Market Entry Strategies : The Case of Aura Light Entering the Bulgarian and Romanian Markets

Abstract: Developing countries are quite attractive destinations for foreign investments in various economic sectors.Whether an MNC can successfully enter these markets embodies the aptitude to understand the external macroeconomic and social environment of the host country. An MNC must adjust their competitive stance, decipher adequate market potential and uncover the relevant entry strategy to acquire operational success. We have built a framework surrounded by essential operational strategy. This concerns matching a firm's resources and capabilities to the opportunities that arise in the external environment. In most common literature, emphasis lies within identification of profit opportunities in the external environment of the firm. Imperative emphasis shifts from the interface between strategy and the external environment; towards the interface between strategy and the internal environment. In this context, the concentration of the organization's resources and capabilities is targeted to combat turbulent external environments and devise a secure foundation for long term strategy. To understand why the resource-based view has had a major impact on strategy assessment, a preceding glimpse for strategy formulation can be considered. Conventionally, firms have answered the question “who are our customers?” “What are their needs we're seeking to serve?” “Who are our Competitors?” “How can gain a competitive advantage?” Through answering these questions in conjunction with macroeconomic analysis are inevitable prerequisites for pinpointing the key success factors (KSF) for the individual market segments. The KSF are the factors within the company's market environment that determine its ability to prosper and survive exploiting its core resources.