Slightly Less than Half of Respondents Appear to Have a Formal International Expansion Plan in Place

While respondents consistently show a desire to utilize foreign markets as a source of revenue growth, less than half have a formal expansion plan in place, making it hard to see how they will realize the potential of these markets.

Only 27.3% of respondents noted they have a "Formal Expansion Plan to Multiple Markets" and 5.1% stated they have a "Formal Expansion Plan to a Single Market". Another 13.1% describe themselves as having a "Comprehensive Planning and Approval Process". At the same time, however, 33% -- in the most common response – characterize themselves as initiating "Ad-hoc Activity based on Client Inquiries", 12.1% "Ad-hoc Activity based on Management Interest" and 6.1% as "Ad-hoc Activity based on Inquiries from Potential Overseas Partners".

This pattern is perhaps reflective of the inability of many companies – who while perhaps understanding the potential of overseas markets – are unable to either initiate, or justify, the resources necessary achieve the success they are looking for. This is not symptomatic only of smaller companies as many larger companies face the same problems. For example, as one Director of Electronics and Engineering for a mid-sized Broadcast Equipment Company noted "We have been active in foreign markets since our founding. This is nothing new. Much of this is pure hoopla and many of the adventures will yield extreme disappoint or many reorganizations to cover up the tracks of the people with the "big ideas"."

Respondents' quotes

"We have been active in foreign markets since our founding. This is nothing new. Much of this is pure hoopla and many of the adventures will yield extreme disappoint or many re-organizations to cover up the tracks of the people with the "big ideas"."

"Potentially, our technologies have broad application capabilities, therefore we have been targeting multiple markets."

"done, next..."