Market entry barriers for German small and medium-sized companies in India

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject Business economics - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,7, University of Applied Sciences Essen, course: International Management, language: English, abstract: The identification, analysis and evaluation of market entry barriers for German small and medium-sized companies in India are the objective of this bachelor thesis and will be developed within six chapters. Moreover, recommendations to minimize or overcome those barriers are provided.

Small and medium-sized companies are increasingly confronted with new issues, but also with chances due to the persistent internationalisation of the markets. New markets are not only entered to guarantee existing competitive advantages and to expand. Furthermore, companies can benefit from substantial incomes and synergy effects.

Entering new markets harbour different risks whereupon the market environment such as customers, products, competitors as well as fiscal and legal conditions needs to be analysed. In comparison to large concerns, small and medium-sized companies are facing issues of less financial and human resources, absent experience abroad, the ignorance of the respective national language and costs for the international market development. On the other hand, small and medium-sized companies are using individual manufacturing processes or design niche products to compete in international markets.

India is characterized by its huge complexity of different races, languages, caste and religions as well as of its ancient cultural and social history. Detailed knowledge about the Indian culture and market is required to increase the success when entering the Indian market. The provided overview of those conditions is necessary to understand the characteristics of the Indian market and to consider this knowledge in daily business operations.

The topic ¿market entry¿ is covered in numerous reference books and studies about the market entry in India can also be found. These studies are discussing the market entry of big companies such as of Siemens AG and Robert Bosch GmbH in India, but issues of small and medium-sized companies are neglected. This academic void is closed by this bachelor thesis with the help of the implementation of questionnaires and interviews. Based on these primary sources, market entry barriers for German small and medium-sized companies in India are identified as well as analyzed and recommendations to reduce or even overcome them are presented.