Common Globalization Strategies for SMBs Looking to Expand in Asia Pacific

Abstract

Abstract Is your energy business ready to go global? In today's market there are few companies that are able to strictly focus on domestic opportunities. Increased competition in saturated home markets offer stagnant returns and in order to achieve growth, a company must either innovate, explore opportunities in foreign markets or both. By internationalizing, a company can capture new market share and may achieve continuous business growth. To accomplish this however, a thorough examination of the barriers and key considerations is vital for companies who are considering taking their business to the international stage. To begin, a company should find a market for their goods and services and then plan, test and evaluate their internationalization strategy. By reviewing different models, theories and tools meant to assist a company when entering into the global economy, these findings and concepts are then applied to a case study of an oil and gas mid-sized service company which internationalized into the South East Asian market. The intent of the paper is to identify key external considerations that a small to mid-sized oilfield service company should be cognizant of prior to entering into a host market. For many businesses, the rewards far outweigh the risks when a company decides to internationalize. Ensuring they have a proper strategy will set the company up for success. Key global expansion considerations were validated during the initial phases of the internationalization process and after creating a roadmap for the case study oilfield service company as it expanded into South East Asia. Further, several recommendations were put forth. These included host regulatory environment risks, political stability and culture. The goal of this paper outlines how companies can follow their own path, rather than following a herd mentality to go global successfully.