By Grant Hall.  Founder of League Cultural Diplomacy

Follow @grantleehall

This post is part of the Going Global segment of where words fail

Welcome to the Going Global segment of where words fail.  Going Global is written to help businesses that are in the early days of internationalising.  I will provide an introduction to various international business strategies and offer tips, insights and case studies.  Much of Going Global will be based on academic research that I undertook in International Business Strategy at the University of South Australia.  I’ll also write about why I decided to go global with my own business and how I progress in forging a global business.

In the course of the Going Global series I will introduce you to some leading international business strategists, academics and writers (including bloggers).  One such luminary you should get to know is George Yip; in this blog I will use the term ‘global’ in the sense that Yip uses the term in his book Total Global Strategy II:

The global company does not have to be everywhere, but it has the capability to go anywhere, deploy any assets and access any resources, and it maximises its profits on a global basis[1].

My business, League Cultural Diplomacy (LCD), is a global business.  LCD is not restricted to trading in a single market – even though I’m currently LCD’s only full-time staff member and it’s a small business.  In fact, I doubt my business could thrive by operating in a single region.  Reducing reliance on a single market is one of the main reasons many companies decide to go global – but there are many other reasons as well.

An Entrepreneur piece titled How to Take Your Company Global says that by going global:

1. You can extend the sales life of existing products and services by finding new markets to sell them in
2. You can reduce your dependence on the markets you have developed (in your home country)
3. If your business is plagued by destabilizing fluctuations in your markets due to seasonal changes or demand cycles, you can even out your sales by tapping markets with different or even countercyclical fluctuations.
4. You can exploit corporate technology and know-how
5. You’ll learn how to compete against foreign companies-and even take the battle to them on their own ground[2]

Stephen Johnson in a blog titled Why Go Global? 6 Benefits of International Expansion, recommends going global because;

6. You will have more customers
7. You will have access to a larger talent pool
8. You will have more profits
9. You will become more efficient
10. You will iterate faster and create better products
11. It’s the future[3]

Joel Backaler, in a post for Forbes titled 5 Reasons Why Chinese Companies Go Global highlights how going global can allow you to:

12. Enter new markets
13. Access advanced technologies
14. Incorporate global management expertise
15. Acquire established brands
16. Become ‘National Champions’[4]

It’s worthy of your time to read each of the above blogs which unpack each of these benefits in further detail.

Our new globalised world provides both opportunities and threats to businesses.  Businesses have new opportunities to find growth in new markets, but new threats emerge because foreign businesses can set up next door to you in direct competition.  Be aware that when a foreign business does set up on your turf in direct opposition it’s likely they will have superior competitive advantages, such as access to cheap foreign labor or government subsidies from their home country.  This will make it difficult for you to remain competitive in your home market.  The best thing a business can do to reduce the risk of a direct foreign competitor is to be ready to also compete in overseas markets.

And when you are ready to internationalise your business, get in touch with me to make sure your have the cultural aspects of you operations right before you open your first office.

Welcome to my Going Global blog segment.

If you enjoyed this post, I’d be very grateful if you’d help it spread by emailing it to a friend or by sharing it. Thank you!

                                                       —Grant Hall, where words fail

Update: Check out the followup to this post – Globalise Yourself

 Endnotes, sources and photo credits are listed on the next page