Many companies approach foreign market entry strategies from a reactive, opportunistic angle – they receive an enquiry through their website from a particular country and then that territory becomes their main overseas focus. On reflection though that territory might be completely inappropriate, offering little potential beyond the initial enquiry and draining precious senior management bandwidth from other more pressing corporate issues or from countries with much greater potential.

Or maybe they meet somebody on a Trade Mission who promises the earth. A distribution agreement is agreed; targets are set but over time very little is actually delivered. The client then finds the original distribution agreement difficult to terminate and is effectively locked out of what could have been a very lucrative market.

It important that each step on the international journey is validated and key milestones are built into any plan to ensure that all risks are minimised and opportunities grasped.