Your market might be city, not nation

Indian counterparts.

On top of that, when dealing with developing markets in Asia, success in one city won’t necessarily equate to success in another city in the same country.

We are helped by the fact that some Asian markets, for example China, India, Malaysia and the Philippines, have created freetrade zones to encourage foreign participation.

Further, clustering of cities is also becoming common. For example, Jingjinji is an economic region surrounding Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei.

Clustering makes sense as other studies have found that a firm can reduce its costs by twothirds if it focuses on clusters as opposed to going for whole markets.

Participating in Asian markets requires a great deal of commitment, and companies simply won’t succeed in trying to make a quick buck or relying on short-term thinking.

Asian markets have spending power but also bring with them strong competition.

If a market does not work out after a couple of years, a switch may not be a good idea. Patience is needed. Not only is switching markets costly, a new market can actually be more challenging than an existing one.

Despite some commonalities among Asian markets, delving deeper into their competitive landscapes will usually highlight that some of your previous learnings are not always applicable in other markets.

Opportunities are abundant in Asia, especially for New Zealand’s products and services, but finding the right market is a priority.

Siah Hwee Ang is the BNZ chair in Business in Asia at Victoria University of Wellington.