Will you be my friend ? Right now ! Please ... ?

On the way to Shanghai, I was sitting next to a British businessman who had arrived in Shanghai 9 months earlier. He complained … “In the UK, if you have a product and people need it, they buy it. In China, if you have a product and people need it, they will buy it ... only if they are your friend. How am I supposed to make friends in 9 months ? Why can’t they just see the value of my product without the friendship thing ?”

At the KMAP 2012 conference in Shanghai a researcher who wanted to do research in Chinese companies admitted she wasn’t successful in getting access to them. She understood the importance of quanxi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanxi) and asked people in the conference for help in getting her the needed contacts to make progress with her research.

Here is my advice on the importance of relationships in business based on quite a few years in Asia

- be aware of the relational characteristics of doing business in Asia; if you think that the Asians have to adapt to your approach (like the business man did) you will face frequent frustrations and won’t get very far;

- build relationships and try to enjoy the process; be active in business clubs  or chambers of commerce and give talks (not sales pitches) to share your experience; link up with your business contacts’ contacts;

- let the relationship develop: exchanging namecards, although important in Asia, does not constitute a relationship; relations take time so do not jump on every fresh contact to “sell” your service … it will surely kill the relationship;

- set realistic business targets that take the environment into account; there is ample evidence that developing a business in Asia takes time; if your business objectives don’t reflect this, you will disappoint your organization (and yourself).

At least the researcher was aware of the need to create and build on relationships. That's a necessary first step. And beyond that, creating and maintaining relationships requires genuine effort. It is a necessary time investment but one that will bear fruit for the long term.

Manufacturing Excellence. Delivered.

That is the tagline of the consulting business I am officially starting today. After more than 20 years in different international companies in the operations and manufacturing world, I am excited to use this experience to help other companies improve their performance.


for more details go to www.asioconsulting.com

When you Google for "manufacturing excellence", most of the entries you will find will focus on six sigma or lean. Or better still, lean sigma. Services around manufacturing excellence will highlight the benefits of whatever method the consulting company believes in, and state that all your pains can be solved with this method (and this method only).

Yet, in my experience, it is not the toolbox that makes the master. It is on the contrary, the team, and how this team gels and works every day to achieve the company's goals. In this respect, I like the following very simple but profound quote from Dr Alex Bennet (phrased as a hypothesis, with original stress):

The performance of your organization every day depends completely upon what every individual in your organization does that day.

The performance of the organization depends on what every individual does. Not on a few specialists focusing on a six sigma initiative, or another team working on a lean project. No, it really is about how all employees, every single day, perform to ensure the company reaches its objectives.

The second focus is on "does". It is about the action each employee takes. It is only action that can change the performance of the organization.

That, for me, is what manufacturing excellence is about: having a team that takes action every day to reach the company's objectives. And I intend to help organization in South-East Asia reaching those objectives.

My website is www.asioconsulting.com and email is peter@asioconsulting.com.