Market entry strategy consultants bridge the gap between inside information like engineering prowess, and critical external details like a lack of complimentary engineering talent in the new market. Companies that rely solely on inside information run the risk of failing in new markets due to inherent biases. Working with a market entry strategy consultant helps debunk such prejudices, offering objective insights that help to evaluate an opportunity rigorously.
Market entry strategy consultants provide such insights in three primary areas:
Target Market Research
Target market research provides companies with data that can help build a long-term post-entry competitive advantage. Market entry strategy consultants help with the following market research areas:
Opportunity Analysis
Opportunity analysis uncovers information on what opportunities and threats await a new market entrant. Within this analysis, the market entry strategy consultant will address:
Market Entry Recommendations
Market entry strategy consultants offer recommendations on market entry factors like timing, speed of entry, international market entry strategy, and type of entry. Some of the market entry options they will provide advice on are:
- Joint Ventures
- Buyouts
- Piggybacking
- Turnkey Projects
- Greenfield Investments
- Direct Exporting
- Licensing
- Franchising
- Partnering
- Mergers
Other recommendations the market entry strategy consultant will offer include post-analysis opportunity viability, potential entry-supporting partnerships, optimal business models, and an overall market entry strategy that ensures correct positioning and protection from potential threats.
Tips on How to Hire Market Entry Strategy Consultants
Working with the right market entry strategy consultant can help you avoid costly market entry mistakes like picking the wrong market, underestimating the market size, or using the wrong market entry approach. If so, what should you look for to ensure your selection from our panel of market entry strategy consultants is the right fit for your project?
While all MES consultants bring a standard mix of market entry strategy experience, skills, and soft skills vital to any market entry project, several considerations can help you to identify the right MES consultant for your project. These include experience related to market size, market location, target industry, entry method, financial modeling, and business models.
Market Size Experience
MES consultants bring a wealth of experience in handling entries into different market sizes. Market size is a crucial factor in market entry strategy because it underpins issues like economies of scale, cost of inputs and distribution, supply chain constraints, and marketing and sales reach. Working with an MES consultant with experience handling the market size you are targeting will ensure focus on the opportunity and threat components that matter most for that market size.
Market Location Experience
Working with an international market entry strategy consultant with extensive experience handling entries into specific geographical markets is crucial to infusing context to the entry process. They will provide mission-critical insights into social, cultural, political, technological, legal, historical, and geographical dependencies of entering the market. Through these insights, the MES consultant will develop either an international entry strategy or global entry strategy that fits with the target expansion markets while sidestepping potential location-based failure points that tend to sabotage otherwise successful market entry strategies.
Target Industry Experience
MES consultants with industry-specific market entry experience bring industry insider insights that can help propel a market entry to success. These insights include understanding industry-specific capabilities, costs, expansion techniques, industry life cycle, and competitive landscape. MES consultants with industry-specific experience also ensure faster onboarding and delivery of strategies based on a deep understanding of industry norms and dynamics.
Entry Method Experience
MES consultants tend to bring broad experience across different market entry methods, including partnerships, acquisitions, greenfield investments, among others. While this is a good thing, it pays to work with an MES consultant with extensive experience dealing with the market entry method or methods that you are targeting. If you are focusing on franchising as an entry method, picking an MES consultant with extensive local, regional, international, or global franchising experience will guarantee the best outcome.
Financial Modeling Experience
Financial modeling covers aspects like cost structures, inputs, sales forecasts, and revenue modeling, all of which MES consultants provide. Working with the right MES consultants can help include critical data in the financial models while eliminating inherent biases that often lead to cost overruns, revenue leaks, and opportunity blind spots. The resulting financial models can more accurately predict the impact of market entry decisions before making any investments.
Business Model Experience
MES consultants have deep experience helping companies deploy the right business models during market entries. Since business models rarely follow a one-size-fits-all pattern, it is crucial to work with an MES consultant with the experience to formulate innovative and robust market entry business models. They will also offer support on how to integrate different business models across an international or global business structure.
