Mark Lesselroth, CEO of BioPortUSA was recently interviewed by Katharina Kort, the Washington D.C. Bureau Chief for Handelsblatt, Germany’s most prestigious business newspaper. The focus of the article was on the challenges German businesses face when doing business in the United States. “As someone who used to live in Germany I came to realize how influential the Handelsblatt was. I would describe it as the Wall Street Journal of Germany. When I was asked to contribute to Katharina’s story I was both humbled and honored to be able to contribute to this world class daily paper” stated Mark Lesselroth. From the article:
Lesselroth, who focuses primarily on German medical technology and biotech companies with his consulting firm Bioport in Boston, experiences situations like this again and again. “As long as there is no signature on the contract, nothing is certain,” he warns. Often it is communicative misunderstandings that can make the difference for millions.
Lesselroth has also experienced a German customer who had a signed contract with a US partner who was supposed to sell their products in the States, but then after six months nothing had been sold.
The US market is not an extension of the European market
A few prominent examples in recent years have shown how difficult the US market can be for German companies: Sometimes the choice of location and product is not right, as is the case with the retailer Lidl , which has problems convincing Americans of its stores. Sometimes the legal risks are much higher than expected, as Bayer found out with Monsanto. And cultural differences are often underestimated, as the failed Daimler- Chrysler merger showed many years ago.
German companies already employ more than 700,000 people in the USA. As the latest survey by the German-American Chamber of Commerce shows, 96 percent of the German companies surveyed want to continue investing locally in the next three years.
Full article available on Handelsblatt.com
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