When businesses decide to move abroad, the risks can be great, and some don't make the transition. We examine the key pitfalls of a business move abroad.

1. The challenges of breaking into foreign
markets

2. Moving or expanding your business abroad is
a daunting task, and some business don’t
make the transition.
It becomes a question of translating a
business model abroad, which can have
mixed success when you’re dealing with a
new and foreign market.
As an international removal company, we
thought we’d share some examples of what
companies need to consider, and where they
can go wrong.

3. This may seem like an obvious point, but
cultural practices and different ways of doing
business can make or break your
organisation.
Let’s look at a case study…..

4. Wal-Mart moves to
Germany
Wal-Mart’s expansion
didn’t go as planned.
Problems with visual
merchandising, and
the employees’ overly
enthusiastic attitude
with customers,
didn’t fit with German
culture.
Home Improvement
fails to crack China
This was down to the
cultural habits of the
consumers.
China has a very
different model of
home ownership and
home décor, which
wasn’t accounted for
by Home
Improvement

5. Whilst most successful international
companies will pride themselves on their core
values, flexibility in a new marketplace is key.
This involves not departing from your core
message too much, but also adapting to you
new customer base.
A good example is IKEA, which manufactured
bigger drinking glasses to fit in with its new,
US market when it began trading in America.

6. Big international corporations will most likely
not vary their product lines too much across
borders, with companies such as IKEA and
Lush retaining their identity across borders.
That said, the best companies will be flexible
in terms of how they market their products to
different consumers in different countries.
To use the example of Bliss, they knew not to
sell bath products in hot countries, as baths
were probably less commonplace.

7. Serving international markets involves
opening up infrastructure.
Logistics can cover everything from the
number of warehouses a company has, to
how it handles payment details and deals
with new technology.
Even factors such as bandwidth on
broadband can affect business efficacy.