Brenthaven and International Expansion

 
Now in its 12th year, the CISB Foreign Market Strategy Competition gives all CISB language tracks the chance to compete on making recommendations to a local company regarding international expansion strategies. This year, the project company was Brenthaven, a Washington-based technology accessories provider in the education market. Company representatives came to the first CISB seminar meeting of the winter quarter and asked students to identify opportunities for international expansion, specifically focusing on K-12 schools. Over the course of three weeks, CISB students worked with fellow language track members to come up with recommendations to present to a panel of judges, including CISB alumni and company representatives.

On January 31, 2019, seven teams presented on expansion strategies into Germany, Japan, Argentina, Singapore, Chile, Finland, and Hong Kong. They looked at such factors as the technology landscape, tariffs, trade regulations, and the reseller/distributer network. The US track won the grand prize, focusing on entry into Singapore to target public schools and the military. The award for most original presentation went to the Europe Track for their evaluation of Germany. The Custom Track recommended a partnership with a local e-commerce vendor to sell their products to Finnish public schools, winning them the best presentation style award. The grand prize team presented to five managers at company headquarters on February 20. Brenthaven was impressed with their presentation and plans on taking into serious consideration the team’s Singapore proposal.

CISB was pleased to work with CISB French Track alumna Kelly Nealson, Marketing Manager, Brenthaven, on planning and organization of the event.

Do you work for a company that would like to engage with CISB on a future strategy project? If so, please contact us at [email protected].