Cross Border Business Development, Contracts, Procurement
Duration
2 days.
What is this course about?
This course is focused on companies that are new to the area of cross-border business development and is a combination of the other courses that deal with understanding contracts, procurement, responding to RFIs, RFPs and ITTs, and risk management, with a focus on the differences that have to be taken into account because of the international dimension. The objective is to make the approach much more cost effective so that the real business of selling and marketing into international markets can be the centre of activity rather than all the other areas that can be a distraction.
In addition, we cover the most cost effective ways to develop business cross borders, understanding how to deal with some of the legal, commercial and social implications of looking at a new market. Out of this we develop the development of appropriate business cases and business plans.
This course is a response to companies that had entered into cross border commercial relationships and then found that they absorbed too much management time, had hidden costs and had a very low return on investment. While we have developed some consultancy practices around these issues - predominantly aimed at resolving the issues concerned - we were also asked to develop courses that focused on ensuring that the risks involved do not become issues.
This course is best deployed around a specific opportunity or problem and it can be tightly tailored to that individual situation.
Who would benefit?
- Programme managers
- Senior management
- Board members
Objectives
The objectives of this course include:
- Creation of an understanding of the differences that going cross border actually mean and how to deal with them
- An awareness of legal and commercial pitfalls and how to avoid or remove these pitfalls
- Working out how to develop business across border in the most cost effective way, looking at the role of distributors, joint ventures and the creation of subsidiaries
Key topics covered
- Analysis of the various areas that can cause issues and problems
- Tools to identify further potential problems
- Contractual methods that will reduce costs when issues develop
- Planning expansion and business development offshore
- Understanding different ways of dealing with the issues
Course programme
In addition to the various elements covered in other courses, combined to meet specific needs, we examine the following areas and produce ways of dealing with them.
1. Analysis of the range of issues that can arise
- Commercial differences
- Contractual differences
- Payments and receipts
- Regulatory issues - especially around revenue and cash
- A framework for dealing with each of the issues
2. Contractual tools
- Which legal system to use
- Which terms are especially significant
- Which tools to use
3. Planning expansion in the most cost effective way
- Hidden costs and hidden benefits
- Identifying the most cost effective way forward, including use of distributors
- Management of the process
- Stakeholder management
- Review of the processes
Course outcomes
- Greater understanding of the areas that can cause issues and problems
- Understanding of the ways of dealing with the issues
- A better sense of what a business plan and a business case should cover
- Greater confidence in being able to initiate and implement a business development process across borders
- Greater confidence in dealing with the legal teams involved
- Much more tightly managed costs
- Better understanding of the return on investment and how to ensure it
- A better informed decision-making process on whether to go offshore
