Montreal as your gateway to the North-American market
Several European companies have chosen Montreal as their springboard for North America. This article highlights some of their reasons.

When targeting North America, your market entry strategy depends on various factors: the configuration of your product/service offering, your target clientele, your distribution channels and, under specific circumstances, your geographic focus (East Coast, Central or West Coast).

Since iFact’s headquarters are based in Montreal, Canada, we track closely the success stories of those companies that choose Montreal as their first stepping stone into the North-American market.

What are the reasons - why have they set up shop in Montreal?

One example is Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest game developers with headquarters in Paris, France. Ubisoft was originally attracted to Montreal for a number of reasons:

• Attractive R&D environment with generous subsidies
• A pool of talented, educated, multi-lingual labour force emanating from prestigious universities such as McGill University, Concordia, HEC, UQAM or Université de Montréal
• Among the lowest labour costs for software developers in North-America
• Tax exemptions making it very attractive for expatriates to relocate and
• Large Asian and European communities fostering integration of newly arrived.

In the meantime, Ubisoft has expanded and is currently also conducting research in Quebec City and Sherbrooke – in close partnership with local universities. Apart from research, Ubisoft has developed its North-American distribution strategy out of Montreal. Another company following the example of Ubisoft is Babelmedia also operating in the multimedia industry. 

Apart from the multimedia and IT industries, other industries such as the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry have also taken advantage of the favourable business environment of Montreal. Large multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Novartis, Pfizer or Anheuser-Busch have created important research and production facilities in Montreal, as well as smaller firms in life sciences such Procyon or LAB International that did locate in Montreal to conduct cost-efficient clinical research to obtain the North-American FDA accreditation and expand sales across the continent.

iFact works with small- and medium sized businesses to optimize their resources when it comes to choosing and implementing their international market strategy. We carefully analyze your specific market opportunities and develop together with you your fast-track lane to international success.

Should Montreal become Your gateway into the North-American market? In order to know first-hand if Montreal makes sense for your American strategy, please give me a call at +1-514-735-9892 or write me an email at skerner@ifact-consult.com.

Other questions for us? I am looking forward to hearing from you!

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