Break Into New Markets with Excellent Global Planning

The world is becoming more homogenous with fewer distinctions between national markets. So, companies need to develop superlative global planning strategies to overcome environmental challenges and strong competition.

Failing to implement global planning can negatively impact your business’s growth and long-term success. Imagine bringing your products to the international market but suffering poor sales because of locals’ perception of your brand. How do you deal with these low numbers? What can you do to better market your services and/or products? How can you positively contribute to the local market?

Strategic global planning will help you understand the traditions and specific environmental factors in the new market and aid you in designing campaigns for investing in the community.

What is meant by “global planning”?

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One of the best ways companies can enter a new market is to learn about the local contexts and peculiarities of the new market while understanding the company’s strengths and competitive advantages.

Global planning entails assessing your company’s external and internal environments to develop strategies for new markets all over the globe. Assessing the internal environment helps companies leverage their strengths to overcome weaknesses. In this way, you can plan all the necessary steps to take on a new market by storm.

Gaps in the process

You may learn that your company lacks the necessary structure and technology to compete in international markets. Auditing might reveal the need for new technologies, human resources and more departments. The audit helps you understand how structure, communication methods, human capital, policies and technology can you achieve a global market result.

For instance, your current methods for catching up with employees might be fine for now, but that’s because everyone is probably in the same city or country.

When you expand your business globally, you need an automated solution to keep in touch with international colleagues. TimeTrack Auto Scheduling is an effective tool for ensuring less time wastage while promoting higher productivity and connecting everyone in various time zones.

In the same vein, an external audit can help you understand how environmental policies influence product design, how political instability can cause a loss in the currency’s value, how social norms may result in rejection of your product, and how technological support may be unavailable in the country.

It’s wise to remember that good leaders think of the bigger picture, which includes planning for failure. This means creating contingency plans and back-up options in case of any number of problems down the line.

 

Why global planning is key for your business

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Adopting strategic planning is a solid business practice to identify threats and opportunities in the desired business environment. A global plan also helps managers to:

• Formulate effective business strategies
• Quantify goals
• Ensure tactical plans
• Set corporate objectives
• Analyze the external and internal environments
• Define the company’s mission and vision

Global planning approaches for your business

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There are various global planning strategies you can implement for your organization. Begin with a team and management brainstorming and planning session for greater collaboration.

International strategy

• This is where your company produces in your home country but you export your products overseas.

Standardization strategy

• Ensures you produce and sell your products across all locations, ensuring consistency in product quality.

Multinational strategy

• In this strategy, you create different versions of your products for each location, catering for your business in different markets.

Case studies of global planning techniques

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• Netflix, a video streaming service, is a successful brand because of its multichannel, innovative, agile and integrated brand using customer-centric marketing across all stages of customer journeys.
• Coca-Cola is an international brand that still connects within small communities while infusing funds and time into small charities.
• McDonald’s maintains a consistent brand while bringing local flavor to some menu items.

Global strategies for international markets

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The points below will help you to go global with the right product offer.

Perform deep due diligence

Research and understand the overall impact the processes of going global will have on your business. A good point to start with is research. Perform a market segmentation analysis to determine the viability of your product in the local market. You should also prepare a gap analysis for your product. This process will help you understand if there will be demand when your product is launched.

You also need a critical task analysis in your global planning efforts. The process promotes easy planning by simplifying high-priority tasks into series of simple steps.

Carry out a SWOT analysis to gain insight into the competition and whether to price your product higher or lower. Consider market size and opportunities. Knowing how big the market is and how long your strategies will take to capture the estimated sales is vital.

Create a realistic business plan

Your strategic planning must cover the various market nuances that may arise due to cultural, economic, political conditions. This means you will have to define both long-term, medium and short-term strategies while setting reasonable and smart goals to measure cost/benefits and progress.

Define goals, business objectives and success metrics. Goals may include specific market share, sales numbers, high profitability, enhanced cost-efficiency, customer retention and growth. Develop a top-down annual budget and tactical plans.

Set up an agile team

Try to avoid launching with an executive from the parent company or building a local team from scratch. Rather, get senior interim managers to join top management in decision-making. Managers must have knowledge and interest in starting (essentially from scratch) to achieve the desired results.

Communication is key during this initial process.

Stay in touch by leveraging the best of modern technology to ensure everyone is on track. Any organization that wants to go global must show transparency in time tracking. TimeTrack Project Time Tracking saves hundreds of hours used in following manual processes while promoting transparent time tracking.

Is your product ready?

From your earlier gap analysis, you should now move further into higher impact product differentiation. Review the industry regulations to maintain compliance and access certifications where possible. You will need to determine if the brand needs localization and translation, as well as identifying patent requirements.

Consider testing and review/quality assurance based on local market standards while figuring out the local distribution networks and logistics.

Is your organization ready?

A new launch in a new country can take a toll on your company’s resources, so it’s best to avoid a one-size-fits-all strategy. Review the organizational structure and manuals for local compliance and ensure that your current staff aren’t spread too thin. Aim to develop local support structures and consider the development of infrastructure for local information technology which is compatible with community infrastructure.

Set up a fine market strategy

For effective market penetration, ensure cohesive and comprehensive planning, sales tactics, sales delivery, value proposition and marketing strategies. Determine the optimum sales model and pricing models.

Ensure legal, tax, and finance readiness

Prepare strong legal processes against litigious countries, being mindful of government requirements for legal documents. Put in place tax and finance infrastructure, risk management and cash repatriation plans.

Conclusion

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Expanding your business overseas can be both exciting and challenging. Take the time to invest in plenty of due diligence well in advance and be prepared to compile a comprehensive long-term roadmap.

Design a process that creates an efficient ecosystem for complementary services or products and invest in top talent to ensure success in the local context.