International Marketing Strategy- Mode of Entry

How much does it cost to enter a foreign market?

A question I get asked all the time and, of course, there’s no simple answer, because it always goes back to the strategy. And your strategy has to have that mode-of-entry piece. How are we getting in, and what are we looking for? Are we seeking a partner who’s going to take this and put their wrapper on it and they’re going to market it? Are we looking for a partner that is a distributor? Are we going into Japan to partner with Mitsubishi? What is our mode of entry?

The other aspect is how does a firm actually rate a market? There are different strategies for different markets. Some markets will be very important and require more of a hands-on strategy and thus more dollars, and some won’t matter at all.