Global market entry strategy for a start-up IT product company

Abstract

\'(1 e are in the second phase of IT boom. This time around, the growth is being fueled not just by the companies from developed countries; many companies, both established IT firms and start-up IT firms, from the emerging market countries are also entering the fray in a big way. Challenge for the companies from the emerging markets, especially those from India, is that they have competency mainly in service sector but do not have enough expertise in developing and marketing the IT products globally. Entering global IT product space requires not just technical competence; it requires global marketing skills by networking with different players in the product value chain and also requires being part of the global standardization forums. In this context, it becomes important to study how a start-up IT Product Company from an emerging market like India can make market entry globally. This report is a case study of an IT start-up product company ABC Software Technologies Limited CASTI) (Name changed due to confidentiality reasons) from India. The company has developed innovative language technology products and is ready to make a market entry globally. This report discusses the market entry strategy for ASTL language products for wireless devices. The report is built into three parts. First the wireless device language technologies industry overview and analysis is presented to understand the dynamics of the industry. Second part deals with building a Framework for market entry strategy of a start up. Third part deals with applying the Framework for ASTL case and deriving a set of recommendations for the market entry strategy for ASTI. The report provides methodology of the study, industry analysis, market entry strategy theory and the framework. Based on the facts gathered through secondary data and observations made through depth interviews, the report provides detailed corporate analysis of ASTL in terms of company culture, life cycle stage, SWOT analysis of the company. The report provides step-by-step analysis of different components of the market entry strategy framework as applied to ASTL case. Finally it provides a set of recommendations for the market entry strategy for ASTL and future steps that the company need to take. The main contribution of the author in this project is building a framework for market entry strategy based on different theories gathered through the study of a couple of books, articles, and fieldwork involved in gathering data for understanding the industry and the company through depth interviews, and then finally applying the findings from the data and the theory in arriving at appropriate set of market entry strategy recommendations for the company.