With the rapid shift in global economic power, many Western companies are jumping onto the bandwagon towards Asia, lured by the rich returns that the region can potentially provide. However, many are ill prepared for the cultural challenges, many are too impatient and prescribed in their market entry strategies and many struggle with the possibility that there is an alternative Asian approach to business. Their success rate is very poor: early failure leads to frustration and stagnation.

But what if there were a faster way to appreciate the new Asia, to understand better how Asians strategize and practice business? How could companies avoid the many pitfalls and accelerate their learning curves? What could make them sit up and realize that a fresh business approach to Asia, combining the best of East and West, could substantially increase their success rate? Professor Chow-Hou Wee and Fred Combe share their combined academic and real world wisdom in an East-meets-West collaboration. In this book, they blend the practical, cultural, and historical realities of doing business in Asia with anecdotes and refreshing insights from great Asian influencers as well as the works of Chinese philosophers and strategists, notably, Sun Zi Bingfa, the most well known Chinese military treatise in the world.

Throughout the book, the authors explore why Asians and Westerners think and operate differently, examine how the West needs to urgently reappraise its role in Asia and propose that the West adopt a new business approach that combines Asian and Western strategy.