Internationalization has been viewed as a process of increasing involvement of enterprises in international market.

Firm internationalize mostly to seek opportunities for growth especially when the home markets have become mature and too saturated with many competitors. That is why, our company have decided to internationalize our business in Singapore. Singapore has been consistently ranked favorably as one of the best places to do business in the world, and this comes as no surprise. There are several key motivations why our firm is very interested with Singapore as our target country in order to internationalize our business.
First key : Sales Expansion.

Based on the business unit consumer goods, our company would like to focus on consumer goods, as well as food and drinks services. In Singapore, consumer goods is by far the largest business unit and comprises the Business Segments Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FCMG). Due to this fast moving consumer goods business segment, our company thinks by internalize our business in Singapore, we can earn an enviable reputation for the ability to create markets, build brands, and increase brand equity. We are recognized for our in-depth knowledge of consumer products, local market needs, and our unmatched ability to deliver complex supply chain management solutions. Thus from this, we believe that our company can expand our new ideas about products, services and business method in Singapore.

Other than that, our expansion is not only focus to build brands and create markets, but our company also have target to gain from the investment. As we know, Singapore is one of the worlds leading business centers and a major destination for foreign investment. Their monetary stability is good, and the legal and regulatory framework for the financial sector is transparent and efficient. The anti-corruption laws are strong and well enforced. These can be seen from the foreign and domestic investors which they are treated equally, and openness to global commerce fosters competitiveness. Thus, all these strengthen give means to our company because the Singapore economic condition is good and our business will gain return on investment.

 Second key: Demand and Supply.

As we know, Singapore is a city-state with an area of about 700 km, a population of approximately 4.4 million people. One of the main concerns of the their government has been how to provide clean water to the population, which currently consumes about 1.36 billion liters of water per day.

Singapore is considered to be a water-scarce country not because of lack of rainfall (2400 mm/year), but because of the limited amount of land area where rainfall can be stored. Thus, regarding this issue our company believes that this is one of the opportunities that we can take by supplying the clean water to their citizens by producing mineral water with the clean source of water from Malaysia and our company exports that mineral water to Singapore. As a result, the Singaporeans can have a drink by clean and treated water.

In addition, our company also focuses on demand regarding the clean water from the Singapore citizens. Regarding to their government policies, all suppliers must provide and ensure the quality of water continues to meet international standards. Besides that, our products will promote the greater research and development in water and water technologies in order to maintain and increase our quality of products due to Singapore has adopted an integrated approach to the development and management of its water supply allowing for innovative change and initiatives that enable the provision of safe water to meet the rising demand. In order to support this, it has the infrastructure and legislation in place for environmental controls to protect raw water sources, and a comprehensive approach to water quality monitoring and the management and conservation of water.

Furthermore, in order to keep the water quality standards, Singapore has adopted the WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality (2004) as the Singapore water quality standards for the interim. Notwithstanding, the Public Utilities Board (PUB), as the municipal supplier of drinking water, has set its own internal product water quality which are above the WHO guidelines. A Technical Committee has recently been formed to look into developing a set of National Drinking Water Quality Standards for subsequent adoption by the National Environment Agency. Thus, without any problems, we will try our hard to comply with the rules and regulations which set by Singapore government.

Third key: Minimize Competitive Risk.

Generally, doing business internationally is risky. International business managers must be fully aware of all risks involve by conducting due diligence and risk assessment before embarking into international markets. When a company wants to expands sales it also expands its competitive realm in the host country. Once the company steps outside the boundaries of its origin, they can maximize profits and also use it as a balancing factor. This can occur when, if our company sales are down domestically which built in home country (Malaysia) and sales are up internationally at the host country (Singapore), our company will not be at a loss. It is because, our company have decide to use exporting as our mode of entry. Exporting means our company produce our product which is mineral water in a company's domestic marketplace and selling it in another country like Singapore. There are many reasons why our company chooses this kind of mode of entry, but the main reason is to increase revenues. This revenue can be generated because the cost for exporting is cheaper and also less risky compare to foreign direct investment.

Others, our company have our own initiative to minimize risk, it seeks foreign markets to take advantage of the fluctuating business cycle. For example, the product life cycle displays the rise and fall of a product. The stages are birth, growth, maturity, and decline.

This cycle may take place for a particular product during different times and different locations. Therefore, if a product dies or a country goes into recession, profits can be recouped in another market

Commercial risks.

