scg-internatinal-siam-kubota-business-case
Published On: February 14, 2023

Expanding a domestic business into other regions and taking the step towards being a global brand is always a challenge. Merely being the top brand in one’s own country does not guarantee success on a regional or global scale. Therefore, the challenges of expanding into regional markets extend beyond product quality; they depend on numerous other factors.

Siam Kubota, a globally recognized leader in agricultural machinery, aims to expand its market presence in the ASEAN region. To achieve this goal, it has collaborated with SCG International to expand business operations and overcome challenges.

Global Market Expansion Challenges

Becoming a global brand is a huge challenge for many reasons, including the differences in languages, customs, beliefs, cultures, and the strong local competition. Local brands often understand their markets better. Consequently, partnering with a local ally or expert familiar with the market and regional regulations is essential. Here are some of the challenges of expanding into global markets:

Understanding the customers and the new marke

Brands should understand their customer demographic, including the consumer group’s age, gender, education level, and profession, to analyze customer needs based on their behavior.

Hiring local staff who understand the product and the market

Entrepreneurs need to recruit partners and local staff who genuinely understand both the products and the market, with resources, business networks, and a global presence in that particular country.

Different regional regulations

Partnering with a business ally with expertise in local marketing and regional regulations will help mitigate risks.

Cultural differences

Brands must genuinely understand and respect local cultures to avoid conflicting with local beliefs or customs.

Language Barriers

Being able to communicate in the local language enables brands to make a positive impression on their target market and facilitate seamless communication with local partners.

SCG International is a market expansion service provider that understands the challenges of global market expansion and aims to help brands find partners to enter the global market effectively with its Market Expansion Service.

Siam Kubota and SCG International’s Collaboration in ASEAN Market Expansion

When discussing agricultural machinery brands in Thailand and Asia, Kubota is one of the first that comes to mind. With a market share of 70-80% in Thailand, Kubota stands out from the crowd. The brand’s next objective is to expand its market to other ASEAN countries, such as Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam, focusing on its main product, the Kubota Diesel Engine.

Challenges and Opportunities for Siam Kubota

Most ASEAN countries rely heavily on agriculture, and their governments are actively promoting the concept of Smart Agriculture to enhance harvesting and crop yields as well as support the agricultural labor force. Agricultural machinery plays a crucial role in saving time, labor, and resources.

The concept of Smart Agriculture has enhanced agricultural efficiency in various countries, including Japan, the USA, and European nations, where fewer laborers are required to produce significant harvests. Siam Kubota sees this as a chance to expand its agricultural machinery market into other ASEAN nations.

Despite its success as an agricultural machinery brand in Japan and Thailand, Siam Kubota faces key challenges. These include developing a thorough understanding of local markets in each country and establishing post-sale service systems for repairs and spare parts availability. Additionally, Siam Kubota requires local dealers or business allies to facilitate seamless business operations.

Therefore, Siam Kubota sought a partner with expertise in the ASEAN market. SCG International has over 40 years of experience in international supply chains and global market expansion. We manage international marketing and distribution with a local team that has extensive marketing expertise and can assist with complex documentation processes. Furthermore, SCG International assists in connecting businesses, offering consultation on global market expansion tailored to each company’s needs. This support enables Siam Kubota to thrive steadily and efficiently.

SCG International Services as Siam Kubota’s Partner

The ASEAN countries have significant agricultural sectors, with agricultural GDP growing to 9.2% in 2022, marking a 2.2% increase from the previous year. Furthermore, ASEAN is home to over 100 million smallholder farmers. Recognizing this potential, Siam Kubota aims to expand its agricultural machinery market to other ASEAN countries.

Siam Kubota partnered with SCG International. With a global presence in target countries like Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam, and our local staff’s expertise in gathering insights and managing the supply chain effectively, SCG International enabled Siam Kubota to expand its ASEAN market and establish itself as a trusted brand. Here are some service details:

  • Preparing market insights and planning marketing strategies. SCG International offers consultation on customer data and tailored marketing strategies for specific countries through its team of experienced local staff.

  • Establishing a robust distributor network and delivering dependable products and services. SCG International helps connect businesses with top-quality dealers in target regions, emphasizing product quality as well as responsive and professional post-sales service. This approach fosters sustainability and enhances brand value beyond pricing. Additionally, SCG International supports Siam Kubota in maintaining specified decoration standards for dealer stores, strengthening brand recognition and customer confidence in service quality.

  • Providing post-sales services to ensure customer satisfaction. SCG International helps Siam Kubota establish post-sales service systems based on the 3S Model: Sales—offering quality products; Service—delivering effective and prompt service; and Spare Parts—providing maintenance parts promptly to ensure timely customer support.
  • Providing supply chain management services. Inspecting products and providing international shipping demand expertise and experience to ensure the delivery of quality products and spare parts. With over 40 years of supply chain experience, SCG International ensures smooth operations, including managing international documentation processes and simplifying logistics, to guarantee that every product and spare part is inspected and delivered promptly and efficiently.

  • Designing staff training programs to deliver quality customer service. Both SCG International and Siam Kubota prioritize customer needs. We work hand in hand to design staff training programs to enhance the team’s understanding of their products and services. This effort aims to make the brand known for its consistent quality service.

  • Driving sales for distributors through promotional programs. SCG International assists in providing loans to purchase agricultural machinery for farmers, which helps boost sales.

From Successful Collaboration to Leadership in the ASEAN Agricultural Machinery Market

The collaboration between Siam Kubota and SCG International allowed agricultural machinery under the brand Siam Kubota to gain a solid reputation and credibility in terms of the quality of products and services provided, leading to sales growth in the ASEAN market.

Aside from the ASEAN market, Siam Kubota and SCG International intend to collaborate in expanding their market presence to other regions, such as Bangladesh or Kenya, where there is high demand for agricultural products and services. With over 40 years of international business experience and supply chain management expertise, SCG International assists its partners in various aspects of business strategy planning. These services encompass product quality inspection, logistics and documentation management, financial and credit management with the dealer network, marketing consultation and local insights, as well as prompt customer service through local teams in each country.

SCG International, an integrated international end-to-end supply chain service provider, has a global network and local staff with expertise in over 50 countries. Our market expansion services enable businesses to swiftly and efficiently access new customer groups. As a trusted market expansion service provider, we ensure professional care and consultation for businesses. Contact us today.