Final answer:
Market development is the optimal strategy for companies with mature products looking to expand into foreign countries, focusing on creating new markets for their existing products. Mergers represent an alternative growth strategy, offering various advantages such as efficiency and new product lines.
Step-by-step explanation:
For companies with long life cycle and mature phase products looking to expand into foreign countries, market development is often the best strategy. This involves finding and developing new markets for their existing products. Market penetration could be challenging as it implies increasing market share in existing markets, which might be saturated. Product development and diversification are other strategies, but each requires significant investment into creating new products or entering completely new business areas, which may not leverage the company’s existing strengths as effectively as market development.
Mergers are another way that companies can grow, providing benefits such as increased size, efficiency, new product lines, competitive advantages, and, in some cases, a transformed corporate identity. However, each expansion method, including mergers, has its challenges and risks, like failing safeguards or inadequate capital resources. Thus, careful strategic planning is crucial.