Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom Being Too US-Centric is a Missed Opportunity

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom Being Too US-Centric is a Missed Opportunity A recentMcKinsey studyfound that while global U.S. companies only account for less than 1 percent of all U.S. companies, they earned 25 percent of total U.S. gross profits. But although internationally-minded firms are bigger and more successful, too many organizations don’t set their sights beyond our own country â€"hampering their growthand overall potential. Global operations offer organizations a slew of benefits, from establishing new markets for mature products and services and reducing dependence on an American customer base to boosting sales during slow periods in the U.S. and competing more effectively against foreign firms. Here’s the process for taking your business, products, and services overseas. Gather intelligence one country at a time Narrow your research efforts by starting with the most promising market. Does your product or service exist there already? If so, how is it doing? Who are your major competitors? Does the country in question have the infrastructure (i.e. availability of supplies, staff, physical accommodations, roads) to support your business? If you will be bringing a new product or service to this market, is it likely that it will sell well? After analyzing your market’s demographics and attitudes and deciding to move forward, you should prepare to adequately educate aculturally-diversecustomer base on the benefits of your offering. During your investigation, theDepartment of Commerce websiteas well asBuyUSA.gov,Export.gov, andTrade.govshould prove helpful. For more where this came from, head on over to Intuits Fast Track blog.