Problem 1. How you can you protect your brand when working with foreign intermediaries?
You make a very good point about the necessity of using intermediaries to assist the marketing channel's effectiveness. However, I have a question, what do you do with the intermediaries that are more interested in their own agenda's at the expense of the marketing channel? If this intermediary is the go between for a sensitive area that you are trying to market and this intermediary places its own legitimate needs above your company's needs how do you deal with them especially if other intermediaries are your competition?
Problem 2. How can organizations establish clear communication channels between partners to minimize all issues?
Problem 3. I think a lot of customer service issues are created unintentionally by organizations trying to measure the effectiveness of their staff. If a customer service rep is told they need to help X customers each day, they may try to rush customers off of the phone to make sure they meet their quota. The company may want to give great service, but if staffs are measured on quantity, there may be a conflict.
What ideas do you have for measuring the effectiveness of staff that won't impact quality of service?
Problem 4. Figuring out what name to use for a new business aboard can be tricky. You can use your existing brand/name and hope your reputation helps you in the new market, but what happens if the new opportunity does not work out? Will that impact your brand in other markets?
Problem 5. What are some of the pros/cons of entering a market with a lot of competition (i.e. 10+ firms providing the same product or service that you do)?
Now think about the flip side, what are some of the pros/cons of entering a market with very little competition (i.e. only 1-2 firms providing the same product or service that you do)?
Problem 6. If you are working with a foreign subsidiary, think about what legal opportunities you would have and what the laws are in each country.