1. Asia-Pacific Business Module 1

21. The Competitive Environment In doing a competitive analysis of foreign markets, it is necessary to first of all look at the competitive structure. Having done that, the company looks at the competitive position, then finally formulate a competitive strategy to minimise risk of failure in market entry.

23. Impact of Multi-national Companies Multi-national companies from U.S., Europe and Japan and to a lesser extent Taiwan and South Korea, have a strong presence in many Asia-Pacific countries. They often dwarf the thousands of small businesses in each country they are in, and thousands of workers are directly or indirectly employed by them. It is therefore important to understand the impact MNC’s have on the home and host countries.

27. Distribution Chain A typical distribution arrangement in Asia-Pacific countries is for a manufacturer to appoint a sole agent to take care of the marketing and distribution of his products. The sole agent will then distribute through a system of wholesalers, who in turn distribute to retailers. Very often, agents have branches in key towns to give better logistics support. Each branch would have its own warehouse and administration team.

28. Distribution Chain Typical distribution chain: Manufacturer (overseas) => Agent/s => Wholesalers => Retailers => Consumers Manufacturer (local) => Wholesalers => Retailers => Consumers Manufacturer => Agent => Supermarket chains/hypermarkets

48. Risk Management Tools of risk management Risk avoidance: A conscious decision by the company not to engage in certain activities because the dangers are considered too great to be acceptable.

50. Risk Management Tools of risk management Risk division: Reduce danger to the company overall by removing risk concentrations (e.g. warehouses) to several locations - or by spreading the risks over several markets, products or operational units Insurance coverage: Determine for which risks the company requires insurance coverage, and combining it with other risk control measures wherever possible

53. Management Practices Management styles in Asian companies vary considerably, depending on the size of the company, the number of Western trained managers in the company, and whether the company is a Western MNC or a branch office of an MNC. Or, sometimes, within the same company, there is a mixture of both Western and Asian styles of management.

71. Negotiation Techniques With Chinese and Japanese wealth dominating much of Asia, it is worthwhile looking at the negotiating styles of the Chinese and Japanese, as negotiations are often the pivotal point in any business deal

75. Conclusion The various slides are just snippets of what candidates need to know. It is not comprehensive, and candidates are expected to read widely, and more importantly, to be able to critically analyse the impact of the various changing forces in the environment, as well as the behavioural/cultural patterns of Asians on business.