CONQUERING ASIA: A MARATHON, NOT A SPRINT

Asia is a unique region with centuries-old culture and traditions that permeate all aspects of life, including business. And it takes specific skills and qualities to operate in the Asian market. Explore these skills together with Arnox Head of Sales — Yurii Khidoiatov.

As globalization gathers pace, numerous international specialists migrating between different markets have emerged. Asia is no exception. Rather, it spearheads the process. Many professionals of all levels hailing from different countries are currently working there, enriching the local culture with something new. Therefore, the cultures of previously closed and conservative countries like Japan gain diversity, and the long-established borders and lines begin to blur.

Entering the Asian market was challenging because of the language, culture, business traditions, time difference, and a host of other factors. All these contribute to the uniqueness of the local business environment. This market plays by its own rules and has a high entry threshold. Reputation and trust are crucial here more than anywhere else: serious business is out of the question unless you build strong relationships first. And it takes months, often years even.

In practice, it looks like numerous repetitive actions with absolutely counter-intuitive results: incessantly answering ‘the same’ questions, elaboration of dozens of various co-operation options, video conference calls, meetings, and negotiations. The Asian market is not for those who want quick wins. It’s those playing the long game that thrive here—you need to patiently stick to the tactics and strategy that will eventually lead you to success.

The price of one mistake

You can spend your entire life making yourself a name and building a reputation, and it takes just one mistake to ruin everything. The business community knows numerous stories where cultural ignorance or untimely response to the partners’ emails resulted in the loss of major contracts. Although it’s true for the global market in general, there is particular sensitivity to attention in Asia.

We have been studying the experience of our competitors trying to enter the Asian market for a long time. We analyzed situations, looked for mistakes, learned from them, and improved our strategy. It has yielded substantial results over the past 3 years.

We have been thoroughly picking a strategic partner from among Asian companies. They have already established supply chains with primary and alternative suppliers. Later, step by step, we showed readiness for cooperation and waited for our chance, doing an astounding amount of future-focused work that made us closer to the strategic results despite bringing in hardly any revenue.

At some point, our competitor made a mistake, failing to notify their long-time partner with whom they had been doing business for over 10 years already that they were flying to Shanghai to negotiate with a bunch of other companies. They met accidentally in a restaurant, where the partner had supper with his wife. Although it hardly seemed a big deal, a small crack appeared in the 15-year history of their partnership. On the other hand, there were us, a clean slate: no cooperation history, but without any negative impact on the relationship either. It was our chance, and we took it. And we are working with this company to this day.

The window of opportunity can present itself at any moment. A strong team and experienced manager need to be ready for anything, be it the competitor’s blunder, a drastic change in the market situation, or logistic opportunities/limitations. If you are doing quality work daily, it will yield a result worth the effort you put in. In the Asian market, everything is much the same as in others. It’s just you need tenfold the time and endless patience to work there.

Our team abides by three fundamental principles:

  1. Staying consistent: we won’t look for more lucrative deals if we agreed not to, even if verbally. It may look like we are missing out on many opportunities in the short term, but it’s the only way of making a name as a reliable strategic partner.
  2. Playing by the rules, respecting other market players: partners, clients, and competitors.
  3. Always remembering our commitments. It’s as easy as ‘don’t promise if unsure about it, and see it through at any cost if you promise something’. This simple rule is what separates great companies from good ones.

Preparing for a long game

Starting out in the Asian market, I had an advantage of sorts. Back in 2009, I studied as a part of the first, experimental group on the Doing Business in/with China programme in Hong Kong during my MBA. Our predecessors traditionally flew to the USA, and us, we conquered China, meaning the entire Asian region. The emphasis was put on the practical aspects: daily meetings with business people, entrepreneurs, government heads, and expatriates that carved out an outstanding career for themselves in Asia.

The programme also included a cross-cultural management course from Dr Wong, a Harvard Business School alumnus and Berkeley’s Venture Capital Professor. Hailing from Hong Kong, he shared his experience of working in the Silicon Valley and London, New York, and Tokyo exchanges. The entire course was based on concrete examples and business cases. It was chock-full of exciting practical knowledge, the value of which became apparent only now. The knowledge and contacts we acquired were indispensable at the beginning of our work in Asia, as well as in realizing how little we actually knew about the Asian culture and business at the time.

Asia is about people

The experience in personal interactions with locals and genuine interest in the culture, language, and traditions were a great help in our work with Asian partners. Genuine interest is not about learning a few words in Japanese and Korean and mentioning them at dinner. Rather, it’s about one’s internal drive to know, understand, and study. If it’s genuine, you will always find people, friends, and partners willing to help and fill you in on what you get wrong.

Knowing a few phrases in your partners’ language is undoubtedly a plus, especially in Asia. For instance, I had been studying Korean for several months before I could read a café menu in this language. There was no practical utility in it, but it signalled my partners that I took an interest in their lives, culture, and language. Moreover, I was the first foreigner in their memory to read something in Korean.

Talking about key clients in the business context, we imply careful consideration of not companies, but primarily personalities—people, their peculiarities, interests, preferences, hobbies, passions, and habits.

E.g., if you are proficient in golf, which is a highly regarded kind of sport in Japan and South Korea, it may at some point become the proverbial cherry on the top, which, combined with the above-mentioned elements of relationship building, will enable you to crack the ice and bring your communication, interactions, and trust to a new level.

Actually, it will do you good to talk not only to business people but also hotel personnel, shop clerks, bus drivers, concierges, and waiters… These are all culture members knowing valuable information, and they are usually willing to share it—all you need to do is ask.