Services
Even your own neighborhood, with its familiar homes, roads and signs, looks different in the dark. Many business disciplines like sales and financial transactions also have a disconcerting mix of different and similar in other markets. The foreign rules, language, culture, and practices can make them feel unfamiliar, sometimes uncomfortable. We can help, even if it’s just explaining them in common terms.
Sales Development and Marketing
The most common client service we provide is help analyzing the opportunity for an existing product, or something similar, in a new market. This includes research into local needs and usage, pricing and costs, and regulatory. Product and positioning, competition, sales coverage/representation models get explored - so you have an comprehensive overview of the opportunity to compare it with others.
Another common service is a strategic review on brand and product positioning; which can be a challenge done with inside resources. Also, a consideration of new marketing methods, especially with evolving digital and social media resources. Internationally, these are quite different from your US/Canadian experience.
Strategy, Corporate Development, Acquisitions
For over a decade we have been advising executive teams on partners and acquisition targets in other markets which often represents a reduced risk path of entry, albeit complicated. Lets be clear, we're not your foreign bank nor lawyer although we can help you select them if you need. We're the knowledgeable, or connected to a knowledgeable, resource who quietly researches and explores for you. Or we'll simply help you frame the questions and probable sources for answers.
Accounting, Finance, Tax
These departments require expertise, local expertise. Connecting and bridging the local information usefully to US management requires both understanding the foreign market as well as the implications of the information. How you view uncertainty, risk, and procedural ambiguity can factor in as much as market unfamiliarity and different regulations. Then there's the exchange rate conversations to make it more complicated. We can explain it all.
Import/Export versus Local Manufacturing, and relatedly Intellectual Property concerns
This balancing act for cost reasons gets complicated with product volumes, time values, accounting metrics - to say nothing of the intellectual property, trade secrets, and competitive issues. We can help you choose your vendors for logistics to contract manufacture, and evaluate them. We can also help you get something moved from A to B successfully and quietly.
Human Resources
One of the most complex fields we advise clients upon is in people selection and building local team. From local practices in recruiting, relocation of expats, regulations for compensation and employment, leveraging video conferences - there's a lot to know. After doing it around the world, we've learned how to help you implement it your way, where you want to go.
So let's talk about where you want to go, and with what you think you might need assistance. No obligation.