Is Your Business Reaching Its Full Scale on Global Markets?

Abstract

“What are your firm’s internationalization goals?” is the opening question of this book. An immediate answer may be that we go abroad to increase our revenues and profitability, but the matter is far more complex. We begin this chapter with the research evidence that an increase in international revenues does not necessarily bring an increase in profits. In fact, a firm’s motives for internationalizing may well go beyond short-term profitability objectives to include business diversification and risk management needs, geopolitical influence in the home country, or building a long-lasting competitive advantage by gaining access to globally located resources, skills, technologies and markets. To account for this, we propose an international strategy control panel, similar to the controls in an airplane cockpit, that allows you to maintain a comprehensive overview of your firm’s internationalization progress but also to focus your attention on one indicator at a time. Among internationalization goals, we draw your attention to an ambitious definition of your firm in global markets at full scale: the opportunity to eliminate internal and external constraints on reaching the full scalability of your business model.