2. Thinkglobalgrowth.com
Presentation Contents
• Think Global Growth – what we do
• Market entry – The Mistakes
• Focus on strategy
• Do the Research
• Venture Validate Each Stage
• Benchmark your Cost Base
• Importance of Local Business Culture
• Hire the “Right” People
• Questions
3. Thinkglobalgrowth.com
Think Global Growth Ltd
• TGG’s mission is to help clients work more effectively
across the boundaries of geography, market
conditions and culture.
• Our core areas of support are:
– Global Market Entry (outbound & inbound)
– Global Supply Chain
– Global Marketing Solutions
– Global Culture
– Global Outsourcing
– Global Financial Consulting
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Market Entry Mistakes
• Most companies face the same pitfalls when they enter
new markets
• Many Mistakes occur when a business reacts to market
developments; not investigating the market & not
adopting a strategic, long-term approach to ‘global’
• This presentation will signpost key areas and offer
guidance to avoid the most common mistakes.
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Focus on Global Strategy
• Step back before expanding your international footprint
• Be strategic; not reactive & take a longer term view
• Do you have the management bandwidth & knowledge ?
• Analyse your capacity for international expansion
• Is the timing right for expansion of your business?
• Where do you start? Which countries?
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Do the Appropriate Research
• Each global market is different
• Do qualitative research on each individual market.
• Perform Physical rather than desk-based research
• Seek expert local advice (don’t just believe prospective
business partners, distributors or agents)
• Never chose a distributor from a short-list of one
• Don’t sign “pan” India/China/Brazil etc. distributor
agreements
• Should you JV? It should usually be the last option
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Structuring your Entry Vehicle
• Perfecting the legal / ownership structure is critical
• Do not try to ‘wing it’ - seek good advice
• Avoid risky decisions…… this approach can very costly
• Do you need to set up a permanent establishment?
• Distributor network / direct sales / agency?
• You need to get this right from day minus one
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Venture Validate Each Stage
• New market entry involves risk
• Use a carefully staged approach in each new market
• Set targets and milestones as validation points
• Each local investment needs to be incremental when
the previous stage has been a success
Do not be afraid to accept if the plan is not working &
re-assess or even exit completely
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Benchmark Your Cost Base
• If you don’t start with a cost base which is appropriate to
local market conditions, your business will not succeed
• Local competition will be working at the lowest viable
local cost base
• Benchmark every cost before committing to anything
• Market share is important; profitability is more important
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Local Business Culture
• Cultural orientation - as critical tax & structuring issues
• Accept that you will be ignorant of many cultural
aspects in any new market
• Your own cultural background will create prejudices
that you must overcome when entering new markets.
• Cultural differences are much deeper than issues such
as handing over business cards in an appropriate way
• In most of the world relationship building is THE KEY
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Hire the “Right” People
• You are unlikely to succeed if you don’t find the right
people – that’s obvious
• But how do you know what ‘good’ looks like in a new
market?
• You may not be able to use your normal appraisal
criteria in a new market
• Good local advice is vital in this area
• Don’t rush into any key appointments – take your time
and play the field
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Final Thoughts
• Think beyond export to local presence
• Take a stepped approach
• Venture validate every stage
• Be realistic about time frames
• Be strategic not opportunistic
