world truck” has a European-made
cab and a North American-built chassis, is assembled in Brazil,
and is imported into the United States for sale. Otis Elevator
gets its door systems from France, Japan; it uses the United
States for systems integration. A company need not be large to
sell globally. Small and medium-sized firms can practice global
nichemanship. Even a sports league can be global:
I am trying to explain to you the concept by giving the examples
for your reference. The NBA When the NBA season is over,
basketball’s big stars do not head to Florida for rest and
recreation, shaquille O’Neal is to South Korea, Karl Malone to
Hong Kong, Allen Iverson to Chile. Deployed by the NBA and
global sponsors Coca-Cola, Reebok, and McDonald’s these
well-paid traveling salesmen hawk soda, sneakers, burgers, and
basketball to legions of young fans. The NBA, which has more
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than 100 global staff members, has emerged as the first
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American sports league to truly go global. In 2001, NBA games
were broadcast to 210 countries in 42 languages. The league has
signed on global sponsors such as Yahoo! And IBM; and the
league and its partners have sold roughly $1 billion of NBA-
licensed products outside the United States in the past five
years.
Deciding Whether to go Abroad
Don’t you want t go abroad either for a holiday or career, a
good job with the luxuries in the advanced countries. In the
similar way our companies also have to decide whether they
want to stay domestic or go abroad because its not as simple as
you take a decision for Yourself. Most com12anies would prefer
to remain domestic if their domestic market were large enough.
Managers would not need to learn other languages and laws,
deal with volatile currencies, face political and legal uncertainties,
or redesign their products to suit different customers needs and
expectations. Business would be easier and safer. Yet several
factors are drawing more and more companies into the
international arena;
Global firms offering better products or lower prices can attack
the company’s domestic market. The company might want to
counterattack these competitors in their home markets.
• The company discovers that some foreign markets present
higher profit opportunities than the domestic market.
• The company need’s a larger customer base to achieve
economies of scale.
• The company wants to reduce its dependence on anyone
market.
• The company/s customers are going abroad and require
international servicing.
Before making a decision to go abroad, the company must
weigh several risks;
The company might not understand foreign customer prefer-
ences and fail to offer competitively attractive product.
• The company might not understand the foreign country’s
business culture or know how to deal effectively with foreign
nations.
• The company might underestimate foreign regulations and
incur unexpected costs.
• The company might realize that it lacks managers with
international experience.
• The foreign country might change its commercial laws,
devalue its currency, or undergo a political revolution and
expropriate foreign property.
Because of the competing advantages and risks, companies
often do not act until some event thrusts them into the
international arena. Someone- a domestic exporter, a foreign
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 importer, a foreign government-solicits the company to sell
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abroad, or the company is saddled with overcapacity and must
find additional markets for its goods.
Deciding which markets to enter:
In deciding to go abroad, the company needs to define its
marketing objectives and policies. What proportion of foreign
to total sales will it seek? Most companies start small when they
venture abroad. Some plan to stay small; others have bigger
plans. “Going abroad” on the Internet poses special challenges.
(See “Marketing for the New Economy;
www.TheWorldsYourOyster.com: The Ins and Outs of Global
E-Commerce.”)
Marketing For The New Economy
www.TheWorldsYourOyster.com: The Ins and Outs of Global
E-Commerce Companies small and large are taking advantage
of the disappearance of traditional market boundaries. Major
marketers doing global e-commerce range from automakers
(GM) to direct-mail companies (LL Bean and Lands’ End) to
running shoe giants (Nike and Reebok) to Internet start-ups
like Amazon.com, which purchased three European companies
to build its European book and video sales.
For some, marketing has been a hit-or-miss affair. They put up
content in English for the American market, and if nay
international users stumble across the page and end up buying
something, great. Hyperspace Cowgirls, a six-year-old New York
City-based developer of children’s multimedia software, has
several European deals in the works, even though it has no
marketing effort overseas. “We don’t advertise overseas at all, “
says Susan Shaw, president of the company, whose Web
address is www.hyperspacecowgirls.com.”People just find you”.
