Why most companies confuse execution with strategy when entering a new market

When a company decides to expand internationally, the first instinct is often to start looking for a local agency. Someone who can register a legal entity, open a bank account, sort out licensing. It feels like progress — and in many ways, it is. But it is also where things frequently go wrong.

The problem is not agencies themselves. The problem is sequence. Companies reach for execution before they have clarity on what exactly they are executing — and why. Market entry is treated as a logistics task when in reality it is a decision problem. The distinction matters, because different types of agencies are designed for different stages of that problem, and engaging the wrong type at the wrong time creates risks that are very difficult to reverse.

This article breaks down three types of agencies that help companies enter new markets, explains what each one does well, and offers a practical framework for deciding which one you need — and when.

Type 1: Business setup agencies

These are the agencies most companies encounter first. In the UAE alone, firms like Virtuzone and Creative Zone have helped tens of thousands of entrepreneurs register companies, obtain trade licences, process visas, and handle ongoing compliance. Their core offering typically includes choosing a jurisdiction (free zone, mainland, or offshore), forming a legal entity, securing the right type of trade licence, opening corporate bank accounts, processing visas and Emirates IDs, and providing ongoing PRO services — the administrative liaison with government bodies that every company operating in the region requires.

They know the regulatory landscape, they have strong relationships with government authorities. For a company that has already decided to enter a specific market, knows what it wants to do and how, and simply needs the operational infrastructure set up correctly, a business setup agency is exactly the right choice.

Where they are not designed to help is in the decisions that should precede setup. They will not typically challenge whether you should enter this market at all, whether your timing is right, whether your model is viable locally, or whether a legal entity is even the right first step. This is not a critique — it is a description of their role. Business setup agencies are built to execute once the strategic direction is clear. They are not built to define it.

Type 2: Market research and consulting agencies

A step upstream from setup firms sit agencies that combine market research, feasibility analysis, and advisory services. Globally, this category includes a wide range of management consultancies that offer market entry as one of their service lines.

These agencies typically deliver market sizing and demand analysis, competitor benchmarking, feasibility studies and business planning, go-to-market strategy development, and in some cases partner or distributor identification. Many also offer regulatory guidance and can connect clients with setup firms for the operational phase.

The value of these agencies is that they bring structured research and local expertise to a process that otherwise relies too heavily on assumptions. A well-executed feasibility study can reveal that a market is smaller than expected, that competition is more entrenched, or that a company's pricing model does not translate. These are insights that can save significant time and money.

At the same time, the work these agencies produce is typically bounded by the brief they receive. If a company asks for a feasibility study on entering the UAE, the agency will deliver a feasibility study on entering the UAE. What it is less likely to do is step back and ask whether the UAE is the right market to begin with, whether entry should be deferred in favour of a different priority, or whether the company's internal readiness is sufficient to support any international expansion right now.

The relationship is structured as a service engagement: the client defines the scope, and the agency delivers within it. This works well when the client knows which questions to ask. It works less well when the most important question is one the client has not yet thought to raise.

Type 3: Strategic advisory

The third type of agency — or more accurately, the third type of engagement — sits before both research and setup. Its purpose is not to execute, and not to deliver a report, but to help a leadership team reach clarity on whether, where, and how to expand.

This is the space where Vinden.one works. The role is different from what most agencies offer, and it is worth explaining why.

When a company is considering international expansion, the questions that matter most are often the ones that feel uncomfortable. Is this the right time to expand, or are we being pulled by opportunity rather than pushed by readiness? Are we entering this market because it is strategically sound, or because we have a contact there? Do we need a direct presence, a partnership, or something else entirely? What assumptions are we making about demand, willingness to pay, and competitive dynamics — and which of those assumptions have actually been tested?

These are not questions that a feasibility study can answer. They are questions that require working closely with founders or leadership teams over a period of weeks, stress-testing the expansion logic, and sometimes arriving at the conclusion that the right move is to wait, to narrow focus, or to choose a different market entirely.

