Reducing Friction between East and West with David Thomas

Doing business in Asia isn’t a piece of cake, especially for Western entrepreneurs who got used in Western culture. There’s just a lot of differences on the way businesses works from the legal backbone and the clients.

Do you want to learn how you can effectively deal with the challenges of doing business in Asia – primarily in China, and be a successful entrepreneur who is able to build long term relationships with Asian communities?

Be guided as David treats you with the knowledge you’ll need to reduce this friction between business cultures of the West and East.

David Thomas is a keynote speaker and a thought leader and entrepreneur. He equips business leaders with the knowledge and tools to navigate the cross-cultural challenges involved in doing business in Asia Pacific, and helps them develop their own strategy for success in the region. David is well-known in Australia as a ‘China Expert’ with a wealth of experience in financial services, business and investment, having lived and worked in London, Hong Kong and Sydney for years.

In this episode, David talks about the friction in Western and Eastern cultures of business and discusses ways on how to deal with that. Here, he shares tips and tactics, mentions books and practices, and helps you be an effective entrepreneur in the Asian countries through correcting misconceptions and mistakes. This is where he unravels the reason on why Asia is just so unique in global aspects.

 

What you will learn from this episode:

• Understand why a friction between the East and West is present in business practices
• Discover how to deal with the Asian business’ challenges as you learn about the importance of long term relationships
• Find out why Asia is unique in the global market and what makes it a great continent to practice business with

 

“There's no shortage of places you can go to build relationships within Asian and Chinese communities. You can do that in your own hometown, and you should start doing that today. You'll learn a lot.”

– David Thomas

 

Topics Covered:

01:55 – David describes his ideal clients.

02:14 – Problem he solves for his clients: Reducing friction between east and west businesses in order for the business outcomes to happen – allowing a foreign business to do business in Asia.

03:21 – The typical symptoms: People are moving too quickly without spending time in research and appreciating the difficulties in a foreign country.

04:00 – The mistakes: Ignoring the challenge involved in building long term relationships which are critical in the way Asian businesses function.

05:20 – David’s Valuable Free Action: Download and read his free ebook called 3 Cups of Tea at https://davidthomas.asia/ebooks/three-cups-of-tea/ and transform from being a stranger to becoming a part of a trusted relationship.

06:01 – David’s Valuable Free Resource: Start with your hometown in building relationships with Asian and Chinese communities.

06:59 – Book Alert: “Mr. China: A Memoir” by Tim Clissold at https://www.amazon.com/Mr-China-Memoir-Tim-Clissold/dp/0060761407

08:05 – Question: “What makes Asia unique globally?”

 

Key Takeaways:

“We always have to remember in the West that in the East, there's never really been an established legal system, and the way business gets done in Asia is amongst friends, families, trusted networks. To penetrate those networks, you have to spend time building those relationships, and that's usually the bit that takes the most time and bit that people are most impatient about.” – David Thomas

“In America and the West, we're used to taking people to court if they create any problems for you. In Asia, that's not how it works. You have to spend that time on the relationships.” – David Thomas

“You need to think about Asia like you might of Europe. Europe has many different cultures, languages, dialects, food, or completely different ways of thinking and doing things, and Asia is just the same. It has the same issues and presents itself in just the same way.” – David Thomas

 

People / Resources Mentioned:

• 3 Cups of Tea athttps://davidthomas.asia/ebooks/three-cups-of-tea/
• China: A Memoir by Tim Clissold athttps://www.amazon.com/Mr-China-Memoir-Tim-Clissold/dp/0060761407

 

Ways to Connect with David Thomas:

• Website: davidthomas.asia
• LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/bricandchinaexpert

 

Ways to Connect with Howard Whiteson:

• Website: https://www.wealthwithoutborders.net
• Podcast: https://www.wealthwithoutborders.net/podcast/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/howardwhiteson