Other marketers have made a strategic decision to become part
of the cyber bazaar. They are using the Web to reach new
customers outside their home countries, to support existing
customers who live abroad, to source from international
suppliers, and to build global brand awareness. Some of these
companies adapt their web sites to provide country-specific
content and services to their best potential international
markets, ideally in the local language. Reebok has launched a
multilingual European Web site-available in English, French,
German, Spanish, and Italian- in an attempt to increase brand
awareness in its individual markets. The site, located at
www.reebok.com,is aimed at sports and fitness enthusiasts and
includes information on local events in each market. So now
you know why these companies are rated number one in their
respective products or services.
Before companies decide to expand their Web presence interna-
tionally, they need to find the companies or regions with the
largest potential online population. The biggest area for growth
today would be the Asia-Pacific region. The number of Internet
users in the region is raising as access costs decline, local-
language content increases, and infrastructure improves. By
2004, the number of Internet users in the Asia-Pacific region us
expected to swell to 188 million. Europe is another hotspot for
Internet growth. Internet penetration in Europe is expected to
rise to 33 percent by 2003. By then, the five countries with the
highest levels of Internet penetration-Germany, France, the
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Netherlands, the united Kingdom, and Sweden-will have
online populations totaling 60 million in 1999.
Despite these encouraging developments, however, Internet
markets sometimes overstate global opportunities. Although
developed countries offer many choices for Internet access, less
developed countries in Central and South America or Africa
have fewer or none at all, forcing users to make international
calls to go online. Only 6 percent of the world’s population had
Internet access in 2000. Even with adequate phone lines and PC
penetration, high connection costs sharply restrict Internet use.
In Asia, ISP subscriptions can run up to $60a month, triple the
average U.S. rate.
In addition, the global marketer may run up against govern-
mental or cultural restrictions, In Germany, a vendor cannot
accept payment via credit card until two weeks after an order has
been sent. German law also prevents companies from using
certain marketing techniques like unconditional lifetime
guarantees. On a wider scale, the issue of who pays sales taxes
and duties on global e-commerce is murkier still.
Finally, you may have understood that business needs to realize
that the web does not offer complete solutions for transacting
global business-and probably never will. Most companies will
never cut a final deal via e-mail. People will still need to see and
feel products at international trade shows. The Web will not
surmount customs red tape or local regulation. The Web also
cannot guarantee that goods will arrive in perfect condition.
What the Web can do is make foreign customers aware of one’s
business. The web has certainly done that for upscale retailer
and cataloger. The sharper Image, which now gets more than 25
percent of its online business from overseas customers. The
company is thrilled about its global prospects but admits it is
still overwhelmed by the logistical challenges of serving
overseas markets.
How Many Markets to Enter
Now you should know that once the company has decided to
enter the international market the next decision depending on
the response is how many markets to enter, you should know
this is difficult because if you go to a new restaurant for a meal
you tend to get confused in making a decision of what to have
right from deciding the cuisine like Indian, oriental or continen-
tal, why? Because you don’t know what would be their
specialization or would it be to your liking, right? The company
must decide whether to market in a few countries or many
countries and determine how fast to expand. Consider
Boo.com.
Boom.com When online retailer Boo.com was founded in 1998,
the company expressed the ambitious goal of becoming the
“first truly global-e-tailer, with world-wide sales, marketing and
distribution capabilities. “The bold plan attracted numerous
investors, and the company raised $135 million in venture
capital that it used to build high-tech e-commerce sites in seven
languages in 18 countries. Boo.com constructed satellite offices
in six cities, including Munich, Paris, and New York. After
months of delays, the site went live in November 2000 and was
immediately criticized for an interface that was too complicated
and confusing. Monthly sales of $1.1 million month could not
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make up for mounting expenses, which ran to an estimated $1
million a week by May 2000. In June of that year, American e-
retailer fashionmall.com purchased the company at liquidation
auction for less than $500,000.
In Contrast, Consider Amway’s Experience:
Amway Consumer-product Company Amway expanded into
Australia in 1971. In the 1980s, Amway moved into 10 more
countries. By 1999, Amway had evolved into a multinational
juggernaut with a sales force of more than 3 million indepen-
dent distributors hauling in $5 billion in sales. Today, Amway
sells products in 43 countries worldwide. Its goal: to have
overseas markets account for 80 percent of its sales. This is not
an unrealistic or overly ambitious goal considering that Amway
already gains 70 percent of its sales from markets outside North
America.
