One can always send employees across the Pacific and tell them to, "Make lots of money." However, the "just do it" approach is extremely risky—when it comes to going overseas, one should scout out the lay of the land or one is likely to enter a swamp. It’s sometimes said that large MNC's suffer from analysis paralysis—spending months and millions on market research. One the other hand, some SME's tend to launch a new endeavor based on a conversation with a friend. If information can be compared electromagnetic radiation, the American market acts like a supernova while many countries in Asia function like a black hole. In Asia, it's especially important to develop a network of contacts since market research in some countries and some industries is not available or is unreliable. The prophet knows no more than ordinary man but he knows it earlier. We believe opportunity will never be fully understood without meeting business people overseas. This phase consists of doing some basic market research, going overseas as part of a trade delegation, going to an overseas trade show, prospecting for leads, meeting with potential business partners, etc. All of us are surrounded by opportunities and once one has a better understanding of the nature of opportunity, one can go to the next step. Once one has identified the opportunity, the real work begins. Rarely can a domestic product offered without modifications in overseas. at a bare minimum, one will have to change packaging, distribution channels, pricing and promotion. To do great important tasks, two things are necessary: a plan and not quite enough time. If marketing mainly is concerned with the customer, then strategy’s main focus is on the competitors and other barriers to entry. By closely looking at entry barriers, the strategists determines whether the opportunities developed earlier are real or illusory. Unfortunately, many smaller businesses are not clear on what makes their company and its products and services better than the competitors. Also, business models, marketing materials, pricing, sales channels, etc. will then need to be tweaked to work overseas. One doesn't need 100-page Plan MNC's put together to be successful -- remembering the advice of Winston Churchill who once commented, "This document by its very length will defend it from ever being read." On the other hand, too many people don't think things through. According to experts, "Every organizational policy solves certain problems and generates others." This is especially the case where a company falls into a trap of assuming that what works in the home market will work overseas. We have seen companies that try to use existing business models, marketing strategy, and sales tactics overseas and fail miserably It’s in this phase that you would put together the type of business enterprise. This could range all the way from a virtual office to a joint venture. And one must make decisions regarding the pricing, value chain, channels to pursue, the marketing mix, budget etc. Once the strategy is in place, one then implements. Here the capability and quality of one's employees or partners becomes critical.