Read the full script of Module 4, Episode 2 of the Global Growth Master Class below. Want to get certified on global expansion? Simply click here to access the complete course today.

How do you determine if your organization is ready to expand internationally? It really comes down to two distinct factors, organizational readiness and organizational commitment. 

This module is designed to help you answer this question through determining WHY you are interested in global growth and covering a number of aspects to help you determine whether you are actually ready as an organization.

First, let’s address Organizational Readiness

Evaluating whether your company is ready to grow in global markets is centered on answering a key set of questions and ensuring the organization has the right DNA to succeed in global markets. This step is important because if you don’t take a step back to think through organizational readiness and the reasons behind the expansion, you are likely to waste time and money, possibly jeopardizing the whole global growth initiative. This is where you evaluate your company’s readiness and confirm that you have building blocks that can enable the company to operate in multiple markets. 

Company leadership must ask and answer a series of questions to ensure the organization is ready to expand. Here are some of these questions, broken into key categories - and don’t worry about frantically writing them all down, we have them all outlined in a bonus document in the course notes.

Company Capabilities

- Who are we as a company? For what reason do we exist? What is our purpose? 
- What do we do best as an organization? 

- Do we have the DNA (people and culture) that would support an expansion?

- Can we serve customers in a new market well?

- Have we built our product, team, process, and company culture in a way that can be localized and/or universalized to reach many global markets?

-Can we scale our business processes and operations?

- Can we organize ourselves well enough to support international growth? (with the right processes and management structures) - what needs to change to support global growth?

- Do our core values (and company culture) translate globally (or are they too tailored to our initial market)?

- What are our available resources, funding, assets, intellectual property, and people to help facilitate an expansion?

Internal Alignment

- What are our priorities? 

- What are our underlying drivers for expansion? What is our priority growth driver? Is it product expansion, target customer expansion or market expansion? 

- Why should we expand internationally? What is the rationale for wanting to expand?

- What signals are leading us to consider expansion? Are we seeing organic growth?

- How much are we willing to change to serve a new market? (product, operational model, marketing, etc.)

- When should we expand internationally?

Product and Go-To Market

- What problems do we solve? Do we address a universal need?

- What customers do we serve? 
- Why should the customer buy from us? What are we offering? What are we promising?

- Does our value proposition resonate outside our core market?

- Do we have a chance to win in the new market?

- How transferable is our product-market fit?

Answering the key questions above sets your organization up to build internal alignment. Evaluating whether your company is Global Class is important, indicating whether you have the right foundational mindset and team in place to support scale.

Besides discussing these questions with your colleagues, at the end of this module we will ask you to forward the Global Readiness Score Assessment to key team members in your organization involved in global expansion (and take it yourself if you haven’t already). 

Having colleagues take this assessment and getting a score can provide a window into the internal alignment around global growth and (along with answering these questions) can be a great foundation for your team to start a dialogue around global priorities and analyze any gaps.

In terms of organization readiness, you know you are ready to move forward with global expansion when:

- The team is in agreement that expanding internationally is the right strategic next step and that the team has the organizational capabilities and leadership commitment to expand.

- The organization is comprised of people with the right experience, capabilities, and interpreneurial mindset to bring your company) to new markets

- You have developed the right foundation and support structures to help local teams in new markets

- You are confident that your culture will resonate in international markets, including universally understood and accepted core values

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Here is a summary of the Keys to Success for this step in your global growth journey

- Be honest with yourself about your organization’s readiness for expansion

- Ensure you have the right People (Interpreneur’s mindset), Product and Sales/Go-to-Market/Operating Models (product-market fit in the initial market) to be successful

- Ensure executive conviction and support for global growth

- Confirm the foundation of the Four Commitments as outlined later in this module, resource alignment in particular

One prerequisite that all Global Class Companies secure before focusing on global markets is to ensure the company has achieved Product-Market Fit in an initial market since finding validation and scale in a market BEFORE is foundational for knowing how to localize in other markets. Without product-market fit in an initial market, the team could be on an endless journey to find some market around the world where their model works. 

It’s far better to make the necessary pivots to validate your first market instead of attempting to localize for every other market at once in hopes you will get product-market fit somewhere.

In this next video, we’ll drive more four key areas that are important to align on to be successful in international markets…

Next, let’s look at the 2nd element necessary for organizational readiness around global growth - commitment - are you confident that the organization is committed to doing what it takes to grow in global markets, giving enough of a time horizon to find traction, dedicating ample resources, and providing the structures and processes to support global growth?

What key commitments does my organization need to align on to be successful in new markets? 

Global growth initiatives require the collaboration of dedicated teams. To increase their chances of success, these teams must align around a series of commitments regarding culture, team-building, and focus. This will ensure that the company and its leaders work towards a common goal. To support these efforts, company leadership must be committed to supporting local teams. A set of agreed-upon commitments will serve as a guiding light when the company is faced with obstacles during global growth initiatives. 

Entering global markets is a critical moment for an organization as it determines if it can thrive in a single market or if it has global potential - crossing the chasm we previously discussed. However, unlike domestic expansion, global market entry is more challenging due to the bigger leap organizations have to make to bridge cultural differences that can vary wildly in each country and require changes to go-to-market and operational models. Companies starting out in a single market have the flexibility to experiment and find the right business model, whereas established companies entering new markets must reconcile their established model with cultural differences.

Having a set of commitments helps global companies focus on the priorities that matter most for successful growth and avoid distractions. These commitments serve as the foundation for operating principles, ensuring that both headquarters and local teams work effectively towards international scaling. 

HQ and local teams may have different ways of doing things, and these differences may lead to conflicting priorities

A common set of commitments helps everyone involved in global growth initiatives focus on effective market entry, localization, and scale.

Local teams need support as they tackle new and complex challenges. They must operate like start-ups in new markets, navigate internal competition, and adapt to local cultures. The commitments must be flexible enough to support market entry while later driving market growth in line with agile principles.

From our research, we saw various patterns in the things that successful companies committed to, contributing to their effective global growth.

The following four commitments, which we will review in detail later, are what we call the, “Four Commitments for Successful Global Growth”

1. Resource Alignment—Funding and team members from HQ focused on supporting global growth initiatives

2. Trust and Autonomy—Freedom granted to local teams to find company-market fit and recognize added complexity

3. Communication and Clarity—Effective channels of communication established and maintained between HQ and local teams

4. Global Agile Methodology—Ongoing utilization of agile principles by local teams and HQ (in partnership) that adapts the business to address differences in local markets

These Four Commitments have to be aligned and supported to facilitate effective market entry and market growth. They are the lifeline to effective global growth efforts and without these commitments, it is very difficult for companies to succeed globally.

The Four Commitments serve as a link between headquarters and local teams, establish guidelines for collaboration, and create a framework for the necessary components headquarters must provide to ensure local team success. These Four Commitments are essential for the achievement of global expansion endeavors, as without their proper execution and continued adherence, organizations risk succumbing to the top ten most frequent reasons for global business failure.

These Four Commitments are essential for the achievement of global expansion endeavors, as without their proper execution and continued adherence, organizations risk succumbing to the top ten most frequent reasons for global business failure.

From a practical perspective, these commitments help companies find product-market fit during market entry and help build momentum to achieve company-market fit during the market growth phase and scale in market maturity.

NOTE: Don't miss out on the next episode! If you want to continue learning about global expansion strategies and dive deeper into the course material, simply click here to access Module 4, Episode 3 of the Global Growth Master Class.