Promotion

There are four official languages of Singapore which are Mandarin, Malay, Tamil and English. English is the most common language used and is the language which unites the different ethnic groups. Children are taught in English at school but also learn their mother tongue to make sure they don't lose contact with their traditions. Expatriates and foreigners may encounter language problems in the beginning of their stay in Singapore as many Singaporeans use Singlish to communicate. Singlish is a mix of English with other languages mixed into the English, sometimes phrases can end with funny terms like 'lah', 'leh', mah'. Chinese commonly use their own dialects to communicate, and sometimes, interdialect groups don't understand one another's language, as the language is vastly different. Except for Hokkien and Teochew, which have a closer link. The Malays use the language among their fellow races and the Indians speak Tamil. Thus, due to this language factors, it will become one of our risks in order to enter their market especially in term of promotion. Our marketing department will have difficulties to prepare that kind of promotion because we does not know the exactly language that they usually

use either in informal communication or formal communication. If either party is not completely fluent or understand in the other partys language, confusion may arise which could lead to misunderstanding of what we have try to promote. Singapore English usually come from other languages spoken in Singapore, especially Malay and Hokkien. Speakers of Singlish are not necessarily aware of which language they are from however. Example:

habis - finished makan - to eat chope - to reserve something cheem - difficult, complicated ang mo - a white person

Speakers of Singlish will usually end his sentence with a distinctive exclamation. The three most common are ah, lah, ley and what. Examples:

OK lah, bye bye. Don't like that lah. You are going there ah? No parking lots here, what. The price is too high for me lah

Distribution Wholesalers or distributors are businesses which oversea the distribution of stocks and goods from manufacturers to retailers. It is chain of businesses which relies in each other capabilities to offer them benefits that could be used to improve their own businesses. Manufacturers benefit from distributors because they could easily dispatch their stock simultaneously without having to bother themselves in delivering their stock from one retailer to the other. Also, manufacturers

can benefit from a wholesaler's capability to distribute their products even though their stocks are new to the market. There are some importances by having wholesalers or distributors. Though it made it easier for retailers to gain access to manufacturers through the Internet, there are still several events in which these may not prove enough help to other retailers. Most manufacturers require a minimum number of purchases before they can do businesses. However, not all retailers can accommodate the quantity as well as the cost of this quantity, particularly the smaller retailers. This is where wholesalers and distributors come in. In Singapore, there are several distributors that undertake the responsibility to distribute the goods and services to the retailer. For example, Gopsin Corporation (S) Pte. Ltd., Ejimex Holdings Corp and T. G. KIAT & CO (PTE) LTD. However, it will create another problem to our company. It is because, when we hired distributors in Singapore, our company management cannot easily monitor the performance of the distributors. When we cannot monitor 100% of the performance of that distributor, it will lead other matter. We does not know how the distributor distribute our product, and we does not know clearly on what are the consumer exactly want. When we not receive all that feedback from the consumer, it is difficult to our company to make some improvement in line with consumer demand.

HOW TO OVERCOME RISKS

ALLY WITH QUALIFIED LOCAL PARTNERS. In order to overcome the commercial risks, our company has take an initiatives to minimize it by allying with the local partners. This practical approach will be implementing by entering the target markets in collaboration with a knowledgeable and reliable local partner. When we decide to collaborate with the local partner, who is more knowledgeable and more familiar with their culture, it will give an advantage to us. It is because, when we can collaborate with them, we can know exactly about the Singaporean culture.

So, by knowing all their culture, it will be easier to us to be more understood about their culture and when we ally with local partners it will give advantages because they can be our distributor in Singapore to distribute our product to every outlet which sell groceries goods. Due to the matter which we cannot monitor 100% of the performance, it can be overcome by making the schedule to monitor the performance by monthly. We will send our representative to monitor all the performance of our product in that country. Thus from that, we can know very well about our products performance and at the same time, we can get the feedback directly from the consumers.

TO OVERCOME PROMOTION RISK In term of promotion, our company might have problems to choose the languages that suitable to make the promotion. It is because, promotion will play the main roles in order to attract the consumer to buy our product. If the consumers cannot get what are we trying to promote it will a little bit difficult to us. It will lead to miscommunication between the producer and the buyers. In our case, we have some language that usually be used in Singapore. One of the examples is Singlish language. Singlish is stand for Singapore English. Other than that, Singaporean also use another language likes, Hokkien, Malay, and English as well. So in order to cope regarding this matter, our management has decide that, we will use Singlish as our base language for promotion, then we will have another promotion that we translate it into another language like Hokkien. We choose to maintain and use Singlish is because, that language is one of the identity of Singapore. Furthermore, that language has elements of humors. Thus, by having that kinds of element in our promotion, it will make our promotion become more interesting not only from Singaporean itself, but from the foreigners or visitors outside Singapore. That is how we grab attention and interest of the consumers. However, we still use another language likes Hokkien and Malay. We will arrange to play this kind of promotion in certain slot in TV station. As for example, we will arrange to publish that promotion in Hokkien language from 6.00 pm to 8.00 pm, then from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm in Singlish version, and from 8.00pm to 1.00 am in Malay version. Others, we are not only promote through mass media, but we also promote by using billboard, sponsored for certain games and flyers. These kinds of promotion will be implementing step

by step in order to attract more consumers either from Singapore itself or from foreigners. It is because, when our products can be accepted by all parties including foreigners, it will it will provide tremendous opportunities for us to expand our business around the world