International Expansion Strategy for Abidjan Transport Company

This report examines the international expansion strategies of Abidjan Transport Company, a firm headquartered in Côte d'Ivoire, as it seeks to expand into South Africa, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Somalia. It identifies various barriers to entry, including policies and regulations, fixed costs, and market size considerations. The report suggests tailored strategies for each country: focusing on sustainable transport in Mauritius, pursuing mergers and acquisitions in Seychelles, developing innovative services in South Africa, and capitalizing on investment needs in Somalia. The analysis underscores the importance of adapting strategies to the unique economic, political, and regulatory landscapes of each target market within the African continent. Desklib provides access to similar reports and solved assignments for students.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION
International Expansion
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION
International or national expansion of any organisational is integral for the firm to grow
substantially in today’s world. The organisation chosen in this context is Abidjan Transport
Company. Headquartered in the Côte d'Ivoireq, the firm is now seeking to expand into other
countries within the African continent. The countries where it is planning to expand include
South Africa, Mauritius and Seychelles and Somalia. There are a number of variables and factors
that the firm has to consider and take care of while carrying out its operations of expanding. This
is so because the different countries will be posing different types of threats and barriers for the
entry into the market.
The most widespread barriers posed by the transport industry in Africa are the policies
and regulations in place, posed by the governments of different countries (Nellthorp & Mackie,
2017). One such example is the Border Management Agency (BMA), which has been making
the entry through trade across the various countries of Africa in the transport industry tougher
(Deresky, 2017). Further, like every other industry, there are always issues related to fixed costs
of production and market size of that industry and target market for that particular firm in a given
country. It can also not be ignored at any cost that out of the four countries chosen, three
(Mauritius, Seychelles and South Africa) are economically well developed as compared to
Somalia and so the prices to be set in the different countries is going to vary up to different
extents. However, as te firm has been operating for long and has been accustomed to the various
barriers in terms of even providing services within the country, it will not be an absolutely
difficult for the firm to expand to other countries within the continent as the rules will not vary
too much within the same continent.
The first country being considered is Mauritius. In this country, all modes of transport are
present and the country is well connected. However, the most important means of transport in

2INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION
this country is aviation and this mode of transport is the most sustainable form of transport.
Hence the firm should essentially focus on bettering and improving the other means of transport
by developing ways to make them sustainable. Further, the firm can also use the strategy of
providing services at reduced level of prices as compared to other firms or competitors in the
market as it is a highly developed country and the price levels are quite high as compared to most
other countries in the continent.
The next country to be considered is Seychelles and it is very important for the firm to
use strategies of acquisition or mergers with the already existing small firms within the country
(Angwin, 2015). This will enable and improve the growth of both Abidjan Transport Company
and the other small firm. This is the only option to expand in this country as there are too many
unofficial barriers present in this country overcoming which will be costly and time consuming
for the company.
The next country to be considered is South Africa and expansion into this country will
take a lot of effort in terms of economic, political and regulatory barriers that have to be
overcome. For this particular country the best strategy for the firm will be to develop a
completely new type of service and sell it at reasonable costs to the people in that country so that
there will be monopoly for the firm in the target market. The service should be designed and
framed in such a way that the government of South Africa poses no threats for the same in the
country.
The last country under consideration is Somalia and it is apparently easier to expand into
this country (Mandel, 2016). Since reports assert that this country’s transport industry needs to
be carefully investigated as investments are needed in this sector, the firm will not face too many

3INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION
barriers from this country and it will in fact be a very good option for the firm to expand into this
country.

4INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION
References:
Angwin, D. (2015). Mergers and acquisitions. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management, 1-3.
Deresky, H. (2017). International management: Managing across borders and cultures. Pearson
Education India.
Mandel, B. (2016). Choice models and contemporary airport demand forecasting. ITF Round
Tables, 73-99.
Nellthorp, J., & Mackie, P. (2017). Transport projects, programmes and policies: evaluation
needs and capabilities. Routledge.