International Expansion

The CEO of your firm has approached you with the new strategic plan. One key strategic thrust is to take your product (tangible specialty product/mid tech) and introduce it into an emerging market (India). One KSF is to maintain current margins while not compromising quality. A U.S. “process” (not product) patents exist on the entire product line. The primary competitor is located in Asia. In today's complex global business environment, what will be required to make this transition successful? Which strategy would you pursue? What are the risks? Use the readings to solidify your position!

Lets first look at the product they will be introducing: tangible specialty product in the mid tech range. Tangible products should be felt and held to a certain degree. Because this is true the company must consider logistics, for example storage, transport and delivery of this product; and the Indian culture should think no differently. Let’s say this product is a “mid range notebook”, not the cheapest and definitely not the most expensive. And according to Gardner leading worldwide information and technology research advisory firms there are five major players in this market:

Dell: 16.7%

Acer: 12.1%

HP: 11.2%

Lenovo: 10.4%

HCL: 6.6%

Others: 43.0%

If we want to introduce this product well we have to have a unique selling proposition much stronger than the two American companies that hold the greatest amount of market share in this industry. Gartner also suggests that the PC market in India grew in the second quarter of 2011 by 2.5 percent. “This growth was primarily driven by the mobile PC market which grew 17 percent year on year in the second quarter of 2011,” said Vishal Tripathi, principal research analyst at Gartner (Gartner). Our management team must tackle the complex challenges that affect our success in this industry. Each country is different, the dramatic differences India (cultural, demographic, and market conditions), the...