Generally speaking, it makes sense to operate in fewer countries
with a deeper commitment and penetration in each. Ayal and
Zif have argued that a company should enter fewer countries
when
• Market entry and market control costs are high.
• Product and communication adaptation costs are high.
• Population and income size and growth are high in the
initial countries chosen.
• Dominant foreign firms can establish high barriers to entry.
Do You Agree with the Above Points?
The company must also decide on the types of countries to
consider. The product, geography, income and population,
political climate, and other factors influence attractiveness. The
seller might have a predilection for certain countries of regions.
Kenichi Ohmae recommends that companies concentrate on
selling in the “triad markets”- the United States, Western
Europe, and the Far East-because these markets account for a
large percent of all international trade. Although Ohmae’s
position makes short-run sense, it can spell disaster for the
world economy in the long run. The unmet needs of the
developing world represent huge potential markets for food,
clothing, shelter, consumer electronics, appliances, and other
goods. Many market leaders are not rushing into Eastern
Europe, China, Vietnam, and Cuba, where there are many
unmet needs to satisfy.
Regional Free Trade Zones
You may what is free? So lets study it, Regional economic
integration- trading agreements between blocks of countries-
has intensified in recent years. This development means that
companies are more likely to enter entire regions overseas than
do business with one nation at a time.
The European Union:
You need to know the European market because it’s a very big
market along with the U.S. Certain countries have formed free
trade zones or economic communities-groups of nations
organized to work toward common goals in the regulation of
international trade. One such community is the European
Union (EU). Formed in 1957, the European Union set out to
create a single European market by reducing barriers investment,
it has a small population. Although many countries in central
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Europe possess an eager, hungry-to-Learn labour pool, their
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infrastructures create difficulties. The team evaluating a new
market must determine whether the company could earn
enough on its investment to cover the risk factors or other
negatives. (For a neglected area of global market opportunity,
see “Marketing Memo: Going After Poor Markets Around the
Globe”.)
Deciding How To Enter The Market
So lets continue with the previous example of the restaurant
like choosing the meal, next question would be what will be
required 0 eat the food with chopsticks? Or knife and fork and
spoon or fine with hands? That’s how do I eat it? Similarly once
a company decides to target a particular country, it has to
determine the best mode of entry. Its broad choices are indirect
exporting, direct exporting, licensing, joint ventures, and direct
investment. These five market-entry strategies involve more
commitment, risk, control, and profit potential.
Indirect and Direct Export
The normal way to get involved in a foreign market is through
export. Occasional exporting is a passive level of involvement in
which the company exports from time to time, either on its
own initiative or in response to unsolicited orders from abroad.
Active exporting takes place when the company makes a
commitment to expand into a particular market. In either case,
the company produces its goods in the home country and
might or might not adapt them to the foreign market.
Companies typically start with indirect exporting-that is, they
work through independent intermediaries. Domestic-based
export merchants buy the manufacturer’s products and then sell
them abroad. Domestic-based export agents seek and negotiate
foreign purchases and are paid a commission. Included in this
group are trading companies. Cooperative organizations carryon
exporting activities on behalf of several producers and are partly
under their administrative control. They are often used by
producers of primary products such as fruits or nuts. Export-
management companies agree to manage a company’s export
activities for a free. Indirect export has two advantages. First, it
involves less investment; the firm does n6thave to develop an
export department, an overseas sales force, or a set of foreign
contracts. Second, it involves less risk; because international-
marketing intermediaries bring know-how and services to
relationship, the seller will normally make fewer mistakes.
Companies eventually may decide to handle their own exports.
The investment and risk are somewhat greater, but so is the
potential return. University Games of Burlingame, California,
has blossomed into a $50-million-per -year international
company through careful entry into overseas ventures.
University Games Bob Moog, president and founder of
University Games, says his company’s international sales
strategy relies heavily on third-party distributors and has a fair
degree of flexibility. “We identify the foreign markets we want
to penetrate”, says Moog,” and then form a business venture
with a local distributor that will give us a large degree of control.
