In a highly competitive business environment like the current one, global business expansion has become one of the cornerstones of any business growth strategy.
Although it’s a long, complex process, and not without risks, it’s one you can embark upon with confidence providing you set the objectives you wish to achieve and make sure they’re in line with the company’s internationalization plan.
It’s essential to thoroughly analyze what resources will be required to implement the project and begin operations in other countries, and to quantify the impact that this will have on the business.
Evaluate the demand for the product on offer, the needs of your potential customers and their purchasing power, as well as the necessary systems and infrastructure, the culture, history and social norms, all of which are key factors in determining the success of your global business expansion.
Identifying the market niche that your product or service can fill with a unique value proposition, clearly differentiated from those of your competitors will open the door to new markets.
Breaking down barriers
You must also consider the barriers you might come across, whether related to language, legislation or available means of payment, for example.
It is less risky if you channel your efforts into markets that do not represent an ambitious challenge or a huge initial investment, while always making sure you have the best translation and interpreting solutions for communicating effectively within every international market.
Just think, every market has a number of unique features. Special care must be taken with the cultural differences and customs of each market in order to be sure you have a committed work team for executing all your plans.
Quantify your opportunities
Set yourself reasonable short-, medium- and long-term goals that will enable you to measure the progress of the expansion.
Develop marketing, sales, pricing and customer loyalty procedures aligned with both your company’s strategy and the local conditions.
If you want to reduce risks in your global business expansion, opt for a moderate intervention approach. This will, in turn, enable you to make resource savings when learning about the legislation of other countries and to defer investments in infrastructure and other excessive costs while the company is still not performing solidly overseas.
Surround yourself with talent that support your global business expansion
To do this, your best option would be to start off by contracting the services of an Employer of Record, namely a company that hires local workers when it is not viable or the best time for you to set up a legal entity in the country.
Take full advantage of this human capital in the destination country. They are best able to provide a daily evaluation of your market penetration plans, which will enable you to make timely adjustments to any deviation.
They will also help you to identify opportunities that you might not have thought of before.
Consider giving online training courses in the native language to your employees and/or partners. Implementing your eLearning localization services helps improve your team’s productivity and generates engagement.
Technology is transforming the way we work and learn. Bulky printed manuals have been made obsolete by multimedia services packed full of content, and as frontiers dissolve and the audience becomes increasingly international, companies are faced with the challenge of communicating and making sure their message reaches the target audience.
Do your research and invest time in building relationships
However, if you choose to develop a product that enables your company to expand into other countries; set aside time for researching and testing the product in the destination country. In other words, the fact that it performs well in your domestic market doesn’t necessarily mean it will do so abroad.
Build up a network of contacts and partners within other countries’ markets to oversee the development of your product, identify new possibilities and remain in contact with the decision-makers.
Create partnerships with companies in your sector to make the most of synergies and expand more quickly and securely. However, to achieve this safely you will need to be thorough with any legal texts, making sure that these fully adhere to the country’s legal requirements, are valid and fulfill their purpose.
Whenever possible, avoid depending on funding sources and loans. One of the most beneficial ways of generating revenue and reinvesting it while you are increasing your share of the market is by launching a product that has very little competition onto the international market.
In short, before committing yourself to a global business expansion, make sure your entire team is focused on your company’s objectives and strategic plan. Once the decision has been taken, the language solutions provided by a company with proven experience in global business expansion projects such as SeproTec Multilingual Solutions can make your daily routine so much easier by providing you with assistance at every step of the process and helping to ensure that the first steps taken to increase your company’s global presence are the right ones.
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