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•	Vision
•	Objectives
•	Product & market position
•	Technical strengths, edge
•	International experience
•	Support capability

You need to know who you are before you begin international expansion. What is your corporate vision? Have this vision and its supporting objectives been clearly articulated and are they shared by all key managers? Do you see yourself as a potentially global company? Why or why not? What makes you a potentially global player?

And what is your international experience – with stocking distributors, independent agents, agents employed by you, licensees, contract manufacturers, joint ventures, local customs, and with actual foreign customers? Are you familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of alternative approaches? For example, if you have limited international experience, it may be too aggressive to begin by thinking about some kind of local production. Rather it may make sense to plan a staged international move beginning with exporting, learning how people behave in that market, and developing relationships. Perhaps then it would be appropriate to move slowly toward a joint venture or another type of in-country production arrangement based on solid experience.

It is also critically important to understand exactly how your products are differentiated in your home market. This addresses your product and market position. Generally, a well-differentiated product in your home market (especially in the US, the world leader in technology) will also be a strong candidate for foreign markets. Moreover, you may not have to think about local added value for a time. That is, the more a product is differentiated by unique or proprietary know-how or technology (technical strengths), the more likely it will be a strong export candidate. Conversely, the less differentiated it is, the more it will be driven by price due to competition and the more it will be necessary to consider local added value – assembly, some fabrication, etc. – to bring costs and prices down.

Last, you must know how to support international expansion. This means people and dollars. International sales do not come quickly, and breakeven can often take time to reach. In a typical entry process into a new market, it may take a year or more before revenue really starts flowing. But there is little sense in starting the process unless you can follow it through and be prepared for set- backs. As with everything, “if it were easy, everyone would do it.” Sometimes it is actually not too difficult, but it is rarely “easy,” and you must be prepared to support the effort to success.

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