In Australia, we expect to run a print of 5,000 board games.
These we will manufacture in the United States. If we reach a
run of 25,000 games, however, we would then establish a sub-
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New Zealand to print the games”.
I am giving to you how the company can canyon direct export-
ing in several ways:
• Domestic-based export department or division: Might
evolve into a self-contained export department operating as a
profit center.
• Overseas sales branch or subsidiary: The sales branch handles
sales and distribution and might handle warehousing and
promotion as well. It often serves as a display and customer
service center.
• Traveling export sales representatives: Home-based sa]es
representatives are sent abroad to find business.
• Foreign-based distributors or agents: These distributors and
agents might be given exclusive rights to represent the
company in that country, or only limited rights.
Whether companies decide to export indirectly or directly, many
companies use exporting as a way to “test the waters” before
building a plant and manufacturing a product overseas. This
strategy worked well for IPSCO, Inc. In the early 1980s. This
Saskatchewan-based steel producer exported its steel pipe and
flat steel to the United States from Canada-despite significant
transportation costs. Once the company realized there was a
significant U>S demand for its products; it decided to set up
shop there.
One of the best ways to initiate or extend export activities used
to be to exhibit at an overseas trade show. With the World
Wide Web, it is not even necessary to attend trade shows one’s
wares to overseas buyers and distributors. Electronic communi-
cation via the Internet is extending the reach of companies,
particularly small ones, to worldwide markets. The Internet has
become an effective means of everything from gaining free
exporting information and guidelines, conducting market
research, and offering customers several time zones away a
secure process for ordering and paying for products.
Finding free information about trade and exporting has never
been easier. Here are some places to start your search:
www.its.doc.gov(the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Interna-
tional Trade Administration). www.exim.gov (the
Export-Import Bank Of the United States).
www.sba.gov (the U.S. Small Business Administration).
www.bxa.doc.gov(the Bureau of Export Administration, a
branch of the Commerce Department). ww.tscentral.com(Trade
Show Central, a Wellesley, Massachusetts, company).
Also, check with your state’s export-promotion office to learn if
it has online resources and allows business to link to its site.
Then check “Marketing Memo: Making Your Web Site World-
wide and Worldly Wise” for tips on Web sites that attract, rather
than frustrate, overseas customers.
Licensing
You need a license for driving a two-wheeler, or keeping a pistol
for your safety, or a passport and visa to travel by air abroad,
and without this license all these things are considered illegal
and you can be convicted by the court of law. Licensing is a
simple way to become involved in international marketing. The
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licensor licenses a foreign company to use a manufacturing
process, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other item of value
for a fee or royalty. The licensor gains entry at little risk; the
licensee gains production expertise or a well-known product or
brand name. E- Trade Group, the Palo Alto, California, online
broker-dealer, entered into a licensing agreement with Jerusalem
Global Ltd., an Israeli investment banking operation. E- Trade’s
agreement with the Israeli firm is part of a strategy to form
licensing agreements and international joint ventures in an
effort to bring its brand of no-frills investing to people abroad.
E- Trade has created E- Trade Australia, Canada, Denmark,
Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Norway, South Africa,
Sweden, and U.K.
Licensing has potential disadvantages. The licensor has less
control over the licensee than it does over its own production
and sales facilities. Furthermore, if the licensee is very successful,
the firm has given up profits; and if and when the contract
ends, the company might find that it has created a competitor.
To avoid this, the licensor usually supplies some proprietary
ingredients or components needed in the product (as Coca-Cola
does); but the best strategy is for the licensor to lead in
innovation so that the licensee will continue to depend on the
licensor.
There are several variations on a licensing arrangement. Compa-
nies such as Hyatt and Marriott sell management contracts to
owners of foreign hotels to manage these businesses for a free.
The management firm may even be given the option to
purchase some share in the managed company within a stated
period. Another variation is contract manufacturing, in which
the firm hires local manufacturers to produce the product.
