Often the impetus for a distributor expanding globally is a manufacturer partner requesting that they do so (See Anixter Follows Customers Overseas). While that's a very effective approach, it's not enough to build an entire global strategy on, says Mona Pearl, global business development expert and author of Grow Globally: Opportunities for Your Middle-Market Company Around the World.

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"Having one or two clients that are going global is great," Pearl told MDM in a recent interview with MDM. "But then what? There has to be a game plan for later."

Establishing your company in a local market overseas with an existing partner also creates opportunities for you to expand your business to local companies, she says. The idea, after all, is to continue to grow.

Such an idea may require you to modify your products to meet the demands of the local market, or it may require you to add additional lines that you may not carry in the U.S. Companies that have real success overseas, according to Pearl, treat the foreign markets as local ones. (See Grainger Priority: Ensuring Local Relevance in International Markets)

"They're starting to do their business development locally," she says. "And that's a great strategy."

Read more from MDM's interview with Mona Pearl in the latest issue of MDM: Global Markets Are Not Just for Large Companies Anymore