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To 'Go International,' Size Doesn't Matter

by Virginia Cutchin

Dame Anita Roddick, the British activist and businesswoman most famous for founding The Body Shop, once said, "If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room."

I help my clients live that truth every day. I provide cross-cultural training for professionals who are relocating overseas because the company they work for:

• Identified an innovation, or cheaper source of labor or resources in a foreign market than exists at home
• Established a presence in a foreign market in order to gain market share there, to boost overall share price or enhance competitive advantage
• Wants to prepare the local workforce to assume executive roles

It's obvious that these companies believe that just one person going to a new place will make a difference. By the same token, your business could very well make all the difference to a customer in another country who's just waiting for your product or service.

Notice that I didn't make any reference to company size, whether in number of employees or annual revenue. In my experience, examples abound of relatively small companies that have a legitimate international presence. These companies succeed because they address, in company-specific ways, all of the critical components of "going international"—and size appears not to be one of them.

If you're looking for opportunities overseas, a good place to find the right international market for your business starts with a search of government and business databases, including the National Trade Database, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Small Business Administration, Bureau of Data Statistics, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, or the International Trade Administration.

Business literature describes international business activities as quantitative, qualitative, or both. Companies engaged in quantitative international business own assets, have a footprint, operate a plant, receive revenue and pay foreign taxes and employ members of the host workforce in another country.

Companies engaged in qualitative international business interact with companies in other markets primarily through consulting services and advice, such as marketing or accounting, but do not engage in actual revenue-generating activity nor receive any revenue in the host country or countries.

So size doesn't necessarily influence a company's choice of which category of activity to pursue. Aside from all of the standard international marketing considerations, the most critical decision is where and in what proportion to put available dollars. It's proportion that matters, not size.

This is Part I of a two-part series. The next article will identify meaningful sources and resources to help you determine if, and where, you are ready to "go international." And you'll continue to see that size doesn't matter.