Advantage BSmart Company – How BSmart Company can aid your company expansion and internationalisation.
With our team of experienced Gap Analysis professionals as a company BSmart is well able to advise and assist your progression. It is recognised as a huge step to make in the current economic climate – but it has been said that there is never a better time to launch a new business or to expand an existing one than in a period of recession. The economic negativity that is mass produced in the media becomes what appears to be an insurmountable obstacle – an uncompromising mountain of pessimism. People become conditioned to expect the worst – if you allow yourself to be conditioned in this way you – and your company become a victim. On the contrary economic and welfare gains in internationalising your business by far outweigh what you may perceive as potential pitfalls and have indirect benefits such as learning and innovation – introducing from the experience new products, services and process innovations.
Key challenges identified that Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SME’s) face in International markets.
The most notable elements of the current wave of globalisation are:
· An unprecedented lowering of trade barriers worldwide.
· Vastly improved logistics and communications systems available to all companies.
· The information technology revolution which has opened the way for greater technology and knowledge exchanges and the advent of new types of economic transactions such as e-commerce.
This means that trade can be conducted cheaper, faster, easier and over larger distances and the advent of previously non tradable services. It has also incorporated lesser accessible markets and the large emerging global players of Brazil, China, India and Russia.
SMEs appear to go through a learning process when they engage in international activities. This process can be shaped by the size and the industrial sector of the firm. Each step of this learning process presents special challenges for SMEs. The set of firms that are not yet active exporters often underestimate the barriers present in the external business environment, such as those associated with financial matters and access to markets. They may also lack awareness of how their capabilities match the challenges of operating in international markets and also the knowledge about how to evaluate their capabilities in this respect. However, when these firms become engaged in international trading activity, there is increased awareness that the key barriers relate to the business environment and their own management capabilities rather than finance and access. Allow BSmart Company to lead your expansion and internationalisation project – we draw on our considerable knowledge and expertise in Gap Market Analysis to your best advantage.
BSmart Company can Identify international business opportunities, locate and analyse suitable markets
Because of the limits on the time, competency and financial resources available to SMEs, they often are not able to identify and pursue new international market opportunities. Even when they have identified a possible new market, they often experience real difficulties in accessing even the limited data available on which to assess expected profit and risk of doing business in that market. Often, when they are able to obtain data about the new market, it is frequently unreliable or outdated and so may open the business to additional risks if acted upon. Thus, identifying and accessing appropriate information, both from private and government sources, remains a key challenge for SMEs seeking to enter international markets. SMEs that are already established in international markets tend to have developed a greater competence, and the networks needed, to assess new markets. BSmart Company can Identify international business opportunities, locate and analyse suitable markets.
BSmart Company will contact potential overseas customers
Having identified an opportunity to internationalise SMEs face a variety of barriers, many of which are specific to their operations or industry. Those firms that are new to internationalising, in particular, lack knowledge on the best way to enter or to make the greatest use of a commercial engagement in that market. They also lack the ability to identify potential high-value customers in new markets. They may decide not to take-up the opportunity, or they may take an approach to the market which ends up being unsuccessful. BSmart Company will contact potential overseas customers and with its team of expert and multi lingual specialists there will be no barriers or language problems.
BSmart Company will obtain reliable foreign representation
The ability to get access to the right customers is a problem for any businesses seeking to enter an unfamiliar market. Many firms need to engage agents to represent and advance their interests in a target market. Large firms leverage their existing international staff in order to access new markets, but this is often not an option for SMEs. The process of engaging suitable agents and then of effectively managing them at a distance is complex and places a heavy additional demand on an SME manager’s time and capabilities. Agents are in high demand and an SME may be only one of the several clients whose interests the agent represents. There is also the risk that agents might also engage in business practices that are not supported by the SME, or deliberately promote their own interests over those of the SME. Distance means that the SME can often remain unaware of a problem for too long and getting remedies in a foreign jurisdiction may also prove problematic. In some cases, governments provide in-market support for their firms, but again the service provided and the time allocated to the interests of an individual SME by such agents may be limited. However, managing foreign representation is a skill that can be built up by the SME, with experience. By choosing BSmart Company to work alongside you gain the complete services of the company, to include legal representation, where required. An experienced professional is assigned to your company, there is no overlap with other case files.
BSmart Company working at accessing finance for internationalisation
Firms seeking to enter new markets can face shortages of working capital. This can be due to difficulties in obtaining finance, because funders have a higher perception of risks based on concerns about exchange rate volatility, differing regulatory environments in the target market, perceived cultural difficulties and, in some cases, political risks. Also, entering new markets places increased demands on the financial and management skills of a business, including understanding the use of more sophisticated financial instruments, the ability to assess risk and to grant credit to clients, the collection of payments and contract enforcement. In some economies, the problem may be the lack of financial institutions with the experience of funding internationalisation efforts. Access to finance appears to become less of a problem for SMEs after they have become active in international markets, but at that initial stage of entering into an international marketplace, BSmart Company will work in conjunction with your company officers to obtain the best deal available to sustain the internationalisation project.
BSmart Company with its professional advisers cushions the need to allocate managerial time to deal with internationalisation, reporting back to you on an agreed timeline.
Time is probably the most limited resource available to any SME owner. The daily struggle to maintain the viability of the business often crowds-out new, future and forward thinking. The time and effort to gain entry into international markets therefore pose considerable risks to the viability of the business as a whole and the owner’s risk aversion becomes a barrier to an SME seeking market access.
Partnering with BSmart Company negates the requirement to engage specialist staff to assist with the management of international markets – BSmart Company has professional advisers who will engage in and oversee the internationalisation project.
- It is difficult for any firm to enter and then establish itself in a new market. Even when it is necessary, SMEs often cannot afford to retain specialist staff to set-up and manage their international operations. Technical, legal, marketing, e-commerce and supply-chain management expertise are often required for the operations to be successful. These skills are in short supply worldwide and are often only available in large multinational enterprises.
- Meeting the costs of accessing markets – Managing the costs over which the business has limited influence (e.g. in-market transportation and distribution costs) is often a problem, although the intensity of this problem will differ according to the market to which the SME wants to have access. The internationalising SME faces costs of travelling to or getting goods to the market that are not faced by local competitors.
- Dealing with anti-competitive behaviour – SMEs may face anti-competitive behaviour by local firms or governments (e.g. charging foreign firms fees that are not imposed on local producers, special licensing for foreign service providers) or by competing foreign firms (e.g. dumping).
- Difficulties in accessing or identifying support from government - In some economies there is little effective government support and assistance available to firms wishing to access international markets. In other economies there are programmes, but SMEs often do not know about them or how to access them. Where they do, the process of gaining support often appears complex, time-consuming and burdensome. Therefore, SMEs often choose not to use the support available, although the majority of those that take advantage of it judge the assistance to be useful. Similarly support is sometimes available to attract business to enter a new market – but usually that is only for larger firms or for select groups of smaller firms.
BSmart Company a professional in gap analysis and management of internationalisation for business – import and export. To contact BSmart Company with your project initially by email – bsmart@irl353.com