But this won't kill the company as Tesco has a generally good record at entering overseas markets.
Asia and the Middle East in particular have seen a significant rise in the number of institutions entering overseas markets to offer degree programmes and act as research centres.
Grahame Smith, the STUC's deputy general secretary, said: "It is increasingly apparent, and a worrying trend, that it is far easier for European-based companies to take over successful UK companies than it is for UK companies to enter overseas markets... "Today's announcement obviously creates a level of uncertainty for the workforce, the very people who made Scottish Power a successful company".
Even for local players, the biggest challenge is not having clear rules and regulations when entering overseas markets.
Leon thinks demand for the company's BlackBerry wireless e-mail device will stay strong, particularly as the company starts to enter overseas markets.
"Entering overseas markets is not easy for them and as a Taiwan-based company we know the market much more than they do," says Tseng.
The product lessons learned by WeChat's owner Tencent could be applied to any Silicon Valley company — cultural knowledge and appropriate product design are key to entering overseas markets.
"Some startups do have a relatively high barrier of entering overseas markets because of how they build companies here and how sustainability is measured using very different metrics in Japan than in the U.S.
Given Uber's frighteningly aggressive approach to expanding both its geographical locations and its bevy of services, Socar may face a tough battle to differentiate itself if it enters overseas markets late, but Kim is resolute that his company must first truly dominate Korea.
For in the last two weeks, published reports in the United States, New Zealand, Europe and on the Internet have said that more than 20 Team New Zealand crew members have been offered lucrative contracts to defect and sail in the next cup, in 2003, aboard boats entered by overseas syndicates.
