Client Problem
The client in this case study is Kempower from Finland, one of the leading manufacturers of EV charging solutions globally. The company has experienced exponential growth based on the mega trends of CO2 reduction and electrification of all kinds of vehicles all over the world. Until now Kempower’s focus has been in Europe and North America where the company has recently opened its own manufacturing unit.
EV charging infrastructure is experiencing fast growth in most countries of the world. Attractive businesses opportunities are emerging everywhere. Kempower, just like most companies in this business, has a kind of a positive challenge to solve: how to rank the markets in terms of product-market-fit, short term addressable market size and estimated time-to-market. Timing of new market entry activities is critical to ensure sustainable and profitable growth.
Asian markets offer lucrative business opportunities for companies in EV- and EV infrastructure business. However, the markets are in very different development stages and market maturity in the EV business. Government incentives vary drastically, in some markets there is already local competition trying to protect their market, import restrictions, non-tariff trade barriers etc. just to mention a few factors, which impact the market attractiveness of various countries. Based on macroeconomic data and publicly available information it is impossible to rank the markets in priority order.
Kempower’s presence and experience from Asian markets has been quite limited until now. However, the company has decided to expand its business to selected markets in the region, but it lacked the knowledge of the markets and needed support to select the best markets for their business expansion.
Our Solution
Asian Insiders designed a multi- staged approach for Kempower, where the first phase was to collect and analyse key market data in a large number of countries simultaneously based on the most important, specific market selection criteria as defined by Kempower and Asian Insiders together.
Required data and information from all markets was then collected by Asian Insiders’ local teams using available local information sources (in many cases only available in local language), government data and expert interviews. Results were presented in comparative tables making it easy to evaluate each market against each other criteria by criteria. Every report of Asian Insiders always includes conclusions and recommendations made jointly by our country-based experts and senior partners.
Finally, the results were presented and discussed jointly in a workshop. Asian Insiders had grouped the countries in three tiers based on the ranking order of the countries. Tier 1 included the markets, which require immediate actions, Tier 2 were markets to be developed after completion of Tier 1 and finally Tier 3 markets, which at this point of time require active follow-up to ensure timely actions when the markets reach the desired development stage.
Successful Result
Kempower selected two markets for immediate go-to-market planning and execution based on Asian Insiders’ recommendations. This work with Asian Insiders is now ongoing.
