Type of Client
Educational Supply Company
Geography
US, Europe, Asia
Challenge
A company that sells supplies to educational institutions looked to expand its international penetration beyond its base penetration of the US and select European countries. After a previously unsuccessful engagement with a different consulting firm to develop a strategic plan, the client turned to EMW to analyze the company’s position and management style, and to recommend the best global geographies and the organizational structure to effectively realize the company’s strategic goals and objectives.
Solution
EMW conducted an analysis and identified the need for an internal strategic shift in the company’s approach to smaller, higher growth emerging markets so it could forge successful international expansion. EMW performed a market analysis to identify 20 countries with stronger opportunities than the client’s current country coverage. For each country, EMW took 15 initial criteria into account, including quantitative and qualitative factors on school enrollment trends, predicted birth rates, number of children per household, age distribution, education spend, and other relevant factors to identify higher potential markets.
Result
Based upon the 15 criteria EMW analyzed and ranked key markets across highly populated Asian countries including Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. EMW also discovered that several countries, including Saudi Arabia, have relatively low populations but large spending commitments building educational institutions at all grades from pre-kindergarten to world class universities. Furthermore, EMW narrowed the list down to five potential target countries, adding qualitative factors relative to the proximity to the client’s existing distribution points and ease of logistics. In consultation with EMW, the client enlisted EMW to perform a ‘deep dive study’ on two of those countries in the country’s respective languages. EMW produced overall market assessments and provided the client four market-entry options, including EMW’s ultimate recommendation.
