Since the start of the global economic slowdown, clothing retailers have been striving to establish themselves in non-traditional emerging markets in order to compensate for the fall in demand from consumers in developed countries.

Indeed, as early as 2008, no less than 30% of growth in world imports was generated by 14 key markets—Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Greece, India, Israel, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine and Venezuela—as demand in industrialised nations started to fall away.

For many brands, these efforts have centred around finding, building and maintaining strategic partnerships with local companies which have well established distribution and retail networks in the country in question—mostly in the form of licensing and distribution agreements or joint venture partnership arrangements. Alternatively, some brands have set up distribution facilities in new markets from scratch, by building, renting or acquiring warehouses, retail outlets and, if necessary, factories themselves.

In most cases, making the foray into a new market, either through a strategic partnership or organic expansion, involves a high degree of investment on the part of the brand owner, especially when establishing new stores. And such investment will feel more risky than usual if the country where the capital is being spent has challenging social, economic and political differences compared with the investing firm’s existing foreign markets.

In “Talking strategy” this quarter, Tim Wheeler, the president of the International division of the global underwear brand Jockey International, provides insight into the process of building and establishing a brand in emerging markets. In doing so, he explains that the key to success is to remain as flexible and open-minded as possible, and to expect—and even encourage—new and innovative ways of doing business.