About the Author
Jim Montague is the executive editor for Control. Email him at [email protected].
Just as you can travel to new places by trains, planes, automobiles or hot air balloons, there are many different arrangements and partnerships you can use to market, sell and deliver machines once you get there.
SEE ALSO: Building Partnerships Promotes Profitability
- Purchase a local equipment manufacturer or distributor, and establish a wholly owned subsidiary within the home company. Or, set up a local branch office, and deploy staff consisting of foreign and local employees. Capitalize on different talents of each group, but train around common business and service goals. In general, staffing and opening a foreign branch or buying a local company to sell machines means more cost and risk, but can generate more potential revenue.
- Investigate and establish a joint venture with a local partner firm, and be devoted to supporting it over a long term. Or, contract at different levels with a local company or sales representative, and define and rely on useful capabilities of each partner. These can include the initial machine builder's technical know-how and the local organization's expertise in navigating the new market, finding customers and complying with local regulations.
- Contact a local distributor, OEM or system integrator to resell your equipment in the new market, or allow the local OEM or other firm to private label and sell your machines and equipment under its name. Generally, selling or private labeling through a local company means less expense and risk, but it also likely returns less revenue to the original builder.
This sidebar is part of the August 2013 cover story "How Machine OEMs Build Global Connections."