When Sears opened department stores in Mexico and Spain, it
found qualified local manufacturers to produce many of its
products. Contract manufacturing gives the company less
control over the manufacturing process and the loss of
potential profits on manufacturing. However, it offers a chance
to start faster, with less risk and with the opportunity to form a
partnership or buyout the local manufacturer later.
Finally, a company can enter a foreign market through franchis-
ing, which is more complete form of licensing. The franchiser
offers a complete brand concept and operating, system. In
return, the franchisee invests in and pays certain fees to the
franchiser. McDonald’s, KFC, and Avis have entered scores of
countries by franchising their retail concepts.
KFC CORPORATION although the initial reception in Japan
was great, KFC still had a number of obstacles to overcome.
The Japanese saw fast food as artificial, made by mechanical
means, and unhealthy. KFC’s ad agency in Japan, McCann-
Erickson Japan, knew that it had to build trust in the KFC
brand. Agency personnel flew to Kentucky to film an authentic
version of Colonel Sanders’ beginnings. To show the philoso-
phy of KFC-the southern hospitality, old American tradition,
and authentic home cooking-the commercial showed Colonel
Sanders’ mother making and feeding her children KFC chicken
made with 11 secret spices. It conveyed the fact that “KFC
chicken is not artificial. It’s made by hand, and good enough for
your children to eat, “The campaign was hugely successful, and
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in less than 8 years KFC expanded its presence from 400
locations to more than 1,000.
Joint Ventures
Foreign investors may join with local investors to create a joint
venture company in which they share ownership and control.
For instance;
• Coca-Cola and Nestle joined forces to develop the
international market for “ready to drink” tea and coffee,
which currently sell in significant amounts in Japan.
• Procter & Gamble formed a joint venture with its Italian
archrival Fater to cover babies’ bottoms in the United
Kingdom and Italy.
• Whirlpool took a 53 percent stake in the Dutch electronics
group Philips’s white-goods business to leapfrog into the
European market.
A joint venture may be necessary or desirable for economic or
political reasons. The foreign firm might lack the financial,
physical, or managerial resources to undertake the venture alone;
or the foreign government might require joint ownership as a
condition for entry. Even corporate giants need joint ventures
to crack the toughest markets. When it wanted to enter China’s
ice cream market, Unilever joined forces with Sumstar, a state-
owned Chinese investment company. The venture’s general
manager says Sumstar’s help with the formidable Chinese
bureaucracy was crucial in getting a high-tech ice cream plant up
and running in just 12 months.
Joint ownership has certain drawbacks. The partners might
disagree over investment, marketing, or other policies. One
partner might want to reinvest earnings for growth, and the
other partner might want to declare more dividends. Joint
ownership can also prevent a multinational company from
carrying out specific manufacturing and marketing policies on a
worldwide basis.
Direct Investment
You must have seen your parents investing for your and their
safe and secure future, as you fear an insecure future; similarly
companies also have to invest for security and sustenance. The
ultimate form of foreign involvement is direct ownership of
foreign-based assembly or manufacturing facilities. The foreign
company can buy part or full interest in a local company or
builds its own facilities. If the TI1arket appears large enough,
foreign production facilities offer distinct advantages. First, the
firm secures cost economies in the form of cheaper labor or raw
materials, foreign-government investment incentives, and
freight savings. Second, the firm strengthens its image in the
hose country because it creates jobs. Third, the firm develops a
deeper relationship with government, customers, local suppli-
ers, and distributors, enabling it to adapt its products better to
the local environment. Fourth, the firm retains full control over
its investment and therefore can develop manufacturing and
marketing policies that serve its long-term international
objectives. Fifth, the firm assures itself access to the market in
case the hose country starts insisting that locally purchased
goods have domestic content.
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The man disadvantage of direct investment is that the firm
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exposes a large investment to risks such as blocked or devalued
currencies, worsening markets, or expropriation. The firm will
find it expensive to reduce or close down its operations, because
the host country might require substantial severance pay to the
employees.
Strategizing Your Next Move in The Global Game
Are you looking for ways to find new markets and customers?
Companies today realize marketing their brand and selling their
offerings only in the United States is becoming even more
challenging. Businesses are facing fiercer competition, smaller
customer segments resulting from corporate downsizing or
businesses closing their doors, as well as the change in con-
sumer-buying behaviors fueled by an unpredictable economy.
