Customer Reviews

Big in Asia: 25 Strategies for Business Success

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This book is rich source of insights and perspectives for anyone with a business interest in ASIA.
This book gathers every aspect of business related issues and offers case studies.
I highly recommend this book; especially as a tool for expatriate CEOs and Managers who are working or have plans to work in ASIA.

Certainly plenty in this book to keep the new comer to Asia fascinated and on their toes but very much written for the "expat" manager ie Westerner relocating to Asia as a new kid in town. Not so frequent nowadays where Asia produces plenty of highly skilled experienced local managers with international experience.
An entertaining and valuable read for those experienced in Asia as well as newcomers to this fascinating region.

This is a well researched book. Backman is well known in the region for his work on the dark side of doing business in Asia. The authors didn't shy away from writing about the prevalent corruption in many of the Asian countries. Many would say this book is a valuable resource for foreign company in Asia. I would argue Big in Asia is a must read for many of the senior managers in Asian companies. Many of the practices like promotion based on personal relationship, family member in senior posts regardless of ability, lack of candor during negotiation...etc. Like it or not, at some point this kind of inefficiency will make it impossible for Asian companies to compete in the world stage. Sure, developing relationship (guanxi) is important, and not necessary a bad thing, but if it takes one company three lunches, five dinners and a trip to Disneyland over 12 months to sign a contract and another half the time to do it. Sooner or later, some smart entrepreneurial Asian manager will figure out the more efficient way to do business.

The strategies in the book are presented like case studies. In an attempt to lighten up the material, the readers are served with many back-handed jabs such as,

"When a Korean loses his job he kills himself. When a Thai loses his job, he kills his wife."

"Aggrieved ex-employees in Asia tend to be more interested in revenge than in the West." (not counting postal workers, of course)

Commenting on how the new generation of Chinese are more entrepreneurial and better educated, the author added, "But they are gaining a reputation for greater venality than previous generations."

"Lies, damned lies and statistics, but in China it is mostly the first two."

... not that it makes them less true, I just find them annoying.

The authors are not based in Asia, and have never run a company or any business (as fas as I can tell). For a more personal, hands in the ground view, I recommend 1) Getting Rich First: Life in a Changing China, by Duncan Hewitt. Get the UK edition if you have a choice. 2) The way of the dragon : a guide for Australians doing business in China, by Gavin Crombie. The first is not a business book per se, but an intimate account of life in China. Hewitt spent the last decades living in China. He speak the language, know the people and its culture.