6.Do you have support of entire management team? A management team that does not agree with and wholeheartedly support plan for expansion is going to cause problems. Since every division of your company will be contributing to this project, it is best to clear up all perceived issues and concerns at highest level of company, before you even start to draw up your blueprint for expansion.

7.Have you nominated an international champion? This person should carry role of spearheading international expansion effort. Decide and dedicate this role wisely. This must be a senior role, capable of driving change across organization where needed most. In addition, candidate should have sufficient international experience to make expansion a success.

8.NEVER underestimate culture. Again, all too often, firms rush into foreign markets, assuming that what works at home should apply in overseas markets. After all, your product or service has been successful back home, so why would it not be in a foreign market? WRONG. Even a major corporation is a non-entity, a start up in an overseas market. Use axiom – When in Rome, Do as The Romans Do, and take heed of local business culture, customs, etiquette, buying behaviour and so on. Gain respect and build your reputation according to how you are perceived and accepted in foreign markets.

9.Train, recruit and provide incentives. Spot international talent inside your company and motivate well. Train your existing staff, as well as recruit seasoned internationalists. Don’t try to cut corners here. Since people are your biggest asset, give them a chance to help you become a global player. If you don't do this, you may find your staff leaving to help competition.

10.Be patient. Take things very slowly and avoid growing too fast. Develop markets one by one. That way you can develop a template for what works best and apply it to other markets.

Linguistic capabilities are important, but this is not enough. Your international champion must be uniquely familiar with challenges of developing global business, and they will need to know what issues and challenges they will face at very outset. For example, what are day-to-day business implications of managing international teams remotely? How do I do business with Germans? How do I export to India? What is my time to market if I compare acquisition vs. organic growth in Canada?

The panacea for building a global mindset is not found by sourcing all your people outside company. Very often, just bubbling beneath surface in your own company can be found a wealth of potential, just waiting to be let loose. And these are people who have been working to make your company a success in your home market, so why not give them a chance overseas? Tap into that potential, because if you don’t, you risk de-motivating your own people at outset, and you don’t want to do that. Identify that potential, then let it loose, but not before you have a training budget in place. Tailor your training to your specific needs. Perhaps you need to invest in knowing different facets of export (documentation, letters of credit etc), or perhaps training involved a negotiation skills course, or you may have a direct sales team that requires some cultural training in how to do business in a certain country.

When all is said and done – your training budget forms an inherent part of your future overseas success. You’re selling to human beings, whether at home or overseas, and if you can show that you are at least making an effort to understand your client’s culture and language, you will have made a great leap towards closing that sale. Again, you don’t need to understand laws and customs of every country – but you need to show that you are making an effort, and simply assuming that English is language of international business just does not cut it any more.

Alongside your training budget comes your retention plan, and you will need to have a HR policy in place to reflect your international activities. Identify very early individual motivations. For example, you may have recruited somebody with a Latin background to head up your international expansion. For this person, perhaps amount of time they wish to spend with their family (i.e. number of holidays per year) may be more important than amount of salary you pay them. And then you need to ensure that this particular person fits in with your staff. In some Latin cultures, lunch breaks can sometimes extend to two hours or more, simply because it’s principle meal of day. That may be perfectly acceptable back home, but here you need to ensure that this doesn’t demotivate your team. So once again, if you’re recruiting a foreign national, drill into their CV to see how familiar they are with your own business culture. If they are not – are they really right for job?

And finally, your Human Resources policy embraces an international framework. That means that worked for you at home can no longer apply as you enter new international markets. Recruitment and incentive programmes must reflect needs of everybody within your firm now, not just select few who will be driving your international expansion.

If business, whether local or international, can be defined as exchange of goods and services between people, then people aspect must play an important part. After all - people buy people. And if your staff and teams can show when they are doing business internationally that they are making an effort to know local laws, business etiquette, customs and language of country you are doing business in – your overseas clients and partners will respect you all more, over and above your competitors.