I'm looking for examples of what needs to be done right and what should not be done (wrong). To my mind, some of the questions that need to be answered are: What are they offering (goods or services). Value proposition; why would I buy from them? Where the company might be located. Are there any countries that would be more difficult to market? (i.e., India, Iran, Argentina, Nigeria, Poland, Croatia) Would the above be impacted by the goods or services delivered? Do they need a US address and telephone number? Do they need a US
What issues do you see for a Foreign Company opening its doors in the US
Answers
Wayne,
It's about competitive advantage. Labor costs low in China; open a sales office here. You want to innovate and crank up your sales elsewhere; open up an R&D office.
The ones that get it wrong are often coming from protected markets (say, a country-specific phone company), or from underdeveloped markets (where their innovation could be archaic to us).
Areas that are good to target tend to be mature (autos) or highly regulated (pharma) or have a natural disadvantage (mfg, through overall cost structure).
A good reason to come over is if you have a beach-head customer. That, or you've identified a core advantage, and are willing to spend the money to exploit it.
Huawei is currently making broad inroads, for example. They've got huge capital behind them, and (unlike their errors 15 years ago) are using this as an opportunity to innovate by competing directly against the big, less-innovative entrenched players.
KP
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