It’s a very exciting time when you are expanding a business abroad for the first time. To do so successfully international research has to be taken out to an extensive level. In this article, we will have a look at a few areas where research needs to be taken out and what to do with this research. Analysing why these specific areas are fundamental if you are going to be a success abroad.
Firstly, you cannot take for granted that the domestic market you are currently based in will translate perfectly into foreign markets. There can be several reasons why they differ, such as cultural and language differences/preferences, economic abilities, political differences, etc. This means your first step needs to be working out precisely what the market is for your product abroad. This might mean individually looking at these different external factors that can shift a market’s preferences compared to your domestic one. From this, you can work out how your current business model and your short/medium/long term business plan for your domestic market needs to be changed to be more tailored for your specific international market.
Once clear differences have been made between your current market and that you wish to expand upon, the next step is applying these differences to your product. For example, your product’s name might not translate correctly into your new market, so it might need a new name/rebranding when made available abroad.
Or it might not be the product itself that needs changes made to it. Instead, it might be the case that your current business structure cannot be recreated abroad to the same level of efficiency. This might be due to some of these differences discussed, or perhaps because of the scale of the expansion. This might affect anything from how management is structured, all the way through to how your product is marketed, in terms of both content and where/how it is advertised.
It is also important to understand more general differences in business between different countries. This might range from anything from business hours, to corporation tax (or a country’s equivalent to it). This broader research gives your company more of a chance of having a harmonious transition to an international market. As you’ll be less likely to hit bumps along the way of your expansions, thus saving time and money as you won’t have to constantly be readjusting plans and projections for the future.
