Global Market Research for a Multinational Expansion Program

Growth ambitions outpacing local knowledge.

A multinational corporation was executing a multi-region growth program spanning North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Headquarters had a clear strategic ambition, but the on-the-ground reality of each market, the buyer behavior, competitive structure, regulatory nuance, and channel economics, varied widely and was not fully understood centrally.

What was at stake.

The program involved significant capital allocation across more than a dozen countries, with go, no-go, and sequencing decisions tied to a fixed timeline. Acting on assumptions developed in the home market risked misreading local demand, underestimating local competitors, and stalling entry in priority geographies.

Leadership needed a single, comparable evidence base across markets, delivered to a consistent standard, that strategy and country teams could both trust.

A coordinated global research program.

SIS International Research designed and executed a global market research program across the client's priority countries, anchored on a common framework so findings were directly comparable across regions.

Local fieldwork, central coordination.

We deployed native-language researchers and local fieldwork teams in every market, coordinated by a central program lead to enforce methodological consistency.

A mixed-method design tuned to each market.

The program combined multiple methodologies, calibrated to local conditions:

1. Quantitative consumer and B2B surveys with market-representative samples
2. In-depth interviews with executives, channel partners, and category experts
3. Focus groups and ethnographic visits where cultural context required them
4. Competitor and channel mapping at the country level
5. Regulatory and macroeconomic scans to frame entry conditions
6. Cross-market synthesis to surface patterns and outliers

Outputs built for both central and local teams.

Findings were delivered through country deep-dives for local leadership, a comparative cross-market synthesis for the central strategy team, and a prioritization framework for sequencing decisions.

A single evidence base across markets.

The program produced a comparable, country-by-country view of opportunity size, competitive intensity, buyer behavior, and entry conditions, replacing a patchwork of inconsistent local inputs.

Decisions that moved.

The client used the findings to:

1. Reprioritize the country sequencing in the growth program toward higher-yield markets
2. Adapt the value proposition and pricing architecture by region
3. Select local partners and channel structures with a clearer view of trade-offs
4. Reset internal expectations on ramp timelines in markets that needed longer runways

An ongoing global research relationship.

The engagement evolved into a continuing global research partnership, with refresh waves in priority markets and rapid-response studies as new countries entered the program. Several of the prioritized markets met or exceeded their first-year commercial targets following entry.