Professional Support Services
Successfully launching a new international initiative (or re-directing an
existing one)
requires a broad range of specialized expertise, as well as an experience-based understanding of the
global marketplace and its current direction. If your organization can benefit from additional
support — when and as you need it — here are twelve critical areas in which it is
offered:
Foreign Market Analysis
If your business is venturing into the global marketplace for the first time — or
expanding its current global reach into unfamiliar territories — the importance of market
research and analysis should never be underestimated. Whether the required expertise to perform
these tasks comes from within your own organization or from external sources, the up-front
involvement of a Global Business Specialist, with a hands-on knowledge of the target market and
its regional economies, will always lead to more reliable and predictable results. Surprises can
often de-rail or, at the very least, delay promising initiatives.
In today’s dynamic global economy, individual markets can not be analyzed solely as standalone
entities. The constant interaction of developed, emerging and undeveloped economies within the
global marketplace impacts each market in multiple ways. Having said that, it is still important
to evaluate your specific target market in terms of its own growth capacity, entry barriers,
current and future competition, market gateway potential, localization issues, infrastructure
and human resource access, business customs, political and social trends ... as well as its
banking industry and currency stability.
Global Strategy Development
Global expansion, in any form, will add a significant layer of complexity to your organization’s
business model. But when a comprehensive strategy is well-founded, developed and implemented
with reasonable expectations, a judicious combination of resources, and a clear understanding of
the target market and its inherent risks, then globalizing can significantly improve your
overall growth rate and long-term stability.
In addition to adding new sales or project opportunities, there may be other reasons for
expanding beyond the comfort of your home market — for example, you may wish to secure
access to, or ownership of, natural resources overseas, take advantage of lower labour costs in
external markets, or acquire foreign companies that will enhance your market position at home
and aboard.
Strategies for achieving any of these goals are significantly different. And when developing
those global strategies, having access to an objective, external point of view can almost always
be invaluable. This is particularly true when a strategy is in its formative stage. The
involvement of a Global Business Specialist at this point in the business development process
can often save significant time and resources.
Business Writing & Live Presentation
When you add experienced "global" proposal and/or promotional writing expertise to your
organization, you instantly gain an ability to produce higher-quality, better-targeted, more
compelling presentations that are guaranteed to increase your competitive advantage as you
pursue high-value overseas projects, foreign asset acquisitions, partnership agreements, and
other major business opportunities in the global marketplace.
This specialized expertise, which includes document research, writing, editing, publication,
in-person presentation and globally-distributed project management, has been utilized for the
benefit of corporate, non-profit and government clients that operate within and across a wide
range of industries and economic sectors — in more than 30 different countries.
International Partnership Development
Establishing and growing new international partnerships can be critically important to your
future success. This aspect of globalization, as much as any other factor, can often make or
break your organization's potential to be profitable in a new market.
When circumstances allow, it is imperative to take the time to evaluate and verify a prospective
partner's financial stability, business integrity, ownership profile, past successes (and
failures), potential conflicts, and capacity for commitment.
Walking away from, or attempting to terminate, an ineffective or unproductive foreign
partnership — down the road, so to speak — may not always be possible, especially
when your capacity for success in a particular market is constrained over the long-term by legal
agreements.
Up-front due diligence and an objective view point (when pre-evaluating relationships) can
contribute substantially to your potential for success in any foreign market.
Overseas Agency Introduction
If your business has little or no local presence in an overseas market, strong in-market
representation, with the support of a reputable local agent, is almost always critical to your
success — especially if you intend to import your products into a new foreign
market.
In addition to dealing directly with your clients and helping you to grow your overseas sales, a
good agent can provide after-sales customer support, on-going market intelligence, and an
invaluable insight into local rules and regulations. Agents can also monitor branding and patent
infringements while leveraging their influence on local retail/wholesale networks as a means of
expanding your market share.
Inappropriate or ineffective agency agreements, however, can be very difficult to change once
you are operating within an overseas market — so the careful selection of a trustworthy
and committed agent is very important, and should not rely on unvalidated personal
recommendations or poorly-researched remotely-sourced information.
