Dynamic checklist for a company considering exporting outside its strong home market and facing foreign competitors in its home market
Topic | Recommended strategy |
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Your company | |
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Highly reliant? Move with caution. Highly profitable? Prepare for entry by overseas competitors |
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Well organized? Proceed with caution. Need to organize? Undertake full evaluation before exporting. |
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Only able to sell your home-based product? Move with caution.
Able to offer something different but not superior? Better but not a strong basis in itself for exporting. Something superior? A clear basis for exporting |
Your home markets | |
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Fast? Tackle these first.
Slow? Possible to look to export opportunities. |
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High share? Defend home market.
Leadership? Defend. Fragmented? Not so important to defend |
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Important? Maybe export markets would offer wider sales scope, but competitors will also see this. Same true for R&D. |
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Loyal? Defend without doubt.
Move easily? Maybe still defend by building loyalty and beware overseas competitors coming in to steal your customers! |
Competitors in your home markets | |
Or are they mainly international competitors either through imports or through manufacturing in your home market? |
Home market competitors? Defend
From outside? Attacking their territory may be a useful form of defence. But depends on what resources and success foreign competitors have in their home markets. |
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Not much? Defend until clarified
A great deal? Act accordingly. |
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Foreign competition waiting to attack now or soon? First priority is not export but defending the home market. |
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Full frontal assault? Probably need to defend.
Niche attack? Can be dangerous, especially if innovative – analyze and defend. |
Your home and export costs | |
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Significant? Expect potential competitors to think hard before entering your markets and you should think hard before exporting
Cheap? Expect competition |
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Major capital costs involved? If so, then both your own strategies and those of your competitors will be predictable for some months or years ahead: watch the markets. |
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Expensive? Important to consider implications
Cheap and simple? Useful opportunity, especially if economies of scope and scale also available. |