---
title: "Three questions the board should ask before an international expansion"
description: "Internationalisation rarely fails on ambition – it fails on the prerequisites. Three questions that should be answered before the decision is made."
date: 2026-08-25
author: Merete N. Kristiansen
publisher: Kristiansen & Co
canonical: https://kristiansenco.no/en/insights/tre-sporsmal-for-en-internasjonal-satsing/
---

# Three questions the board should ask before an international expansion

Internationalisation rarely fails on ambition. It fails on the prerequisites. After years of market work in Asia and Europe, there are three questions I believe every board should have answered before the company commits to a new market.

## Do we know who actually pays?

It is easy to describe a market in volumes and growth rates. It is harder to answer who the first paying customer is, what they pay for today, and why they would switch. Without that answer, the market analysis is a description, not a plan.

## Do we have someone who has done it before?

Distributor agreements, customs regimes, payment terms and local hiring look manageable from Norway. In practice they rarely are. Experience from the specific market – not from internationalisation in general – is the single factor I have seen matter most.

## Can the organisation at home carry it?

An expansion abroad always draws more leadership capacity than the budget suggests. The board should know what will be left unprioritised at home, and whether the leadership team actually has room to sustain the effort over time – not just to launch it.

None of these questions are new. But in the processes I have been part of, as an executive and as a board member, it is striking how often the decision is made before all three are answered.