A Consultancy Report. Design of an Internationalisation Strategy for CYCL Indive Ltd. and Its Key Product

Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 79,0, Sheffield Hallam University, language: English, abstract: The topic of this paper is to outline an internationalisation strategy and give a consultancy report for the start-up CYCL Indive Ltd. CYCL Indive Ltd is a UK-based, privately held start-up founded in 2014 and specialised in cycling accessories, whereas the WingLights indicator lights embody the company’s primary answer to counteract the omnipresent threat of bicycle accidents in congested urban areas. Designed as a shockproof, waterproof, easy to install solution with a long battery life, the device is supposed to increase the cyclists’ visibility on the road regardless of the angle, lighting or weather conditions.In the light of received accolades such as placements on the lucrative DTI Sirius initiative and the start-up incubator programme of the University of London for the iterative improvement of the original concept until the current third version of WingLights, CYCL has steadily sharpened its corporate vision towards an internationalisation approach.Obviously, an expansion of a start-up’s commercial scope to that extent is subject to a thorough analysis of a variety of promising, yet heterogeneous target markets, whose legal and economic framework might result in a substantial adaptation of the product to the local marginal conditions. Examples of these actions include measures of compliance to the prevalent industrial norms, auxiliary formalities regarding the status of the patents, trademarks and designs before the official release, etc.In the first chapter, CYCL’s general offer and the characteristics of the WingLights are scrutinised with the help of the value proposition canvas in order to clarify and justify the existence of potential customer segments, which might have been ignored by the start-up in the past. Following this examination, an appropriate route of internationalisation is drafted, leading to Germany as the near-shore object of investigation in this case. Afterwards, the focus in the second section shifts towards the financial support available within the German target market and the specifics of other accessible channels including the engagement of the entire EU and its member states. Moreover, practical suggestions are addressed in terms of networking opportunities for which CYCL might opt in order to promote both its middle-term development and long-term internationalisation activities.