Entering Nordic financial market : Examining Norwegian financial company’s expansion to Finland

Abstract

A successful expansion to a new foreign market can grow a business very effectively, while a failed market entry process can cause organizational decline and harm the whole company. In this thesis, the research aim is to provide insights on how to plan and execute a market entry process when entering foreign financial markets. This is done by answering the research question: “What are the different key success factors and pitfalls when entering a foreign financial market?” Previous research discusses important topics around planning, executing, and scaling up a business when making a market entry to a foreign country, including various market entry strategies and forming a unique selling proposition. Entering a foreign market requires knowledge on the local market and various market analysis methods. Previous research discusses marketing strategies and different target audiences for the scaling up purpose. Turnaround management with exit strategies were covered in case the market entry process had challenges. The research in this thesis was an inductive study, and I conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews. Every person involved in the market entry process of Company X was interviewed for the study. A total of four interviews were conducted. The key conclusions of the study were that a company can make a successful market entry even with a suboptimal market entry strategy by adapting and reacting to the challenges and focusing only on the essential aspects of the entry.