Answer

Globalization is the trend that most companies are embracing. Globalization means processes of integrating a country’s economy with that of rest of the countries across the world. The globalization pace has increased as a result of customer preferences, the opening up of different national economies, the institution of international trade agreements, and saturated local marketplaces, among other reasons. There are several reasons why firms globalize their operations: growth (finding untapped, new marketplaces for the company’s existing products), efficiency (seeking for economies of scale or scope, employing cheaper resources), knowledge (acquiring talent and skilled labour in other nations, getting technologies), and competition (grabbing the first mover edge in emerging economies), among others. To globally expand, companies need to make dramatic changes in their management strategies, taking into consideration market trends, logistics or supply chain, competitive assessment, assessment of present activities and cost efficiency, and innovation process. It is against this backdrop that this paper aims at conducting an evaluation and analysis of market entry risks associated with the entry of a U.S.-based company planning to enter an emerging market opportunity in India and making recommendations that would see the company grow in the economy.

1. Potential Risks the Company Is Likely To Encounters in India

Entering any single marketplace, regardless of how much research has been conducted, often has its risks. An organization or company has to be informed of what they are looking forward to realizing or desiring to realize in a new oversea marketplace. There are a number of risks that the company is likely to face in entering the new market. First is financial loss. The United States (U.S.) company will be making a crucial investment in India. The U.S.-based company needs to purchase or build a manufacturing plant. The company can also strike an agreement with some local facility owner to secure and obtain a manufacturing location. These options posse potential financial loss risks in the event that the products are unsuccessful after making crucial investment, resulting in the firm’s revenue loss. Second are the personnel risks. The company should employ and hire Indian workers at their intended facility. Some personnel risks in this case scenario could be job satisfaction, disagreement between owners, and unsafe practices.  Disagreements could emerge between owners as a result of cultural barriers. Cultural norms and practices may vary between India and the U.S., resulting in possible quarrels. In the scenario, employees may fail to enjoy the work or responsibility being required of them or may as well feel that their wages are not commensurate with the work they are doing. Additionally, as a result of the facility being situated outside the U.S., possibilities of unsafe practices are likely to be experienced since the company will not be able to closely monitor the outlet in India.

Third, the company will also have the risk of finding the target marketplace and customers along with the product durability, particularly in harsh weather conditions.  These have huge economics implications, particularly with regard to foreign market economies and currency exchange rates and the foreign country may not be stable economically. It will be the duty of the manufacturing company to understand the cost implications of starting the company in India as well as knowing the regulations and laws in India and India’s business traditions and culture and general Indian culture (Hanko Hackberry Group, n.d.). The company will, therefore, be forced to engage local communities in the management of the India based company since that will ensure that the U.S.-based company has a good understanding of the Indian culture and hence avoid cultural conflicts. To meet all these, U.S.-based Company will have to part with significant amount of finances. 

Fourth, there are also operational risks. There are possibilities that the recycled plastics that will be available for use by U.S.-based Company will produce too low quality products to meet the standards of the company. The company will, therefore, have to look for other ways to blend or reinforce the recycled plastics or look for other solutions if there are issues with the materials that they needed to produce the boats. Evidently, the company will have a challenge in successfully creating products that will be able to meet their standards and their customers’ needs. There is, therefore, no guarantee that the firm will be capable of manufacturing the foldable boats successfully since this is not a task that the company has accomplished in times past. Despite the company being known for its innovative capabilities of its workers, this task may present a challenge that the company will be unable to solve.

1. SWOT Analysis of the Company
2. Internal Strengths of the Company

The first internal strength of the company is its unique capabilities. The company is making foldable, environmentally, and non-mechanized sustainable boat.  This product type would be the first foldable boat producer reaching India (National Fisheries Development Board, n.d.). This is a great strength since no other company within India is presently producing such a product type in the Indian marketplace. The foldable boat manufacturing capability is attributed to the company’s innovative culture that was crafted by the company’s founders. Creating an ecosystem that promotes creativity and innovation uses one of the critical valuable resources, the company’s human capital. To realize and uphold any competitive advantage within a marketplace, constant improvement should be the focus of a company and alongside an innovative culture, that strategy to product development and design is crucial since a company needs to always search for creative and new solutions or ideas. The U.S.-based company has already placed a high significance upon ecological cognizance, producing sustainable products with net-zero effects. This internal strength is in line with the future of all markets across the world. Across the world, sustainable products are in increasing demand both from citizens and governments, making it a crucial consumption factor.

