| Client
Services
IMS works with clients to bring about cost-efficient entry
and expansion in international markets. Cost-efficiency
is accomplished by augmenting client management—as needed—with
interrelated core competencies in the areas of
strategic planning, market research, marketing, finance, information
technology and training, and government relations. The effect
is to facilitate movement into the international arena by overcoming
the obstacles of insufficient management resources, reducing the
time required to accomplish client goals and objectives, and minimizing
the risks of failure because of efforts that are too narrowly
focused.
The IMS Leadership Team
forms a core of senior executives that will organize an entry
or expansion effort that conforms to your goals and objectives
and timing, as well as internal capabilities and resources.
The following typify the critical areas in initiating and sustaining
an international presence—and indicate how IMS core
competencies will bolster your management resources,
and why they may be needed when expanding operations in the international
arena:
Comprehensive planning needed
for international market entry or expansion
Entry strategies are key to expanding
and sustaining market development
Knowledge management—linchpin
to IT, management education, and training
Financing can benefit from global financial
market integration and local incentives
Government development policies
can help or hinder market entry or expansion
Comprehensive planning needed for international market
entry or expansion
 Globalization
presents unique, multifaceted challenges requiring a dedicated planning effort. International market entry and
expansion, for example, are inherently more difficult than accomplishing similar goals in your domestic market.
The reason is straightforward: The international marketplace and investment environment is much less familiar. You
can make far fewer assumptions concerning the impact and prospective results of your investment plans. To cite
some examples:
- Local competitors are relatively unknown
- Distribution systems may be significantly different from what
you are used to at home
- Merchandising and branding have to be evaluated in light of
differing customs, values, and traditions in the host country
- Government trade and development policies are likely to have
a major impact
- · Legal systems are different; laws are different; e.g.,
intellectual property protection
- Indigenous labor and management skills may not be up to par and have to be upgraded
- Your own company’s international management skills may also need upgrading
- IT systems may have to be upgraded, often requiring additional training
- Options in financing need to be explored—they many not resemble what you’re used to, either by type or source.
This array of potential issues in international operations is likely to be tougher to handle compared to your home
country. And this is where IMS’s expertise comes in.
The core competency paradigm begins with comprehensive strategic planning that is centered on interrelated
functions that are critical to effective entry and expansion. IMS, working as a team, and in conjunction with
client management, focuses on critical needs in marketing (incl. market surveys and market research) and operational
strategies, government relations (including legal issues), personnel training, IT/knowledge management, and finance
to establish key priorities that are critical to successful implementation of corporate strategy.
The overriding IMS goal is to get clients up and running in the host country environment as quickly and
expeditiously as possible, and the same time minimize the inherent risks of new operations in unfamiliar
surroundings.
<<top of page
International market entry strategy is key to expanding and sustaining market development
Getting off on the right foot is no less desirable in foreign operations than anywhere else. Effective
entry into a foreign market must be preceded by extensive business research, covering a host of issues.
If ever a situation presented itself, where, to quote a well-known shibboleth, “the devil is in the
details”, it is in the market entry process.
Whether you are looking for new market or low-cost manufacturing sites, the process of entry can
be very complicated and at times frustrating. Many companies try to rush the entry process and
expect results similar to those appropriate for domestic market expansion. Often such time schedules
and expectations are unrealistic. Unfortunately, an ineffective entry has long term consequences in
extending and sustaining market development.
Effective market entry requires laying the groundwork through
International market entry strategy runs the gamut from exporting to third party sales agents,
to setting up a sales and distribution network, to establishing a manufacturing base. Implementation
options range from merger and acquisition, to joint venture, to wholly-owned subsidiary. Choice of the
optimum entry strategy is a function of the country involved, company resources, and the overall
company strategy with regard to global expansion.
IMS helps to develop entry strategies that work—pouring over the details, yet getting the
international venture, whatever its initial form, up and running in a cost-efficient manner that
minimizes the risk of poor results. Entry strategies and prospects are thoroughly examined from
the perspective of IMS core competencies and in close collaboration with your international entry
team.
<<top
of page
Knowledge management—linchpin to IT, management
education, and training
 Knowledge
management elevates the highly technical aspects of computer information systems, or IT, to the level of
user-friendly effectiveness. Thus, a company’s computer system with its servers, workstations, and networks,
becomes an effective tool in achieving the broader goals of the business enterprise. Effective integration
of an international business information technology can be as complex as it is necessary.
Insofar as IT is concerned, the international business environment will present challenges that range
from the highly technical, such as building a secure information network across considerable distances, to
procedural documentation that assures the specifics of data entry and report generation are fully understood
by the personnel involved.
The umbrella of knowledge management encompasses education and training. IT is often the delivery system
for training disciplines. Education is the process of orienting management and labor personnel to the broader
perspectives of implementing a new system or application. The objective with regard to management is to bring
managers up to a level where they can effectively implement, monitor, and evaluate the systems and processes
which are under their control and direction. The education effort can be directed to home or host country
managers, as such needs are identified.
Training can be viewed as the effort of upgrading the skills of workers so that they can effectively take
on tasks within a system or process; e.g., on an assembly line, forms processing, data entry, telephone skills,
etc. International market entry is almost always faced with the challenges of upgrading and modifying worker
skills. This particularly true when there are substantial cultural differences between home country managers
and host country managers and work force.
IMS, in recognizing the important linkages between IT, education, and training—the key components of knowledge
management—is able to pinpoint needs across this range of requirements, giving proper emphasis to its various aspects
<<top
of page
Financing can benefit from global financial market integration
and local incentives
 International
capital markets have grown apace with the significant increases in international trade and foreign direct
investment. If it is largely unnecessary to consider the many options of international finance in the home
market, the financial management of a firm will have that opportunity when taking up operations abroad.
IMS can help work out a cohesive financial strategy to back up the client’s operations strategy. IMS will
look to the issues of financial structure, accessibility to financial markets for funds sources, securing the
lowest possible cost of capital, and minimizing the risk of fluctuating exchange rates.
<<top
of page
Government development policies can help or hinder market
entry or expansion
 Operating
abroad invariably raises issues of host country development policies, import restrictions and tariffs, taxation,
and other forms of governmental control and regulation. These can bear little resemblance to the home country
environment. Moreover, developing nations, such as China, India, Vietnam, and many others, focus development
in what they consider to be key industries. Textiles, for example, continue to be a key stepping stone for
many developing countries into the age of globalization.
IMS seeks to let this unfamiliar environment work for you, rather than simply present obstacles. For example,
many emerging economies have developmental priorities that may not be directly related to business operations,
but that are of significant importance to societies in transition. Worker skills and worker training are often
a key governmental goal. Companies that can offer such opportunities for the host country workforce not only
enhance their credibility and reputation as good corporate citizens, but enjoy substantially more cooperation
from government officials.
<<top of page
|
