A Brief Note on Sidoti’s How Foreign Brands Can Make It In the U.S.

Recently I read a great, pleasantly short and concise, article by Larry Sidoti on Fortune’s web site regarding expanding foreign “brands” in the U.S. It is well worth the read. With that said, we believe that with the right guidance and expertise at your side, it’s neither difficult nor expensive to launch your company or brand in the U.S. And while I completely agree with Sidoti’s conclusion that, “[o]ne of the best ways to navigate these challenges is to hire a U.S.-based attorney rather than utilizing representation from their home country,” we believe an even better solution for onshoring your brand in the U.S. is to hire an onshoring solution such as Cove, LLC. Cove has bundled into a turn-key solution all the expertise and services likely necessary for any company to effectively, efficiently and quickly launch in the U.S. To demonstrate our point, we go through Sidoti’s article as a point, counterpoint, and discussion.

“OBSTACLES- Trends, Regulatory & Expectations”

While it’s true, as Sidoti posits, that the U.S. can be a “highly regulated legal environment,” with the right expertise at your side, it is in fact much more easily navigated than the vast majority of foreign jurisdictions. Moreover, we disagree with the assessment that a “high investment [is] require[d].” And, while we again agree with the Sidoti’s assessment that the U.S. expansion may encounter “fierce competition, and complicated multicultural demographics,” those hurdles are again easily navigated for successful brands with the proper, experienced guidance and planning from folks who understand the local landscape. Our Cove affiliate can navigate the legal environment, keep your investment commensurate with anticipated return, and have you well-positioned to overcome “fierce competition, and complicated multicultural demographics,” turning those obstacles into benefits for your company.

“SOLUTIONS”

We completely agree with, and commend to the reader, Sidoti’s “To Do List.”

Trends Action: Understand the market trends and consumer behavior - The critical issue is not just comprehending the competitive landscape, but the cultural landscape, as well.

Regulatory Action: Prepare upfront for legal and regulatory challenges. Obeying regulations of states with different franchising laws and understanding real estate policy.

Understanding and adapting to the legal and regulatory environment is an ongoing educational process. One of the best ways to navigate these challenges is to hire a U.S.-based attorney rather than utilizing representation from their home country.

Expectations Action: Expectations for success must be managed and it is important to set a realistic timeline for development. Leadership should recall its entrepreneurial beginnings—during which it may have struggled to gain traction—while starting from scratch in the U.S. The best solution for outlandish expectations is open and honest communication within the company, and remembering that international buying power does not necessarily translate to success in a new country.

Cove, with offices in New Jersey, Florida and Dublin, Ireland, provides a turn-key U.S. expansion solution with end-to-end service and expert counsel, ensuring an efficient and successful launch of international businesses, brands and SMEs in the U.S. With Cove, clients are able to pick and choose from a menu of services, from C-suite consulting, accounting and finance, legal services, HR, marketing, logistics and more. Cove’s mission is to allow busy executives to undertake expansion into the U.S. with as little negative impact on personal and enterprise bandwidth and resources as possible.

While there are many ‘How To Do Business in the U.S.’ resources available online, there is in fact no substitute for local knowledge and experience, particularly knowledge that is available to the business at its foreign home. The idea of Cove is to provide to foreign entities and entrepreneurs the same local knowledge inherently available to US companies and to guide high-potential foreign businesses and their owners through each step of the process. Rather than America’s unique and at times intricate business practices and laws being obstacles, Cove turns them into advantages against those without the “local knowledge.” The Cove team members are “success agents” with proven track records of creating and implementing winning strategies for businesses in varied market sectors: from finance to foods, health care and information technology, as examples and is actively in search of dynamic middle market and stable start-ups that are ready to expand to the American market.

To better serve Cove’s international clients longer term goals, Cove is also able to provide U.S. recruiting and resourcing capabilities via its partnership with reesmarx, an internationally recognized recruiting firm. While Cove performs and provides interim and permanent solutions, Cove recognizes that clients will over time want to bring some of those functions in-house. Cove clients are thus able to: (i) utilize their own internal resources; (ii) Cove services; or (iii) either of the foregoing with reesmarx providing permanent employee solutions over time for the client’s U.S. expansion.

One of the biggest barriers that exist when expanding internationally is understanding human resources laws and business practices in other countries. Cove sees expanding companies often needing to on-board new team members across several disciplines quickly and effectively, often putting compensation packages together with a short lead time. Our U.S. expansion team will help clients to mitigate employment risks and liabilities in the U.S. through a single, dedicated Legal and HR structure. This one-stop shop service is personal and tailored to lead your organization to achieve its international goals.

So while we agree very much with the basic thrust of Mr. Sidoti’s article, we submit that the difficulties and obstacles noted can in fact be greatly reduced, and at times eliminated, by partnering with the right team – Cove.