Keen to expand your business overseas? These 4 things are essential to success

It’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of an overseas expansion of your business, but to be truly ready, you need these four things in place for a rock-solid foundation writes Jason Toshack, Vice President and GM ANZ at Oracle NetSuite.

Easing restrictions, coupled with timely federal assistance for small and medium businesses, have presented entrepreneurs with an opportunity to consider overseas expansion.

But before they throw themselves at this challenge, it may be wise to examine if the business is ready for the rigours of operating in another market.

Here’s a short checklist for entrepreneurs to consider before venturing across borders.

Four things entrepreneurs should have in place before expanding overseas

1. Can you meet cross-border financial regulations and obligations?

Before deciding, ask yourself – can I comply with the financial regulations, taxation and reporting requirements of the market I wish to enter?

Most countries have accounting standards and revenue recognition mandates that require local expertise. Regional data protection laws like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and state laws like the CCPA (California’s Consumer Privacy Act) will also influence how you process and report financial data.

The most sensible first step is to surround yourself with industry experts that can guide you through this regulatory and accounting minefield. It would also be wise to utilise financial management software with built-in regulatory frameworks for the most common financial laws, along with reporting and revenue recognition capabilities that will allow you to confidently present financial reports.

2. Are you ready to automate your business operation?

Automation can be the answer for growth-minded businesses. As you begin establishing financial, operational and logistics processes for your expansion, take the time to also consider automating parts of the business for greater efficiency and accuracy.

Investing in a quality enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can automate routine business processes and store data in a centralised location. This not only makes the data readily accessible to users across the business, but also enables automated communication between departments.

For instance, leveraging the automation capabilities of your financial management system enables revenue data to be collected, prepared and produced in real-time, all without manual intervention. Ditto for inventory and expense management.

And the big plus is that you can take these insights and apply them to the business, as well as to any subsequent subsidiaries you might be adding.

3. Can you extend visibility and control over your supply chain?

If your business relies on inventory, you need to make sure there is an efficient flow of goods.

Aim to improve the visibility of your entire supply chain, and don’t stop until you can track stock levels and the shipment status for every subsidiary. Look for suppliers or vendors willing to work with you to extend transparency over their supply chains by integrating their logistics data with yours.

You’ll need a solid business management platform to manage this. Choose one with a supply chain management (SCM) system designed to draw data from points across your entire supply chain, analyse and process the raw data, and present the data in real time from a shared dashboard.

Leading SCM solutions also come with demand planning and predictive analytics, allowing you to proactively address issues and refine global logistics operations right from the start.

4. Have you built a solid team or partnership network overseas?

As an entrepreneur, it can be tempting to drive an expansion on sheer willpower alone. But in my experience, this may be hard to sustain.

Managing your business in a single market can place strain on your health, mental wellbeing, and relationships – let alone managing businesses in different countries, with the need for frequent travel, different time zones, and possibly language challenges. Once you have established a solid businesses system and efficient processes, it requires good people that you can trust for your business to thrive.

Ensure you’ve established a solid team or found a good partner that you can trust to manage your subsidiaries. Besides peace of mind, this approach also allows you to focus on building your business – rather than attend to the mundane, day-to-day operational needs.

Hopefully, this checklist gives you some food for thought. Taking these considerations into mind will help ensure that your expansion plans are robust and support your entrepreneurial journey.

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