All types and sizes of companies in a variety of industries are
finding undertaking a global approach is imperative if they plan
to keep their competitive edge and secure their future survival.
Becoming a global player is even more of a necessity today.
Doing it well is critical to help ensure a smooth entry into new
marketplaces-and being fully prepared to “go global” is essential
to ensuring long-term success and meeting return on invest-
ment (ROI) expectations.
To do it right, businesses today have to be committed to
spending the quality time needed to strategize and test their
global game plan.
Too often we hear, “I have a global presence. The company’s
communication materials and vehicles are translated to speak to
our international audiences.” Unfortunately, translating one’s
Web site or print materials into different languages isn’t the
only requirement to ensuring your business is ready to “go
global.”
Understanding how your internal operations and employees
will function and manage a global business model is key to
getting out the gate with a running head start.
Why Globalize?
• Expansion into new markets = new revenue streams
• Create new distribution channels
• Increase market share
• Increase brand reach and awareness, introduce products/
service to new customer markets
• Adhere to the market’s needs and demands!
• Establish your brand as a global player giving your business
the competitive advantage
You may begin to ask, “What are the right questions to ask to
be sure we are prepared and capable at this time to ‘go global?’”
Or, “What if it doesn’t work?” Keep in mind you don’t have
to tackle all markets at once.
Develop a pilot program-focus on one market at a time
utilizing and leveraging what you learned in prior market
expansion practices to help enhance and strengthen new market
entries. The pilot approach will also help to gradually ease your
staff into their new roles in the global marketplace.
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 Here are some questions to begin with to help determine if and
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when your company will be ready to enter the global market-
place and what is needed to do so:
1. Is the corporate leadership committed and involved in going
global?
2. Who should be involved in our global game plan and
strategizing sessions? What are their specific roles and
responsibilities?
3. Have we done any market research to determine: What global
markets have a demand for our offering? Who would we
compete with in each market-how are we the same and
different? Does our offering (products/services) have to be
restructured or rebuilt to include specific features and
options?
4. What do we anticipate in operations cost increases? Does the
revenue potential in that market support that increase?
5. Does our enterprise system have the capability to support
multiple languages and currencies?
6. Should we acquire foreign companies or partner with existing
businesses in the local markets to support expansion
strategies? Or should we build our own operations?
7. What operations should be local and which ones should
not?
8. As we continue to enter new markets, how will we integrate
them into the overall marketing and communications
strategy as well as those operations and processes already in
place?
9. Will we need additional staff to provide language expertise
by market, cultural and geographical understanding, legal
support, etc.? Should this staff be localized in the areas we
do business in? Or should we consider outsourcing to those
who offer services to support our needs in key markets-i.e.,
multilingual contact centers to provide customer support or
warehousing for fulfillment and shipping?
10.Once our global game plan is finalized, how do we introduce
it to the entire organization to generate excitement,
ownership, accountability and enthusiasm? What marketing
and communication efforts should we focus on to launch
our new corporate international mission to our customers
and partners-should we focus domestically and/or globally?
If your organization is a pure dot-com or is interested in
“localizing” its Web site presence to support efforts in new
markets, then also ask yourself these types of questions:
I. Are the markets we are targeting equipped for Web
connectivity?
2. Have we done our homework prior to “building our online
presence” to completely understand our target market and its
local customers? Do we really know how our online audience
behaves, what their shopping traits are like, what payment
methods they use, what sort of information they need to
make a purchase and how do they want that presented to
them?
3. Have we localized our site graphics, content and navigational
structure to support the target audience and their cultural
preferences? Does our brand image (logo) and corporate
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message make sense to our target markets? Are our corporate
colors or content wording culturally offensive in anyway?
4. Who will manage the content on the site-updating, accuracy,
messaging, etc.? Do we have a qualified partner to help us
translate all our Web content? Does the partner have local
translators in country to do the translation? What portion of
the site and its content should be translated? Should the
content be translated verbatim to what we say in our local
language, or should we rewrite portions of it to better
communicate to our target audience?
