This thesis is done for the fulfilment of Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree program in Business Management and Entrepreneurship at Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK). The main focus of the study is internationalization of companies to a new market as a development task for the company.

The commissioner of the thesis is Mirka Oy, a Finnish multinational company. The purpose of the thesis was to study factors that should be considered in internationalization strategies to enter to a new market. The re-search studied Ethiopia as a potential market for the company business expansion to the market.

The author collected information by reading different books, articles and research documents to find out the required information. The research was made using both quantitative and qualitative methods. For the quantitative research, the five years country import data of the selected products were analysed and for the quantitative research interviews with the potential importers and product users were made.

The result of the research shows that, there is a huge potential for the company to enter to Ethiopian market and a potential business relation with selected companies has been started to enter to the market. Furthermore, a general guideline to market entry process to other markets were developed. The research was a complete development project for the company to study the market potential and finding potential business partners and start a business to enter to the market.

The thesis can be used as a guideline for multinational company’s internationalization activities to different business countries by taking the case study as an example and for those companies who wish to enter to Ethiopian business market gives a clear picture about the country business environment and business potentials.