HSBC and its Overseas Expansion Strategy

Introduction

            The Hong-Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation commonly known as HSBC was founded in 1865 and is an expert in providing service related to banking and financial services. It was founded by Sir Thomas Sutherland and it is public limited company. It is a British multinational banking company and has its headquarters in London, UK. Presently, the company is world’s third largest bank and sixth-largest company as per the report presented by Forbes magazine. The company has 7200 offices and territories across different Asia, Europe, America, etc. The company when taking a decision to enter the foreign market needs to understand get the complete understanding of the factors in order to make high profits by expanding its business overseas. In the following paper, all the factors, which are important, have been discussed in detail which will help the company in deciding the location in which it should expand in order to gain competitive advantage.

Discussion

The expansion strategy is one of the most crucial decisions for the company. The companies undertake the expansion strategies for the purpose of gaining competitive advantage. The company has to undergo a detailed market research before making any investment in foreign markets. It is noteworthy that organizations examine the internal and external factors, which make a dynamic impact on the decision of the company for entering overseas market.  The internal factors which the company needs to consider before taking decision regarding overseas expansion include human resource, effective management team and finances (Daft & Marcic, 2012).

Internal factors of a company have a pivotal role to play in the context of overseas expansion of the strategy. The human resource, i.e. the employees of the company should take active steps and help companies in expanding globally. The company needs to understand the ideas that are communicated by the employees, so that best idea and strategy can be chosen to assure success to the company. Also, the management team should be able to devise clear understanding of operations and how they will be conducted in the foreign market. The companies need to understand that when it is planning to expand international it is a group effort towards gaining competitive advantage (Ireland, et al. 2008). Also, the finances of the company should be well planned and channelised so that they are able to produce most cost effective ideas for fast and strong development in the foreign market. It is important that HSBC has favorable internal factors which will prove to be very helpful or the company in setting a strong base in foreign countries and gaining competitive advantage (Daft & Marcic, 2012).

In the context of external factors, the company needs to get the complete understanding about the regulations that are imposed as barrier entry in the country, the cultural barriers, the market opportunities, etc. The company has to face significant dilemma when they are willing to expand abroad. The companies are suggested to follow slow, gradual and staged model for international expansion, which will help in minimizing the risk that is associated in entering foreign markets and also coping up with uncertainness in an effective manner. Along with this, another view in the context of entry in a foreign market suggests that the companies require strong commitment and faster pace of entry in order to establish itself in foreign markets (Venzin, 2009). It is crucial for HSBC to follow the first strategy and should slowly progress towards its goals of establishing a strong base in the foreign country and gain competitive advantage in banking industry.

The company should follow this strategy, as it will prove to be extremely helpful in understanding the requirements of the foreign country and also examine the level at which it is able to establish itself in the country. This will also help in using the resources in the right direction. If the company makes use of the other approach there are higher chances of losses, if it is not able to gain positive response, from the customers. After analyzing both the strategies and their consequences, it is clear that there are high chances that the company will be in a profitable situation if it is opting for slowly penetrating strategy while establishing in a foreign country.

When entering into foreign markets the company needs to get the clear understanding of the cultural background of the company. On the basis of the previous experience of the company, it is clear that there are high chances that the company might not able to develop a strong base if it is not working in compliance with the cultural requirements of the country. The company needs to get a clear understanding of the culture of the foreign country and direct its actions accordingly. The culture becomes one of the key barriers, which restrict the companies to undertake the overseas expansion. If the company is not able to meet the cultural expectations of the customers of the foreign company it might not be able to make profits from its overseas expansion (Hill & Jones, 2009). Thus, the company needs to undertake a market research which will help in getting the clear understanding about the cultural background of the country in which it is willing to enter.

Further, it is necessary to get knowledge about Market Opportunities available to HSBC in the foreign country, which it is willing to enter. The company has gained a high level of expertise in micro-financing department. The Company has gained expertise in this segment by gaining expertise in transactional solution, services and customer relationships. HSBC has been able to provide quality services in the micro-finance sector. The company gives high importance to commercial viability and high social benefits. This can prove to be an added advantage of the company and it can integrate micro financing activities for successful global business expansion (Venzin, 2009). The company has always taken well planed steps, which prove to be extremely helpful in making a successful expansion.

The company tries to gain competitive advantage in the country. If it is able to provide an added advantage to the customers in comparison to its competitors it will prove to be very helpful in generating higher profits levels (Schoemer, 2009). If HSBC is able to adhere and take into consideration all the above discussed internal and external factors when entering the global market it will surely be able to gain competitive advantage in the country.

The above discussed are few of the key points, which the company needs to take into consideration and will prove to be extremely helpful for the company for expanding in the Asian region, which is the present focus area of the company. If the company is able to understand the internal and external factors and design strategy accordingly it will be able to gain competitive advantage in the foreign market.

Conclusion

            In the above paper, the main focus has been on explaining the factors which a company needs to understand before undertaking an oversea expansion. HSBC has been able to establish a strong base for itself in many countries, and there are many crucial understandings which the company has been able to learn. The paper has highlighted both internal and external factors which can prove to be extremely helpful for the company as they can be used in planning the further overseas expansion strategies.

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