Will Your Competitive Advantage Work in Other Markets?

When expanding into new, international markets, many companies assume that their existing competitive advantages will transfer over seamlessly. But of course, a strategy that’s been successful in one market won’t necessarily work in another. Through a series of more than 100 in-depth interviews with executives at multinational companies, the author identifies three hurdles that companies often face when attempting to translate an existing strategy into a new market: differences in the local competitive landscape, differences in local customer preferences, and limited willingness or ability to adapt to meet those local demands. In response to these challenges, the author suggests that companies should first acknowledge the problem, and then take one of three approaches: make small adjustments, develop entirely new competitive advantages, or leave the market entirely.