Global Consortia & Alliances
Companies form strategic global alliances for several reasons. They provide economies of scale,
enhanced competitiveness and market penetration, risk and investment sharing, technical synergy,
and combined resources for new product (and service) development. Consortia are also
synergistic, but instead of focusing on long-term joint market development, they are primarily
project-oriented.
Forming alliances can be a complex and long-term process — especially if prospective
partners come from different markets and business cultures. The potential benefits in this
regard, however, often far outweigh the initial investment in time and resources.
An intermediary who has experience working with cross-cultural business relationships, and is
familiar with the process of alliance formation, can provide invaluable “objective” advice and
assistance — both during the contracting stage and after the partnership is launched.
Cross-Cultural Negotiation & Contracting
Negotiating with foreign clients, contractors, potential partners, and public sector
representatives is one of the biggest challenges faced by businesses when expanding their
markets around the world.
In virtually every country (and sometimes even within a single region) local businesses,
entrepreneurs and government departments often handle, not only negotiations, but also
contracting, in a unique way. Choosing to rely heavily on a local partner to handle this
responsibility is often fraught with risks that can become quickly self-evident or, even worse,
apparent well down-the-road when contractual modifications can be difficult, if not impossible,
to achieve.
Understanding cross-cultural strategies, before negotiations begin, can provide a significant
advantage — both in terms of improving your potential for long-term success and reducing
the amount of time and resources you allocate to securing a mutually-beneficial agreement.
Intellectual Property Protection
By developing a well-researched and comprehensive IP strategy that is closely linked to your
organization’s business plan, you will be in a better position to understand how intellectual
property rights can support the achievement of your goals — especially in foreign markets.
IP rights can provide a foundation for international mergers, licensing, joint ventures, as well
as cross-border research and development agreements — but only if your IP rights are
properly protected across every applicable jurisdiction.
With keen market awareness and proper strategic planning, the potential for intellectual
property infringement in foreign jurisdictions can be mitigated — or often avoided all
together. But when conflicts and disputes arise, you may need to expeditiously seek and
negotiated a settlement in order to avoid considerable legal and regulatory expense, and/or the
possible loss of a lucrative overseas market.
Overseas Project Management
The management of overseas projects is always challenging, especially for organizations that are
operating — for the first time — in a new and unfamiliar location. On-the-ground
"expat" managers often face a stream of issues, including security risks, health concerns,
language barriers, employee housing and other logistic problems, local working expectations,
partnership conflicts, and cross-cultural relationships.
Fortunately, advances in technology and access to a widely-available global communications
network now allow on-site managers to be remotely supported (24/7) by a global project
management specialist — who can help reduce the impact, or (in many cases) avoid the
occurrence, of these types of distractive issues.
An online conferencing system, which can be used to provide "remote" project management support
(as described above), can also be used effectively to link together on-site project managers
with consultants, engineers, technicians, contractors, local partners, and end-client
representatives — regardless of their location.
Multinational Mobile & e-Marketing
With the number of world-wide smartphone and tablet users now approaching 3 billion,
opportunities are rapidly opening up for aggressive businesses that wish to set-up a global
"lean & agile" business presence, which is more cost-effective, less risky, and more pervasive
than has been possible in the past.
Mobile commerce is growing at a much faster pace than desktop e-commerce. This is primarily
because of the recent emergence of several innovative mobile technologies (especially in the
field of online payments) as exemplified by Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. More secure and stable
sites and apps — designed specifically for smartphones — are also helping to drive
this global trend.
If you have not yet considered a mobile strategy, now is the time to get started with the
support of a specialist who understands the applicable technologies — as well as the local
culture, social trends, and business customs in your overseas target market.
Business Video & Audio Productions
Video, which boosts the highest level of audience retention of any medium, is an extremely
effective tool for accelerating the global growth of your organization — especially when
the message you wish to convey is published online where its impact can be constantly felt
across multiple cultures and markets.
Major video and soundtrack productions have their place when launching a new and significant
global venture, but it is the professionally-produced, cost-effective, up-and-running-quickly
"micro" productions that often have the most persistent potential to sway the international
marketplace.
The capture, editing, production and publication of this type of content for a global audience,
however, can only be truly effective if it is conveyed correctly — in terms of its
language, style, visual and spoken references, setting and tone.
