KAIZUNOClarity before market entry
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For companies weighing a market entryGermany · Switzerland · Middle East · in every direction

“Let’s think this market entry through together before we invest serious money.”

The market looks attractive, and sometimes you have to jump. Before you do, check that the landing will hold. And that your company is ready for the jump.

What remains open
The last line often stays open.

The trigger

A market entry starts with a “toward” or an “away from.”

Pulled outward

  • Profitable growth the home market no longer offers
  • Being closer to customers
  • Better conditions at the new location
  • More skilled, well-trained workers

Pushed from home

  • Your own location is getting more expensive and slower
  • Other countries are moving faster
  • Sanctions and supply chains make you vulnerable
  • A second pillar would bring security

Both are good reasons. And in both cases, the same thing is missing at the start: a clear picture of whether your company is ready for the step.

What remains open

Before a market entry, the market gets examined thoroughly. Your own company rarely gets the same rigor.

  • The assessment was made in a small circle.What sales, production and engineering think about it is rarely gathered.
  • What you know about the market comes from reports and visits.Hardly anyone in-house knows what it is like to work there every day.
  • The timeline is set.It rests on assumptions made in-house.

A market entry ties up money, people and years. What doesn’t hold only shows once you are there. Four scenes from practice:

Timeline

Planned for three months, took nine.

A timeline from one country says little about the next. Only someone who has taken exactly this path in exactly this country can check it.

The full story

To set up a company of its own in Saudi Arabia, the plan allowed three months. It drew on experience from other countries and on advice from a law firm that knew such formations in the region. In the end, it took nine months.

Nobody blocked anything. But every step depended on the one before: the documents first had to be certified in Germany and then authenticated, the registration required a lease, and the bank account required the registration. None of it could run in parallel.

Partner

Well connected, available at once, and still the wrong one.

A local partner is not a service provider. They help write your reputation. What they expect from working with you matters more than how many contacts they have.

The full story

For the entry, the company chose a partner whose name came up everywhere: contacts with the authorities, available at once, ready to start fast. Under the pressure of the market entry, that looked like an advantage.

After a few months it became clear: he knew many people, but none of them well. He could open doors, but he could not get anyone to trust the company. And in every conversation, his commission came first. After about a year, the partnership ended. The next partner brought fewer contacts, but real ones.

Decision-makers

The decision was made by someone who never sat at the negotiating table.

The person officially in charge does not always decide alone. If you don’t know the silent decision-makers, you wait without knowing what for.

The full story

For four months, the company negotiated with a large, government-related client. The director in charge was impressed, the technical questions were settled, and the offer was well received. Then calls went unreturned and meetings were postponed.

The reason: an advisor to the owning family, with no title and on no org chart, first wanted to know who he was dealing with. A coffee with him followed, and not a word was said about the project. Three weeks later the call came, and a month after that the contract was signed.

Home

The most important conversation happens at home.

A market entry depends on the people who carry it, and on the backing they have.

The full story

For years, Christian Isa Sagur was on the road several weeks a month. That was only possible because his family supported it.

His advice to anyone planning such a step: the most important conversation is not with customers or partners, but with the people at home. Without their backing, everything else is built on sand.

Experienced by Christian Isa Sagur in the Middle East and described in KAIZUNO For Internationalization – Middle East Edition. The patterns behind them show up in many markets.

The question

“Is it worth it? Can we do it? And if so, what needs to be done?”

What if you knew this before you decide: whether you are ready, what to brace for, and what is still open?

Is it worth it?
Can we do it?
Are you up there, top right?You find out before you tie up money.

To find out, you ask the people who are meant to carry the step. Across several levels, so that everyone can answer openly. And before anything is fixed.

What gets examined

The Market Entry Check answers exactly these three questions.

It asks management and employees from several areas, systematically and tailored to your initiative.

  1. Is it worth it for you?

    Are your goals realistic, and is everyone behind them? Are you moving toward something, or mainly away from something?

  2. Can you do it?

    What already holds, and what doesn’t yet? Do you have the people, the partners and the time? Can you reach the people there?