5. Who will manage the site’s performance, daily functionality
challenges, IT, etc.?
6. What criteria will be used to measure the success (Return On
Investment) of our global expansion online?
7. Does our e-commerce site support the local-market currency/
conversion frequency, payment methods, taxes, tariffs, VATs,
language, logistics, supply chain fulfillment, customer service
and support, distribution channels, legal practices, etc. Do we
have technology to handle multilingual email inquiries,
accounting and payment needs, etc.?
8. Should we forge partnerships with individual banks to
handle our online transactions or with a “payment hub” that
already holds relationships with banks in specific markets?
9. Do we have a logistics partner(s) who understands global
shipping and handling requirements based on our
warehouses and ship-to markets?
While it is imperative for businesses looking to expand their
offerings to new markets and customer segments to gain
foothold in these markets, beware of the ‘must build’ mental-
ity. Take the time to ask the questions and challenge your
existing business strategies and practices before taking your
business to new frontiers.
You have one chance to make a positive impression, no matter
what market you are in! 10 Traits That Put You on Top of the
World:
In today’s turbulent global business environment, there is no
better time than now to put effective global leadership traits
into place. What are those traits? Here are my top-ten favorites
based on over 15 years of experience in running a global
enterprise:
1. Smarts. You don’t need Ivy League credentials.
Commonsense business judgment and a fair degree of
emotional intelligence will help you navigate most situations.
And be good at learning: processing lots of information,
analyzing data and forever refining your vision is a must when
you’re in unfamiliar territory.
2. Motivation. You’ve got to be a self-starter. When you’re
carving out your own path, you can’t expect round-the-clock
supervision and guidance. Don’t rely on anyone except yourself
to get you going - you must get you going.
3. Initiative. The more ambitious and innovative you are, the
greater the need to take an inspired action and make something
happen. Pick up the phone, send e-mail, jump in your car, ask a
question, make a contact, and make an offer. Put a process in
motion and reap the rewards.
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INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

see how tired you get. When you’re a global leader, you’ll be hit
with the equivalent of that run around the block at least a
hundred times day, and you’ll have to deal with it, tired or not.
And when you do close your eyes to sleep, put that time to
work - ask your creative unconscious what you should do or
where you should go next. Endless energy gets you places.
5. Perseverance. Keeping up the struggle when there’s no
tangible benefit in sight nor any sign of light at the end of the
tunnel takes perseverance. Keep at it. Even if you don’t like the
final result, at least you’ve produced something - and you can
always take it from there and improve.
6. Imaginative scope. There are idle daydreamers. There are
people with delusions of grandeur. And then there are global
leaders, who are capable of combining a vision of the seemingly
impossible with a plan to make it happen.
7. Positive attitude. Focusing on the good in any situation
doesn’t mean you’re naive. It means you do not want to waste
your time on negative thinking. Taking the constructive
approach seeing what your options and resources are, and
making use of them - will always get you somewhere.
8. Patience. International pursuits take time to develop.
Knowing when to remain calm and hang in there will increase
your chances for global success.
9. The four C’ s: Courage. Confidence. Conviction. Commu-
nication.
Courage - You must face painful issues, you must conquer
your fears, and you must confront adversity head-on in order to
grow. Moving forward at any pace when you’re dealing with the
unknown takes courage. Apply it in everything you do.
Confidence - Even if you don’t know what you’re doing, act as
if you do, and soon you’ll be convinced! Confidence comes
from knowing that you are in control of yourself, no matter
what happens to you. Conviction - Stick to what you stand for.
Demonstrate a willingness to live by your noblest values
regardless of consequences. Don’t forget that every day when
you wake up, you will have to face yourself and live with your
decisions.
Communication - Know how to talk to anyone, anywhere in
the world. Better yet, become an expert at listening. Communi-
cation skills and a keen insight into human nature helps you
motivate others to join you in getting a job done.
10. Showmanship. If you know you have what it takes to
become a global leader, get out there and toot your horn. How
else will the world know about you?
Global leadership doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a slow process
that requires thought, discipline and lots of hard work. Start
today by putting some of the Ten Traits into action. Maybe you
have the potential to become a global leader!

Notes -

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