Learning from Strategy Management : Strategy Learning

• Learning about and learning from Asia Pacific
• The importance of Asia Pacific as a resource base
• The importance of Asia Pacific as a source of learning

A presence in Asia Pacific exposes Western firms to a major, fast-paced inc battlefield. Talented competitors, demanding customers and contact with a wide of suppliers test their capabilities and force them to stay fit: Asia Pacific is a pert industrial Olympics. Such a demanding environment develops strong com capabilities that are essential to long-term profitability. To use Michael I terminology, some Asian markets are 'global platforms' where any company that to stay 'in the race' must be present. This is particularly true for new materials, electronics, biotechnology or mechatronics in Japan; however, Indonesia is candidate for petrochemicals and process engineering, Thailand for food proc Hong Kong for financial engineering.

Asia's business culture and approach to competition force Western compa re-evaluate and adapt their own strategies and concepts. Success in Asia will dep a large extent on their capacity to learn: from new kinds of relationships with suppliers,

new approaches to managing people, innovative ways of packaging tenders in view of blishing long-term customer relationships, different ways of thinking about

consumer behaviour. These lessons may be transferred back to the parent company in iiurope or the USA with great profit - particularly in the fields of customer service, flexibility, total quality and human resource management.

Asia Pacific is a vast pool of natural, human and technological resources. Southea is rich in many raw materials, both mineral (bauxite, tin, manganese, natun petroleum) and agricultural (timber, palm oil, rubber, fisheries, cocoa, coconuts region also enjoys a comparative advantage in terms of labour. Asian govert realized this in the 1960s and created export processing zones to attract

investment. The first industrial estates, located in Singapore, Korea, Malaysia, Ind the Philippines and Taiwan, served as models for China's Special Economic (SEZs). While productivity and discipline may vary, wages are far lower than ' standards and these zones have attracted labour-intensive industries as dive electronic assembly, textiles, and shoe manufacturing.

Technology is another key resource. Until recently, Japan was the only country where Western firms wanted to set up research and development centres. This is no longer the case: a Scientific Park opened at Hsinchu in Tai 1980, followed by one at Kent Ridge in Singapore (1984.. These parks infrastructure and skilled personnel at lower costs to attract Western re laboratories.

These resources all add to the region's appeal in terms of cost, quality, tin flexibility - the four major dimensions of competitive advantage. For example, found that a printing plant in Singapore had higher productivity (by 30%), faster market (over 50%), better quality (10-15%) and two or three times more models similar facility in the USA.

The conviction is growing in Asia that Asian values are not only different but also better then those in the West. Outspoken advocates point to drug abuse, crime, indecency, the decay of the inner cities or inferior economic performance in the West to support their case. They hardly mention the fact that some Asian societies also struggle with exploitation of women, child prostitution, excessive speculation and corruption in high places.

For Western business the confrontation with this newly confident, sometimes arrogant, Asia is a major challenge. The colonial times may be over, yet many Western firms still pay fat remuneration packages to expatriates from Europe or the USA while refusing to do so for an equally qualified Singaporean sent to China. They still talk about transfer of technology rather than best practice - implying a handing down of know-how to the ignorant, and often insist on 51% ownership in a joint venture in order to keep things under (their) control.

Asians find this behaviour patronizing and unacceptable. increasingly, Western firms will be confronted with demands for equal treatment and partnership at any level. They will have to adapt their management practices, and change the way in which they think and act.

The West will get used to Asia's growing assertiveness. It has to accept that Asia Pacific has a different definition of human rights and that, for some time to come, Asian economists will continue to favour a strong government role in the economy.

Asia Pacific wants not only to be recognized as an economic success, but also to be taken seriously - politically, technologically and culturally - on equal terms with the USA and Europe. It resents being told what to do, and it is beginning to express its own ideas more openly and in more critical fashion than ever before.

The West will also be exposed to increasingly negative comments about its decline. Asians will expect it, not only to learn about Asia, but also to listen to and learn from the region. Western nations will witness the emergence of China as a

military power and, sooner or later, they will give in to Japan's request for a permane seat in the security council.

Asia Pacific is changing and modernizing rapidly, but as Japan's developmei over the last century has shown, it is possible to modernize without losing one's ow identity and culture. Managing this change is an enormous task and will bring setbacl and disasters. The region's confidence in its new-found strength, however, will help overcome the many obstacles that lie ahead. It will be crucial for managers and firn who want to be successful in Asia Pacific to constantly challenge their own perceptior and attitudes.

Implementing global strategies in the region will not be easy. It will creat problems for those who believe in a simple, uniform world. Not many glob consumers are at home in Asia Pacific. Only on a superficial level does one witness convergence in beliefs and practices. Bearing in mind its recent successft development, the region cannot be expected to move towards Western societa economic and management models soon - if ever. As Rudyard Kipling said 100 yeai ago, 'Asia is not going to be civilized after the methods of the West. There is too muc Asia, and she is too old.'