The sports apparel company is aspiring to enter the international market (China) to drive its sales and revenue. The local market is at saturation level and the company has been forced to seek a foreign market to sustain profitability. The population in Shanghai city is the target market. As the business development manager, it is one’s responsibility to put in place the relevant structures such that the company will be venturing into that market in two years time (by 15th April 2016). The sales and marketing department will send a team of personnel in the target market to assess the business environment for a period of 6 months as well as looking for a partner for strategic alliance. The team will be under the leadership of an assistant business development manager. Three members of the team are Chinese immigrants thus they will offer the necessary cross-cultural training to reduce cultural shock that may derail the market research process. The cross-cultural training will take a period of 1 month. The company has set aside $100000 to facilitate the team’s work (Simerson, 2011).
The team will present a report to the business development manager who will have to assess it and give the feedback to the director of international marketing within two months. The director will make a formal request for partnership with the Chinese player; negotiations between the two partners will take a period of three months. Once a pact is signed, the company will apply for licenses to the Chinese government. The process may take a month. Once granted the license, the company will develop the marketing plan for the market i.e. pricing and promotion. Given its critical importance, development of the marketing plan will take six months. The company will rely on information collected during the market research and updates on the changing trends from the strategic partner. A cost of $500000 will be incurred in developing the marketing plan and successful entry into the market (Simerson, 2011).
References:
Simerson, B. K. (2011). Strategic planning: A practical guide to strategy formulation and execution. Santa Barbara, California: Praeger.