The second internal strength exhibited by the U.S.-based company is its brand. Alongside its distinct capabilities, the company’s brand is an unmatched by any other company currently in India (Hanko Hackberry Group, n.d.). The making of an ecofriendly boat is the first of its kind in India. Through its innovative culture, which is deeply entrenched in the company, allows it to take some risks that its rivals cannot. Similarly, the company’s brand is attributed to its decentralized organizational culture, a structure that allows the company’s employees and founders to be equal. The brand is also enhanced by the open communication, allowing for decision making between the employees and founders since the company culture regards the founders and employees as equal members of the company. This is a great internal strength since it fosters decisions and ideas being made in the company through collaborative efforts across the company. With the company working together with the aim of collaborating toward expanding their foldable boats in India, the company will be able to expedite its decision making process’ timeframe.  With all the company’s employees working together and cohesively, there is evidence of high dedication of all the company’s staff to success and will produce effectiveness. This collaborative strategy will allow the company’s employees to come up with unique and creative ideas to produce the first origami motivated foldable fishing boat in India.

The company’s brand is also thriving because of the decentralized organizational structure. The structure functions to improve the company’s decision making process and better prepares the company’s employees to deal with any challenges that may arise without having to necessarily wait for instructions or directions from the U.S. headquarter. This goes a long way to free the company’s top management to concentrate on the company’s general major decisions since when employees are given the freedom to make decisions, they are challenged to come up with solutions. Consequently, this can be good for the employees’ confidence and promote their self-dependence. The decentralized organizational structure could speed up the process of decision making.

2. Internal Weaknesses of the Company

The first internal weakness of the company is the lack of leadership. Despite enjoying the benefits of having a decentralized structure of organization and an innovative culture, robust leadership is needed sometimes to make decisions that other people may be unwilling to make. The company’s culture has the potential of negatively affecting its market entry approach. The company’s culture is to have all their employees agree to a decision before the decision can be employed. However, it has been demonstrated severally that it may be difficult for everyone to come to an agreement on whether it is a good idea for the company to venture into the India’s fishing industry by manufacturing the foldable boats based upon demands made.  The structure does not believe in levels of employees and regards the employees and founders as equals. This implies that there are no directions and “supervisions” to guide employees, a thing that requires a high level of integrity on the side of employees. 

The second weakness of the company is the lack of knowledge and experience in the global marketplace. Without prior experience or knowledge, the company is likely to have harder time entering the new market. From the scenario, the company is exclusively a U.S. producer and distributer, implying little or no experience operating in worldwide marketplaces. The company will, therefore, have to take more time ensuring that they are fully prepared to venture into India’s new or global market owing to the fact that global expansion is a long term investment and their marketplace entry as well as expansion plan must be realistic and sustainable. Additionally, since the company operates within the U.S. economy and has no establishment in international markets, it lacks an understanding of culture and knowledge and business traditions within India. With a poor understanding of culture and knowledge and traditions in India, the company lacks brand recognition and reputation in the global and new marketplace. With low or no product recognition across the world, except in the U.S., the company’s products are likely not to be purchased since their target consumers do not know the company neither do they associate it with environmental friendliness or high quality yet. Therefore, the company will have to create the reputation of sustainability and quality for themselves within the Indian economy for it to survive.

3. External Opportunities for the Company

The first external opportunity for the company is that it has the capability of entering the worldwide market. The company has come to the realization of its growth opportunity being through expansion into India. The expansion into the Indian market will allow the firm to access markets in Asia also. The company recognized the opportunity of new global marketplace of India, and the capability of fitting into their fishing sector, an opportunity that is likely to offer the company high return on their investment since there is no direct business rivalry that it is currently facing in India (National Fisheries Development Board, n.d.). The company, thus, has an opportunity of becoming the first producer of foldable, environmentally friendly boats in the Indian economy. The company will have an opportunity to build robust relationships with India-based technology and local plastic consumers.

