International Business & U Do’s and Taboos of International Business Craig Maginness ExIn Global Strategies Denver, Colorado February 2013

Where in the World... ? What do our customers buy? - value proposition What’s our core competency? - value delivery How do we make money? - profit generation Who do we compete with? - competitive situation Does our business translate?

How Did We Wind Up Here? 80% of companies wind up in a foreign market because they reacted to an external event. -- a conference on China -- an order from Thailand -- a contact at a convention -- a rumor about a competitor

Failure or Success Simple Translation... or... Cultural Adaptation What do people consider valuable?

It’s Hard to Find Good Help TIME PATIENCE HONESTY TRUST But it doesn’t have to be

Corruption Conundrum American law the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Foreign law the economic hostage problem Market differentiation self select the good customers / suppliers from the bad

Internal Culture Shock tooling changes design preferences shipping logistics customer service inventory sku’s credit terms metrics who speaks the customer’s language? travel demands can we protect our IP? Does this lead to outsourcing? We’re not in Kansas anymore...

1.Be proactive -- Plan with intention 2.Do the due diligence –Be patient –Use available resources 3.Seek strategic alignment –Don’t let the tail wag the dog What to Do! Decide why and where you’re going before you decide how you’re going to get there.