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How-to guides

Eighteen ways into a new market, step by step.

How to export, find a distributor, license what you own, set up a subsidiary or hire abroad without a company of your own. Each guide says how companies do it, with its sources, and what Promote:Global does at each step.

These are the eighteen routes a project can take in Promote:Global, in the product’s four groups. Each is rated for commitment, control and risk from 1 to 5, the way the iPhone app rates it when you choose it. The ratings are general, for the route, not for your own case.

Every route, by levels of commitment

Selling through a trading company at home commits you least; buying a company abroad, or building your own operation there, commits you most.

Each group runs from 1 · Lower commitment at the top to 5 · Higher commitment at the foot.

Commitment weighs the capital, the time and the day-to-day involvement a route usually asks of your company. The ratings are indicative, the app’s general rating for each route: the same route can ask more or less, depending on how you set it up.

Group 1 of 4

Export-based

Sell into the market: the lowest commitment and the fastest start.

  • Direct exporting

    How to export goods

    Sell goods straight to a customer abroad and run the export yourself: market, duty, price, payment, documents, shipping.

    Commitment

    Control

    Risk

  • Indirect exporting

    How to export through a trading company

    Sell through an export intermediary at home that does the export work for you, for a margin or a fee.

    Commitment

    Control

    Risk

  • Distributor

    How to find a distributor abroad

    Find, check and appoint an in-market partner who buys your goods and resells them.

    Commitment

    Control

    Risk

  • Sales agent

    How to find a sales agent abroad

    Find, check and appoint an agent abroad who wins orders for a commission while you keep the sale.

    Commitment

    Control

    Risk

  • Online marketplace

    How to sell on international marketplaces

    Sell to buyers abroad through online marketplaces, with the platform’s audience, payments and often fulfillment.

    Commitment

    Control

    Risk

Group 2 of 4

Contractual

Let a partner abroad use your IP, brand, format or expertise, for royalties or fees.

  • Licensing

    How to license your IP abroad

    Let a firm abroad make or sell under your patent, trademark or know-how, for royalties, while you keep ownership.

    Commitment

    Control

    Risk

  • Franchising

    How to franchise internationally

    License your whole business format to operators abroad, directly or through a master franchisee, for fees and royalties.

    Commitment

    Control

    Risk

  • Contract manufacturing

    How to find a contract manufacturer abroad

    Have a factory abroad make your product to your specification, while you keep the design, the brand and the customers.

    Commitment

    Control

    Risk

  • Turnkey project

    How to deliver a turnkey project abroad

    Design, build and hand over a working facility abroad, from the tender to the end of the warranty.

    Commitment

    Control

    Risk

  • Management contract

    How to win a management contract abroad

    Run a hotel, utility or other operation that someone else owns abroad, for a base fee and a fee tied to results.

    Commitment

    Control

    Risk

Group 3 of 4

Investment / FDI

Establish your own presence: the highest commitment and control.

  • Greenfield investment

    How to make a greenfield investment abroad

    Build your own plant, warehouse or center from the ground up: site, permits, utilities, construction and commissioning.

    Commitment

    Control

    Risk

  • Acquisition (M&A)

    How to acquire a company abroad

    Buy an existing business abroad, by its shares or its assets, through due diligence, approvals and a planned integration.

    Commitment

    Control

    Risk

  • Joint venture

    How to form an international joint venture

    Set up a business abroad with a local partner, sharing ownership, control, risk and profit in a company or under a contract.

    Commitment

    Control

    Risk

  • Strategic alliance

    How to form a strategic alliance abroad

    Cooperate with a company abroad on a bid, a product or a market under a contract, with no new company and no shared equity.

    Commitment

    Control

    Risk

  • Wholly-owned subsidiary

    How to set up a subsidiary abroad

    Form a company of your own in a new country: legal form, directors, parent documents, capital, registration, tax and filings.

    Commitment

    Control

    Risk

Group 4 of 4

People-led

Build a presence through people, often without a company of your own there.

  • Local hire via EOR

    How to hire abroad without an entity

    Employ people in a new country through an employer of record, before you have a company there.

    Commitment

    Control

    Risk

  • Remote / distributed team

    How to build a remote team abroad

    Work with contractors and remote employees in other countries, without a company where they live.

    Commitment

    Control

    Risk

  • Secondment

    How to send employees abroad

    Send your own people to work in a new market for a set time: permits, social security, tax and the return.

    Commitment

    Control

    Risk

Not sure which route fits?

On iPhone, the route advisor asks four short questions, about what you offer, how much you can invest, how much control you want and how long you plan to stay, and ranks up to three routes for your market. On the web and on iPhone, Meridian, the built-in AI assistant, can recommend a route for a project with its reason, and nothing is set until you accept it.

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