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 by Paul Gough, 14 June 2017

Doing business in Asia does not come easy to those without a good knowledge of the culture and business practices. There are also differences between different countries. Relationships are very important and you need to have the right contacts. It is often not easy for western businesses to know who the decision makers are and how to gain their trust. Not dealing with the right people can waste months or even years trying to achieve things.

You need to know how and what your Asian counterparty is thinking. I have spent many years working in Asian countries building contacts and understanding how people think.

Another challenge faced by western businesses are various levels of corruption. Transparency International is an organisation that does a lot of work in this area and it is useful to visit their website to get a flavour of the situation in different countries. https://www.transparency.org

Asia is a booming continent and firms brave enough to enter the market could see some very profitable business from it. However, unless you are very well prepared the risk of failure is also very high. Beware! Be brave! Be prepared! Take advice!