Doing Business in Finland as a Sole Proprietor in the Philippines : The implications involved in exporting coconut oil

The growing demand of coconut oil throughout the world has open new opportunities and possibilities for coconut farmers who have the advantage of producing coconut crops. Despite the fact that the Philippines is one of the top coconut exporters worldwide, entering a competitive market with major players dominating the market share has its implications and challenges especially operating a business as a sole proprietor. Before considering internationalisation, the aspiring coconut farmers should be aware of the internal and external factors affecting its business to be able to find a better strategy to capitalize on its existing advantages while minimising its risks. The purpose of this research is to present an analytical review based on the available literature and secondary sources to answer the following questions: how sole proprietorship may operate as a supplier of coconut oil in the Philippines, what are the issues relevant in internationalising coconut oil from the Philippines to Finland, and how suitable is the sole proprietorship as a corporate structure in coconut oil internationalisation to Finland. The significance of the research is to provide a clear overview and the possibilities of entering the Finnish market through the European Union for aspiring coconut oil farmers who intend to operate a business as a sole proprietor in the Philippines by examining the factors of coconut oil market in the Philippines, the positive and negative aspects of doing business across borders while exploring the possible mode of entry to Finland. In addition to relevant sources collected by the author, analytic business methods were conducted to gain insights of the advantages and the risks pertaining to operating business as a sole proprietor while attempting to do business across borders. As a result, the author concluded that the recommended strategy for internationalisation is through indirect exporting based upon the Uppsala internationalisation model analysis to mitigate any risks involved in entering a highly competitive market