Personal relationships are important in international expansion

International Expansion, in the following, offers an extract from Angela Haines's post

British Airways Gives Entrepreneurs A Ticket To Global Expansion

The premise is that personal meetings still have a place, despite a trend towards electronic commerce and meetings. 

Here's, in part, what she reported:

Last week in New York, during an all day program that included networking events and panels on various aspects of doing business abroad, three finalists among 250 competed for the chance to win 10 round-trip tickets on British Airways. The next day all 250 entrepreneurs boarded a British Air jumbo jet for a stopover gathering in London for more meetings and networking before flying to their various selected destinations to drum up international business. 

Proof that these face to face meetings work comes from last year's British Airways winner, Judi Henderson-Townsend, CEO of Mannequin Madness, an Oakland-based company that recycles, sells, rents, and repairs mannequins for use in the retail industry, trade shows and the arts. Judi entered the British Air program in the middle of what she describes as "the worst year we ever had" when the retail industry was battered by the recession. Rather than wallow in her slump, Judi said the program "forced me to move forward by thinking about expansion."

Among her clients are Gucci, Nordstrom, Juicy Couture, Pixar, and even The Art Institute of Chicago which needed mannequins for an exhibition. But what had eluded Judi Henderson-Townsend was an international partnership to reach retailers overseas who wanted mannequins for US events. Online she started an email exchange with an English company, Mannakin Ltd, but soon realized "you can only go so far with electronic communication." The 2010 British Airways Face of Opportunity competition gave her the chance to meet her English counterpart. With her free ticket she flew to England to spend time at the company warehouse, outside of London, and found opportunities for partnering. "For one thing, my English partner was much more advanced in social networking than I was, but she needed my mannequin recycling expertise." Plus once they realized they could offer customers a seamless transition for their mannequin rental needs on both sides of the Atlantic, they forged a referral agreement. When Levi-Strauss in France contacted Judi for mannequins, she referred them to her new English partner.