Consider the following scenario: You work for a company that manufacturers?

Consider the following scenario: You work for a company that manufacturers
skateboards. Until now your company has only sold their skateboards domestically, but now the CEO is interested in exporting the skateboards to Australia. The CEO asks you to design a Microsoft庐 PowerPoint庐 presentation to present at the next board of directors鈥?meeting. This presentation will serve to educate the directors in the matters of foreign investment and international investment theory. At the end of the presentation, you must
make a recommendation of whether or not you think the company should enter the foreign market and support your decision with solid information. Yes this is an assignment; but its my first week and I'm lost!!!lol I am not looking for the answer; maybe some suggestions. Candy

I'd begin by doing market research on Australia. What sports/extreme sports are popular there? What are the demographics? Do they have skate parks? Are there any famous Australian skateboarders that could be a spokesperson?

If you find that the market research and demographics support export to this country, start working on the logistics of getting your skateboards there. Believe it or not, many ocean carriers are not interested in taking on US exports at all. They'd rather ship empty containers back to China in order to be reloaded quickly than fill them with American-made goods. I suggest finding a 3PL (third party logistics) company to help you find pricing and routing information.

Also, are there tariffs? How will you enter the market? Through partnerships? Distributors? Wholesalers?

It's often cheaper to penetrate foreign markets through some sort of business partnership like this, but they do have their drawbacks. Figure out the most effective way to enter the Australian market and then start targeting which companies make the most sense to partner with. Capacity and branding are very important when you make this decision.

Then you need to determine if your factory can meet the likely demands your Australian reseller will want. Does your factory have extra capacity?

Once you have all this information, you should be able to start working on pro forma financials. Exporting to Australia might seem like a good idea, but you need to really look at the numbers. The extra cost associated with exporting might make it more of a headache than it is worth.

It might sound like a challenging task, but just break it up into steps or sub-questions and you'll be fine. Honestly, I'm jealous of you... this is the kind of project I love to work on.

Well, considering the scenario that if you do not support the foreign market you could lose your job there is no other choice in this particular assignment, but to suggest that the company enter into the exporting business.

Candy,
No matter what you try to sell, you have to have a market for it. If you can not show that the item being sold will generate income, the item should be changed or scraped. Your assignment sounds as if it is asking you to research the target market for your product and decide if the product will sell. Your target market is what I would research first. Then I would look to see if that market is already saturated with other products like yours. What share of the target market will buy your product over another product, and why? I would also make recommendations on how to make the product attractive to the new market in order to boost sales.
Next.. will the cost to make and ship the product be reasonable, or will it make selling your product in the foreign market prohibitive due to costs..

Good Luck with your assignment..

This is a wonderful opportunity for your company to expand into international markets and could definitly increase sales with the added exposure.

Research similiar companies who branched out into other countries with their products (perferablly using a similiar product whether it be snowboards, rollerblades, etc). Show those companies successes and show how your company could be equally, if not more, successful.

Also, research skateboard sales and usage in Australia, particullary where they want to "set up shop". Use those numbers to influence your recommendation of expansion.

Just make sure you research credible sources and acurratly cite your sources. I think you'll do great.

You may also even get to travel, which is a huge perk.

Dank 1 has the right answer.

Remember, Australia was settled by a bunch of criminals and crocodile hunters. Is this your typical customer demographic?