Overseas Expansion: Proactive not Reactive

It is often the case that businesses begin their overseas expansion by exporting as this is the least expensive and least risky way of doing business. Some companies may appoint local agents or distributors. Large corporations with strong financial backing may even setup offices or acquire local businesses. Regardless of your method, though, it is undeniable that global business is fraught with many challenges. However, in spite of these challenges, it can equally be highly profitable and deeply rewarding. So, as you can see, it’s a little bit of a tricky situation…

However, don’t fret! Web-Translations are on hand to provide you with some tips that may just help you balance the risks of expansion with the benefits!

‘How is that possible?’ you may be thinking! Well, the answer comes down to your strategy. A strategy that rather than be passive, is actively working in your favour.

Reactive vs. Proactive Strategy

Most businesses take a reactive approach to international trade. In other words, if they receive an enquiry from a business in Barcelona, they may decide to begin overseas expansion into Spain. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with this approach but it’s a tad risky. After all, just because you’ve received an enquiry from one business doesn’t mean there must be a high demand in Spain.

A proactive strategy removes this element of unknown. It identifies the markets with the greatest demand. Below we have outlined some of the benefits of wielding a proactive expansion strategy:

• Control: Proactive strategies are superior because they grant you the freedom to make your own decisions rather than responding out of necessity to a situation.
• Crisis Management: Proactive strategies decrease the efforts you need to exert on crisis management. This is because increased planning reduces risk.
• Organisation: Proactive strategies often receive greater thought than reactive strategies. This means that more time and resources can be dedicated to a project.
• Prepare for the Future: If you are proactive, you are able to make the moves needed to position your organization at the forefront of innovation.
• Flexibility: Proactive companies tend to be more open to change as it’s a natural part of their organisation. This means they are more flexible and adaptive.

How to be Proactive in Overseas Expansion

One way you can implement a proactive overseas expansion strategy is through the creation of localised microsites. With this type of international market testing, you can avoid the cost of employing international staff, and use your website to market your product and/or service across the globe. By creating and promoting multilingual micro sites (based on your English website), you can attract millions of visitors that otherwise would not have found you in the search engines. From your visitor statistics, you will be able to see the number of visitors, measure enquires, and even serve international orders, depending on your business. Once you’ve ascertained where the demand is, then you can take localisation one step further, translating more pages of your website and constructing a broader campaign.

In short, therefore, a reactive approach carries a higher degree of chance. However, a proactive approach enables you to make an informed decision about your strategy.

Ask us now for help with your international expansion.