As already mentioned, the second opportunity for the company is to be the first manufacturer of foldable boats in India. This opportunity offers the company a chance to break in a marketplace and become the market leader within this specialized marketplace, an opportunity that will give the company a competitive advantage over other companies that are considering venturing into the marketplace. Being the first company in the market, the company has no competition in getting India-local materials. If sales in India are successful, the global expansion opportunity is the Asian economy. If the company obtains marketplace share within India’s fishing sector, they will be profitable and be capable of expanding further into other nations within Asia. Such opportunities will go a long way to ensuring the company reaps bountifully from its investment in the Indian economy. 

4. External Threats to the Company

The first external threat to the company is the existing boat manufacturing companies in India. India companies in the manufacturing of boats are well established, making it fairly difficult to enter the market notwithstanding the innovation behind the foldable boat manufacturing (Hanko Hackberry Group, n.d.). The already existing competitive boat manufactures in India are likely to encroach on the U.S.-based company’s market share if they will try to imitate the company’s innovative product. A company in India could try to manufacture foldable boats that may eventually have brand recognition along with loyalty from the Indian economy that could significantly minimize the U.S.-based company’s marketplace share as well as profits.

Secondly, the initial cost of starting up a company in India by the company is likely to be costly since the company is a foreign one (National Fisheries Development Board, n.d.). Additionally, the cost of running the company is likely to be high since the company will have to source for all materials needed from out of India. The implication of these high initial and operating costs is that the cost of the foldable boats will be high, which may translate to low purchasing power of the company’s targeted customers. Fishermen, both in India and across the globe, do not make huge income (Hanko Hackberry Group, n.d.). The traditional boats used by the fishermen in India are likely to be less costly relative to the foldable boats and this can provide a business threat. If the fishermen will not be able to afford the company’s new innovative boats, there will be lower chances of the company being successful in India. Regarding the costs, there are possibilities of the Indian government changing the requirements for manufacturing products within India. Presently, the company is sourcing the materials it needs from recycled Indian plastics and founding their product design and testing of these materials (National Fisheries Development Board, n.d.). Should anything change that would impact the materials the company is using, it could be expensive and this may result in redesigning, slowing down the project’s timeline. Such changes are also likely to chase the potential customers to the traditional boats. Additionally, such changes will create room for India-based boat manufacturing companies to venture into the industry since they have a good reputation with local suppliers and, thus, will be able to get local materials easily due to their brand recognition and awareness in India.

1. Strategic Recommendations and Justification for the Recommendations

The first strategic recommendation for the company is that the company should conduct a survey of its potential marketplace entry. By conducting a survey of the Indian market, the company will be able to set clear and SMART (smart, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely) goals. Fishing is a component of the Indian economy or GDP and has sustainability (Hanko Hackberry Group, n.d.). With no competition in the economy and a proper survey of the market, the company stands a chance of holding to the benefits of the advantage of no competitor. The survey will help the company also to understand India’s local cultures so that they are informed of the cultural norms within the economy and what they need to make the best out of their new product.

Similarly, the company will need to research and explore the India local companies who will be sourcing their raw materials since research and exploration are the best way of finding the most environmental friendly and cost effective suppliers. The company is focused on producing products that have no environmental impact. For this reason, they would be keen on doing business with companies that will embrace the same viewpoints. To get suppliers that comply with the company’s focus, it is necessary for the company to do a thorough survey of the companies and suppliers in India to ensure that they choose the right ones.

The survey and search will also be good to the company since through it, the company will be able to understand India’s local regulations and laws and this would ensure that the company proceeds as expected. Hiring a local lawyer or attorney can help keep the company informed on India’s local regulations and laws and help it with any challenging situation that may ensue and land it in lawsuits.

The company would also need to create a foldable prototype before actually entering the marketplace to help it understand whether the product is cost efficient and achievable. By performing a survey, the company will be able to get more information and data regarding the potential of the market along with the proportion of customers who are likely to be interested in the company’s foldable boats before really venturing in into it. The company will also get more information concerning the Indian market, and this could help them strategize their pricing so that they operate competitively.

The second recommendation to the company is for the company to contract and partner with the National Fisheries Development board (NFDB) when looking for endorsement. A contract with NFDB will make sure that the secondhand material requirements for the manufacturing of the boats by the company remain seamless for the first five years to avert the external threat of possible Indian government regulation changes (National Fisheries Development Board, n.d.). The partnership and endorsement will assist the company to overcome the internal limitations of the company’s lack of recognition and reputation.