  3. And if so, what needs to be done?

    What to tackle first, ranked by benefit and effort. And how to bring your people along.

A market study examines the market. A lawyer examines the legal form. We examine whether your company is ready.

It adds to market studies and consulting what your own people know and, if you want it, the view of people who know the markets. Those who earn from the implementation rarely have a reason to say no. We have no stake in which way you decide.

What you get

What you get with the Market Entry Check.

  • The report

    Where you stand, and what needs to be done

    Where you are strong, where there is potential, what depends on what, and where management and employees see the step differently. Plus recommendations, ranked by benefit and effort.

    Your benefitYou see what it hinges on before money, people and time are tied up. And whoever drives the step, in sales or export for example, can back their view with evidence from across the company.

  • On request

    Context and sparring

    Your contact for the region puts the results in context with their knowledge of the market, acts as your sparring partner and opens doors to their network. You decide: yes, not yet, or in a different form. On request, we summarize it as a paper for your advisory board or bank.

    Your benefitA decision you can stand behind in front of your advisory board, your bank or your family.

How it works

Three steps, alongside day-to-day work.

  1. Set up

    You describe your initiative: target market, what crosses the border, the possible form of entry, partners and resources. The system tailors the questions to it.

  2. Assess

    People from different levels and areas rate the same questions, voluntarily and in German, English or other languages. What gets assessed is the initiative, not the work of individual departments.

  3. Decide together

    You discuss the reports and decide together: whether, when and how. Support is available on request.

Who examines it

For each region, a person who knows it.

Between Germany, Switzerland and the Middle East, in every direction.

GermanyPeter Kitzki SwitzerlandRobert Knop Middle EastChristian Isa Sagur
Dr. Robert Knop

Switzerland

Dr. Robert Knop

In private equity, he examined more than a hundred companies and learned to question claims that sound too good to be true. In two of them, he took on responsibility himself: on a management team and in a turnaround. His path led from Germany via the US to Switzerland. Co-founder of KAIZUNO. Makes introductions in Switzerland.

Germany

Peter Kitzki

Has advised B2B and industrial companies for more than 25 years: over 100 companies in 47 industries, from mid-sized firms to large corporations. Partner of KAIZUNO and founder of Consulting Growth Excellence. Brings his connections in German business.

Middle East

Christian Isa Sagur

15 years of practice in the Gulf region: from setting up a company in Saudi Arabia and talks with ministries in Abu Dhabi to building a region from zero to €10 million in annual revenue. Co-author of KAIZUNO For Internationalization – Middle East Edition. Brings a large network in the region.

Behind it are the five steps of KAIZUNO, which have stood the test of time worldwide for more than 20 years, and the practice from the book KAIZUNO For Internationalization – Middle East Edition. More about KAIZUNO

Before the call

Any questions?

Who is this for?

For companies with roughly 50 to 2,000 employees that are seriously considering a step between Germany, Switzerland and the Middle East and have not yet committed. The best moment: the intention is there, the investment is still to come.

How much effort is it, and what does it cost?

The assessment runs alongside day-to-day work. Everyone answers when it suits them, in short stages. The system does the analysis and the reports. Placeholder: guideline effort per person

The price is set for small and mid-sized companies and tailored to your size and your initiative. We’ll tell you in the first call.

Do you need confidential data?

No. The Market Entry Check is a basis for your decision. What gets rated are views on your initiative—no figures from the business case, no contracts and no customer data.

What you enter is stored encrypted on servers in Switzerland and Europe. It is neither sold nor used for comparisons with other organizations, and you can delete it yourselves.

Anything else, we’ll cover in the call.

The first step

The first step is a conversation.

In 30 minutes, we clarify where you want to go and why, and whether the Market Entry Check is worth it for you. If it probably isn’t, we’ll tell you directly. No strings attached. Choose the contact for your region.

Dr. Robert KnopSwitzerland
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Peter KitzkiGermany
Calendar coming soon
Christian Isa SagurMiddle East
Calendar coming soon

Prefer to write? info@kaizuno.com

If the decision has already been made and you are looking for someone to implement it on the ground, there are better partners than us.