At Vinden.one, this work typically involves clarifying whether expansion makes sense at this moment, narrowing the target market to a specific, defensible entry point, evaluating the right entry model (direct operations, a local partner, a distribution arrangement, or a hybrid), identifying and reducing irreversible decisions before they are locked in, and in some cases, designing the partnership strategy that precedes any operational setup.

In practice, this means that the outcome of a strategic advisory engagement is not always "enter now." Sometimes the most valuable result is a clear decision not to enter, or to postpone until specific conditions are met. That conclusion, reached early, is often worth more than any optimisation applied later.

Why sequence matters

The distinction between these three types of agencies is not about quality or competence. All three can be excellent at what they do. The distinction is about timing and purpose.

A healthy market entry follows a natural sequence. First, strategic clarity: the company understands why it is expanding, where it should focus, and what model fits its situation. Second, validation: the strategic hypothesis is tested against real market data — demand signals, pricing dynamics, competitive realities, potential partners. Some of the strategic advisory can help with the market research, especially, if they settled in the specific region. Third, execution: the legal entity is formed, licences are obtained, operations begin.

Problems arise when companies skip directly to stage three, or conflate stages one and two in ways that leave core assumptions untested.

This is not a theoretical concern. Research consistently shows that the majority of international expansion attempts encounter serious difficulties in their first twelve to eighteen months — not because the product is bad or the team is weak, but because companies underestimate how different a new market really is from their home territory. The gap between expectations and reality becomes visible precisely in the space where strategic decisions were made too quickly or not made at all.

When Vinden.one is — and is not — the right fit

Vinden.one is not a replacement for business setup agencies, and it is not a substitute for in-depth market research in the specific countries. It operates in the space before both, working with founders and leadership teams to build the strategic foundation that makes everything downstream more effective.

The work is most relevant for companies that are exploring international expansion but have not yet committed to a specific market or model; that are evaluating multiple markets and need a structured way to prioritise; that want to understand their partnership options before making irreversible decisions; or that have entered a market and found that something is not working, and need to step back and reassess the underlying strategy.

Vinden.one also can be the strategic operator or mediator for the business setup and local marklet research agencies assuring the strong connection between the direction and execution.

The cost of getting it backwards

Setting up a local entity too early is a mistake that is more common than most people realise. It creates sunk costs that quietly bias every decision that follows. Once a company has spent money on registration, licencing, and office space, there is institutional pressure to "make it work" — even when the market signals are weak. The focus shifts from validating the opportunity to justifying the investment. Compliance starts consuming more energy than customer discovery. The company becomes present in a market without being relevant in it.

This pattern is especially visible in the UAE and broader MENA region, where the relative ease of company formation can create a false sense of progress. Registering a free zone entity is straightforward. Building a commercially viable business in a new market is not. The two should not be confused.

Working together, not instead of each other

The ideal approach to market entry is not to choose one type of agency and ignore the rest. It is to use each one at the right stage.

For a technology company entering the Middle East, for example, a realistic engagement might begin with a strategic advisory phase — clarifying the target segment, evaluating entry models, mapping potential partners, and developing a preliminary go-to-market thesis. From there, selected assumptions are validated through focused market research: customer interviews, pricing analysis, competitive benchmarking. And once the strategy is confirmed and the model is clear, a business setup agency handles entity formation, licensing, banking, and the full compliance infrastructure.

This sequenced approach does not add time. If anything, it saves time — because the company avoids the costly rework that comes from committing to the wrong jurisdiction, the wrong partner, or the wrong model before the strategy has been thought through.

The bottom line

Market entry is not company setup. It is a decision process that begins well before any legal entity is created, and the quality of those early decisions determines everything that follows.

The right agency is the one that matches where you are, not where you want to be. And the most important decision is often not which market to enter, but whether to enter it at all.