Leveraging Canadian Connections

Leveraging Canadian Connections
Last summer I studied three small-to-medium sized companies from Colorado that had entered the Canadian market to find out if current international entrepreneur theory actually explained entrepreneurial behavior in markets. The answer is: well, sometimes.
The first company customized a popular software package for client. They had one Canadian client who had contacted the company to ask for their services. The company CEO told me that he had no plans to pursue any other Canadian customers because it cost too much to send US workers for long periods of time to Canada. I asked what cultural differences he had noticed in working with Canadians. He said that there were none. When asked if he would consider hiring Canadian software developers on contract for Canadian projects, the CEO told me that they couldn’t find qualified Canadian developers. Knowing that Canada has a competitive strength in software development and large technology talent pools (in cities like Toronto, Quebec City, and Vancouver) I thanked him for his time & moved on to company #2.
The second company made equipment used in hydroelectric dams. They had a handful of Canadian clients, but no other effort toward developing a Canadian market for its products. Again, their sales strategy to primarily wait until a prospective buyer came calling. Sometimes the company was referred by product manufacturers also needed in the building of hydroelectric dams. Still, there was little understanding of how to leverage Canada’s huge investment in green energies like hydroelectric projects to increase revenues and stay at the forefront of the industry.
The third company was truly international and entrepreneurial. It was a bio fuels company with offices in Colorado, USA and Guelph, Toronto, Canada. Why Guelph? Guelph and its neighboring cities are home to Canada’s bio fuels industry cluster. There are nearby university programs related to biofuels science and management. There is a talent pool of biofuels professionals and workers. By setting up a subsidiary in Guelph, the company is able to partner locally and apply for Canadian alternative energy grant money as well as tax breaks. What’s more, the company can track all the latest advances in the Canadian bio fuels companies and use that information to help its American operations.
So which of these three companies would you rather be an employee or stockholder?