Corporate Global Expansion: Challenges and Strategies for Pakistani Companies

Abstract

This study intensively examines the challenges confronted and strategies exercised by Pakistani companies in different sectors when they do global expansion and spread their network abroad. After establishing themselves in the domestic markets, firms exploit their competitive edges, and resume export, import, or establish subsidiaries to facilities, or service operations abroad, which may not only benefit them but to the domestic economy and foreign economy as well. Above all, it serves as a proactive strategy to exploit global opportunities and excel competition by up-grading their skills, technology, competitive knowhow, and resource base. Such advancement can safeguard them from the invasion and competitive menace of rivals and particularly foreign-based globalized companies, which are the big fishes, hungrv to swallow small fishes. The probe is intended to aid such companies toward their global expansion to derive economic gains.The research is qualitative and quantitative in nature. For qualitative analysis, formal interviews are conducted from a sample of international managers or export managers of Pakistani companies from top five export-oriented sectors of Pakistan and international trade/business facilitation officers of ministry of commerce (MoC) and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), and reps of globally operating banks of Pakistan, which are selected conveniently. In addition, observations through media content analvsis take place 10 notice the trends of corporatization and corporate global expansion of Pakistani companies, and observe the corporate-government collaboration. For quantitative analysis, a survey through questionnaire filling, comprising structured questions, is undertaken from Pakistani exporters and companies in top five export-oriented sectors and many of them have physical presence and network across the world. It was discovered that the challenges that they confront fall into three broad categories: capacity building to compete, foreign regulations, and institutional support framework; while they adopt modern tools of management and proactive strategies, but lack in technology, value addition, branding, E-commerce, and marketing and business research. This study aids companies toward their move for global expansion by offering a step-by-step framework, and its findings appear to be useful for the potential Pakistani firms intending to go global, international managers, policy makers, and academia (especially of international business).