Globalization, change, competition.
At this point, no organization is exempt from these challenges. For many of them, the field of action is no longer a specific geographical area, but the entire globe. Today, everyone must broaden their horizons and extend their vision to identify new opportunities for growth and development.
Thanks to its unique capability of viewing business from a broad-ranging, international perspective, The European House-Ambrosetti works alongside companies to guide them in recognizing—and changing—the rules of the game so that they can become more competitive.
Each internationalization project makes full use of the vital assets of a company with the goal of obtaining growing returns on invested capital and capturing profits outside the usual geographical borders.
The initiatives are led by professionals from The European House-Ambrosetti in partnership with the client in full compliance with the latter’s mission, approach and strategic orientation. In fact, a company’s foreign market penetration strategy must be coherent with its overall strategy and cultural values.
The European House-Ambrosetti approach to foreign markets is always based on research and interaction with opinion leaders and key players in the country, market and sector to rapidly develop a sense of the essential themes and strategic questions in a given geographical area, market or country in order to significantly lower the costs of entry.
The services we offer can be grouped into two broad areas:
1) Supporting companies in penetrating a foreign market.
This service includes:
2) Improving the competitiveness of a company so that it will be more effective and efficient on an international level.
This service includes:
The consolidation process attained by the European Union has also had a major impact on industrial companies. The EU has become the domestic market for every member country, but certainly not all companies can say that they have an equal presence with the same level of penetration in all EU countries: in fact, language and cultural barriers continue to be an obstacle.
For Italian companies, transitioning from Italy to Europe means completely rethinking their strategy and organization at all levels, which can result in a complete reconfiguration of their business.
The European House-Ambrosetti, which can count on its offices in London and Madrid, as well as its home office in Milan, and the support of strategic partners in Helsinki, Moscow and Istanbul, is able to provide support to companies with a series of specific, targeted initiatives that include:
China has become the no. 1 economy in the world and, together with the United States, has a hegemonic role on a geopolitical, economic and social level. Each corporate group, company or organization that decides to develop its own internationalization strategy must necessarily put this Asian country at the center of its plans. Specifically, anyone who intends approaching China must bear in mind a number of unique aspects, including:
Therefore, an internationalization strategy in China must take into consideration a market that is in constant evolution and which only twenty years ago, in essence, did not exist. Despite this, it does have a number of distinguishing characteristics:
Approaching a complex country like China is not easy. To take advantage of the opportunities, it is necessary to understand the system and its main trends. This is a concept which holds for companies and organizations of various types, including:
The European House-Ambrosetti has had a presence in China since 1985 and it was the first Italian consulting firm to provide services to Chinese companies.
It has helped over one hundred Italian and European companies to enter this market and it is also present physically with a firm incorporated in China, Ambrosetti (Beijing) Consulting Ltd.
The professional services offered by The European House-Ambrosetti in China include:
Strategy
Attractiveness and territorial strategy
Marketing and communications and market development
Integrated logistics
Organization and Human Resources
Finance, control and value
Japan is the third largest power in the world. It is a country that evolved considerably over the 20th century but which, for Italian companies looking to do business there, still presents a number of difficulties.
Localization strategy
It is a large market characterized, in fact, by significant entry barriers due primarily to the complexity of its distributive system and the tendency of Japanese customers to deal exclusively with local economic players.
This is why companies interested in expanding into Japan must develop a localization strategy, in other words, try to work directly in the country itself. The choice of a valid partner that is reliable and strong represents the decisive factor for expansion. It is necessary to trust in effective operators who are able to understand in-depth this market that is becoming increasingly Westernized, in order to carry out business operations.
The European House-Ambrosetti has been active in Japan since 1995 with an office in Tokyo. The Senior Advisor and Director of the office is Susumu Koyama who received his professional experience in the Seibu Group (one of Japan’s leading groups active in mass market retailing and catering) both in Japan and Europe and, as a result, also has a profound knowledge of both economies.
The European House-Ambrosetti services in Japan include:
The United States market, together with that in China, is the largest and wealthiest in the world. But the United States has entrenched traditions based on a managerial culture with characteristics unique anywhere in the world.
Italy-US: A complex interplay
It is a context characterized by the highly professional approach of all economic players, by a high level of competitiveness, pragmatism and constant strategic and operative interest in one’s own company, by an on-going desire to simplify, by an organizational culture based on delegating responsibility and respect for this process, by orientation towards immediate results and by the high level of efficiency of the system. All these characteristics render interaction with the US market very complicated for Italian companies of whatever size.
Attention to detail
Success in the US market requires, first of all, minute care in drawing up a clear and highly pragmatic strategy. A farsighted and creative strategy must go hand-in-hand with tremendous attention to detail. A comprehensive presence in a market such as this also requires the strategic and organizational ability to differentiate one’s way of operating on the basis of the culture and behavior patterns of the various areas of the country.
Secondly, tremendous attention must be paid to the project and organizational functioning. The project must take into account the habits and customs of the US market, and any thought of going against them or changing them is out of the question. In addition, attention must also be paid to make sure the organization functions as planned. For example, the top positions of American organizations of Italian-owned companies, must be filled by managers who are truly capable of mediating between the two cultures.
The European House – Ambrosetti has been active in the United States since 1985 and specializes in:
Partner, The European House - Ambrosetti