Market entry strategy to Germany for Case Company Suomen Retkitukku OY

This thesis is made for an Oulu based company specializing in hunting and outdoors equipment and clothing. The company is Suomen Retkitukku OY and they have interest in entering the German market. The outcome of this thesis will be suggestions for an entry strategy the starting phase to enter the market. The author did his professional training in the company and his exchange period in Germany, so the natural decision was to marry those two into a project. The company is doing B2C sales. The following questions will be answered in the thesis. What kind of entry strategy is the most suitable for the case company? What products should the company specialize in the new market? The thesis will consist of a theory part that opens up the theory behind market entry modes, competition and risk analysis as well as a macro environment analysis. The empirical part will be these theories applied into the case as an actual market entry strategy suggestion. The research methods used are brainstorming and observation. Also, unwritten knowledge from the company employees will be used. Also, some of the authors own knowledge about the company will be used that was gathered when working there. Main result of the thesis is that the competitive situation at this field of business in Germany is relatively high and market entry therefore quite difficult. Because of this a low risk entry mode indirect exports should be used as a testing tool for the products in the market and if proven successful then later a different entry mode should be chosen with more control. Exploitability - conclusions, development proposals, further measures As a conclusion the initial entry should be done with as low of a risk as possible. The competition in the field is fierce and the best products to start the entry with would be the hunting sector of the business and later on maybe try to expand to the outdoor products as well. If the company decides to use the suggestions of this thesis further research should be done to make sure that everything is considered and that the analysis is done for the current environment of the market. Later on, the best action would be to change the entry mode into something that the company has more control over. If big investments are to be made, then they should be targeted to the hunting sector first and after establishing a position in the market then grow the outdoors side of the business