Sistrade to take steady approach to internationalization

- Steady growth to create strong base for future

 

- Opening offices around the world to maintain a local presence

 

Portuguese MIS/ERP software specialist Sistrade is to take a steady approach to becoming a fully international company.

 

Sistrade has already stated its internationalization strategy, but during the recent Emballage show in Paris, director Paulo Souto told Package Print Worldwide how this strategy will come to fruition.

 

The first step for Sistrade is opening offices around the world that allow it to service its customers with a direct local presence. For instance, the company has opened a small office in Paris to serve its French customers.

 

Souto said: ‘Being easily contactable and able to speak with companies in their native language helps us to understand our customers and their needs better.’

 

There are few markets outside the reach of Sistrade’s internationalization strategy, and the company currently has representation across Europe, throughout South America, in Africa and in the Middle East.

 

Sistrade has recently made a big deal of its growing footprint in the Middle East, with Souto and Firás Masri, in charge of research and business development at the company, explaining that the company is already doing well in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, where the company is working on a big project that it is being careful to get right as it will act as a bell cow installation.

 

Masri outlined Sistrade’s plan for growth in the Middle East in Package Print Worldwide issue #4, 2012. You can also read the feature here.

 

‘We are moving into the Far East as well via Thailand and Indonesia,’ Masri said.

 

Souto said: ‘It is a step-by-step process. We’re not going to grow too fast as we want to give the business a strong base to operate from.

 

‘If we grow too fast we run the risk of spreading ourselves too thin, and not being able to adequately respond to the needs of customers in markets around the world.

 

‘But we want to grow the company with business from around the world. We are a company based in Europe, but we are not restricted by the economic problems across the continent as having an international customer base means we can overcome any issues by operating globally.’

 

Read more about Sistrade here

Read more on MIS/ERP here

Read more news from across Europe here

Read more news from across the Middle East here