Welcome! Bienvenidos!

Welcome to our blog, Expansion Insights, focusing on the many opportunities and challenges of doing business in new markets across the Americas!

The information on our blog is organized chronologically. We have also developed threads covering:

Market Entry Strategies and Market Data and Analysis

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My name is Andres Snaider and I will be a primary editor and contributor to Expansion Insights. I am a founding member of Nextant, a company founded in 2001 to help established and new businesses develop and expand into new markets. Nextant’s focus, both because of the founders’ heritage as well as their personal interest, has been Latin America, which has experienced a decade-long economic boom that most forecasters predict will continue. Our services focus on traditional business consulting services in the areas of market analysis and commercial strategy development that are designed to assist companies and entrepreneurs in the process of expanding into new markets. In the last 13 years, Nextant has been fortunate enough to collaborate with leading brands in the US, Europe, and Asia in their expansion efforts “down South” as well as national companies that are increasingly interested in testing other markets in their own region as well as the US. We have also developed and incubated a few business opportunities of our own which have given us the opportunity to practice what we preach in terms of developing businesses.

The purpose of this blog is twofold. First, it is an opportunity to share some of the lessons we have learned in terms of business expansion by reference to current business trends and developments on the international stage. Second, we wish to foster a dialogue with our readers about where markets are moving and how to best take advantage of these trends. In addition to my contributions to the blog, you will hear from my business partners who have a wealth of experiences and perspectives of their own.

To put some order to the discussion, we will strive to keep our posts centered on three basic but important themes that arise again and again when businesses expand abroad:

Study and Analysis are Key

If we have developed one core belief as international business advisors, it is the importance of studying a new market before investing in it. While Latin America, as a region, provides great business opportunities, success in such a broad market requires significant lead time to investigate the specific country and particular business area that should be targeted. This involves not only a deep understanding of existing competitors, distributors, and business influencers in a particular market, but also considerations relating to local regulation and even the role of national governments and other institutions. This blog will therefore dedicate significant space to sharing insights into expanding a business into new markets, baseline business-related data about these markets, and case studies about relevant business experiences. We hope you will find these posts interesting and that they will lead you to deepen your understanding and analysis of particular areas of interest.

Timing is Everything

While study is a prerequisite, international expansion requires investors to be willing to act when conditions are right. Latin America’s business boom is really an amalgamation of mini-booms in multiple areas such natural resources, digital communications, and mobility. The businesses that have come out as winners in these areas are those who saw the business opportunity coming and invested early, often from abroad. Therefore, this blog will include information about developing business trends in the region that we hope will develop a dialogue about which areas are likely to hit, where, and when.

Think Globally, Act Locally

Finally, all the study and foresight in the world cannot assure success in international expansion if an investor is unwilling to include local talent and resources in their expansion plans. The old adage “we aren’t in Kansas anymore” dawns on business investors very quickly in new international markets. Our posts will therefore also focus on how to best plan for and achieve successful local implementations when expanding in new markets.

We hope you enjoy our blog!