Although Japan, China and Korea constitute the three great powerhouses of East Asia, the seven major countries of Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan) count a combined population of 500 million and have a rapidly increasing significance in terms of future markets, resources of labor and industrial and technological development. Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populated state, the Philippines is twelfth, Vietnam is fourteenth and Thailand is twentieth. Malaysia and Singapore are already high tech and actually manufacture a great deal of the technology. Western firms face fewer problems with trading and investment opportunities in most of these countries, which are less inclined to set up protectionist barriers than, for instance, Japan and Korea.
In order for Westerners to do business successfully in this area, they have to acquire certain insights into the Southeast Asian mindset. National traits vary considerably within this group—Vietnam is the odd one out—but Indonesians, Malaysians, Thais and Filipinos subscribe to a remarkable number of shared characteristics that have little in common with the more austere work-and-duty ethics of the Japanese, Koreans and Chinese. The Southeast Asian worldview is relatively relaxed, time is seen as a limitless commodity, the value of efficiency is often ambiguous and gentleness and virtue are prized above all.
One good way of discovering the Southeast Asian mentality is to examine the Western businessperson’s model and to put it in perspective in relation to theirs.
The differences are striking. Westerners are of course generally self-determined and dynamic; Southeast Asians have deep cultural dynamics embedded in deeply rooted practices and customs. They wish to please their Western partners but must remain true to their cultural traditions.
Westerners are really quite unaware of the rough ride that many Asians have when beginning to deal with the West. Let us take the case of an Indonesian gentleman arriving in the United States for a business negotiation. The first evening, while he is still suffering from jet lag, he is taken out for dinner by his American partner. After experiencing a crushing handshake, he is made to drink a couple of martinis, then red wine with a huge steak which he manages to get down with difficulty.
The next morning he is hung over but attends his meeting at the ridiculous time of 9:00 A.M. After more excruciating handshakes from other enormous Americans, he is subjected to the indignity of being addressed by his first name. Where are their manners? Small talk and friendly socializing at the beginning of the meeting were restricted to two minutes, unappetizing coffee is served in plastic (!) containers, and before he has gathered his wits, they are straight into the negotiation, giving him no chance to deliver his ten-minute background speech with a view to creating initial harmony between the parties. The negotiating style is confrontational, and he is being asked yes and no questions and badgered for quick decisions before he has even got his pens and pencils in a row.
The Americans, already physically overpowering, don’t seem to be able to sit correctly—they are slumped and slouched and showed the soles of their shoes at him in ankle-on-knee crosses. When he indicates polite rejection of some of their proposals by the traditional reluctant-assent method, the Americans take it as yes and throw in more proposals. At times they become very tough, then friendly, then tough again—what a strange custom! They seem to think that attack is the best method of defense, bluff shamelessly, then concede quickly when their bluff is called. Obviously, face saving doesn’t count! They blurt out many slangy expressions, which he doesn’t understand and which they don’t bother to explain. They use a lot of tough expressions like “That will blow it out of the water” (what water?) and “I tell you, I can walk away from this deal,” when it is quite clear that they want to do the deal and make the profit. He wonders what kind of a company he is getting involved with…
Malaysia and Indonesia share many of the basic characteristics prevalent among East Asian people. However, the fact that Islam is the dominant religion in these two countries gives rise to certain important differences in behavior and attitudes.
In the following respects the Malaysians and Indonesians are similar to the Chinese, Ko-reans and Japanese:
The Muslim cultures diverge from their Buddhist-Confucian-Taoist neighbors in the following respects: