Strategic Solutions for International Business Expansion and Integration
At some point, every global company made the leap from a domestic business into an international enterprise with operations abroad. It’s no secret that a company’s first foray into establishing a line of business in another country requires a lot of careful deliberation, clear business goals, and expert consultants to help iron out the plan for the expansion and integration.
After evaluating if your business is ready to expand, the much more involved question of how you will integrate your business into a new region or country becomes the focus. What kind of impact will this expansion have on your core business systems? What kind of presence will you develop in this new region or country? Of course, the nature of your business goals will dictate the specific path your enterprise will take to establishing a foothold in a new country.
Establishing a Legal Entity for Global Business Expansion
So, the opportunity to expand is within your company’s grasp, which is why your business has made strategic decisions for expansion, although the particulars and execution of that plan are still opaque. Hiring experienced consultants who have specifically coached clients to reach that next level will help you determine answers to the most pertinent questions and streamline processes to make your expansion a successful reality.
From SSNW’s experience working with various clients, the most important question is if your enterprise will need to establish a new legal entity (most of the time it will). Below are a few questions that will help you decide:
Expectations and Considerations for Your Expansion
Will you establish a warehouse (or manufacturing facility) to service customers?
Will you need sales staff there?
Will you handle customs, or will you need a carrier to handle this?
Are there any restrictions on your products being sold, either by the originating country or the receiving country?
How will you handle various taxes?
Will differing privacy laws impact your processes and decision-making?
When looking to take your enterprise to the next level, it’s important to limit your risk exposure through careful and deliberate planning. Working with business consultants to iron out the details of your approach will help ensure your first expansion is smooth and successful, and ideally, they will be able to help you envision clearly how your ERP platform will handle the expansion and new business.
ERP Integration for Global Business Expansion
By the time you’ve decided to expand, you’ve positioned your software footprint to be robust and agile enough to handle the expansion. Ideally, your enterprise will be on one platform to offer a seamless experience to your employees and future operations. However, there are several considerations for the best way to integrate the expansion.
Will you need to support multiple languages for your product descriptions?
How will different time zones impact business processes?
How will you manage inventory within your extended territory?
Is your manufacturing plant and warehousing locations in different countries?
Will there be any differences in financial reporting?
Countries have different regulations for reporting financials and even specific requirements for invoicing that may need configuration within your ERP system.
Given the new territory, will there be new entry processes and a breakdown of sales reporting?
If there’s a change in processes, how will they be documented and communicated across your organization?
What kinds of tools or processes are best suited to handle the varying tax requirements such as paying VAT versus US sales tax?
Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP products enable opportunities for ROI
If this is your company’s first foray into a new country or territory, then your consultants should have the expertise to make executable suggestions for business integrations and software implementation and have the experience to know the steps to reach success. For instance, Strategic Solutions NW is experienced in both business analysis and technological integrations during expansion, acquisitions, and mergers. For one of our clients looking to reach global markets, we offered guidance on determining the perfect expansion partners so our client could retain their operations and reporting in the US. In another, more complex case, an agile team of SSNW consultants consolidated our client's global business onto a single ERP platform which streamlined their business processes across their sales teams, manufacturing plants, and global warehousing, while being able to capitalize on a keen reporting structure.
At Strategic Solutions NW, we apply a business-wide perspective to consulting and technology. We can assist enterprises that are preparing for global expansion and work with global companies to further optimize their technology.
Strategic Solutions NW is a tight-knit tech management consulting company headquartered in Beaverton, OR with clients around the world. We specialize in integrated software implementation and ERP project recovery. Our repertoire includes creating and managing the accounting function for multi-million dollar manufacturing enterprises with specialized forest product experience. Led by three partners with decades of experience in software and business solutions, we approach each client with a long-term relationship in mind, providing continued support and communication beyond project timelines. Contact us to take your enterprise to the next level.
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