I have been in Bangkok for about 24 hours. A couple of meetings are already behind me, and more are lined up in the next few days.
At the beginning of my career, this situation would have left me frustrated: I was used to decisions, commitments, and signed agreements happening much faster in Europe. Here in Asia, meetings often felt like endless circles, without a clear outcome.
Yesterday evening, at the hotel, I had a short conversation with a young European area manager. He had the same look I remember having years ago—frustrated, almost defeated. “I can’t perform here the way I do in other markets,” he told me.
The truth is, his problem is not performance. His problem is metrics. He is still measuring with the wrong yardstick.
That’s why I decided to write this field playbook: not theory, but practical notes from the ground on how to approach speed, culture, and P&L when working in Asia.
1. Speed looks different in Asia
In Europe, speed is measured in weeks. In Asia, the same decision may take months. Not because of inefficiency, but because speed here is tied to hierarchy and trust.
A pilot project that in Germany can be approved in two weeks might require six months in Thailand—three meetings to meet the right people, two more to build trust, and another one to get the final hierarchical “yes.”
👉 The error is expecting the same timeline everywhere. What looks like slowness is in fact a different process: slower to start, but often more solid once trust is established.
Field metric: measure the time from first introduction to final approval, not just from proposal to PO. This will give you a realistic benchmark.
2. Local culture pays the bill
This is the lever that frustrates most Western managers. “We had five meetings and no decision!” they say.
What they don’t see is that the decision was already being made—through rituals, respect, and trust-building. Culture is not noise: it is part of the process.
In Asia, saying yes does not always mean commitment. What matters is the relationship curve: the time it takes to establish trust before the real deal is put on paper.
Street test: ask three locals what “on time” means. One might say “within the day,” another “within the week,” another “before the holiday.” None of them are lying; they are expressing culture.
👉 If you apply your KPI blindly, you will call this a failure. If you adapt, you will realize the KPI is still valid—just on a different timescale.
3. Sustainability without cash is PR
In Europe, we like slides full of ESG logos and commitments. In Asia, a sustainability initiative survives only if it produces cash results: lower defect rates, faster lead times, less scrap, better customer stickiness.
The factories I visited here test green solutions, but only if they reduce costs or improve P&L. That’s why they last.
Rule of thumb: every sustainability slide should include a line on EBITDA impact. If not, it’s just PR.
4. Partnerships beat perfection
In fast-moving markets, the “perfect partner” next year loses to the “good-enough partner” today.
I have seen companies stuck for months in contract negotiations while their competitors were already signing small POs and learning from them.
The Asian approach rewards iteration. Sign, test, adapt. The second-best partner this year often outperforms the ideal partner next year.
Metric: time from first meeting to first purchase order, even if micro. 👉 If it’s under 90 days, you are learning. If it’s over 180, you are probably just talking.
5. Localize the 20% that moves the needle
Western companies often want to transplant their entire playbook unchanged. Result: friction, misunderstandings, and lost deals.
The winners keep their global standards but adapt the 20% that really matters locally:
Payment terms
Packaging norms
After-sales expectations
Service response times
Communication rituals
Everything else is ballast.
Exercise: list the 5 frictions a local buyer feels when dealing with your “EU way.” Redesign just those. The rest you can keep.
6. The KPI trap: don’t measure apples with oranges
Here’s the point that young European manager in Bangkok hasn’t grasped yet: his KPIs are correct, but misapplied.
A sales cycle that takes 90 days in Italy might take 180 or even 270 in Thailand. That doesn’t mean failure. It means the timeline is cultural, and the KPI must be re-benchmarked.
Western boards often demand “uniform KPIs” across markets. The intention is good—transparency, comparability—but the result is misleading.
👉 Leadership means having the courage to tell the board: “We are on track. The KPI looks different because the culture is different.”
That’s not an excuse. That’s professionalism.
7. The A–C–T framework (field tested)
To make this practical, I use a simple loop:
Assess → what is reality on the street? Ask customers, distributors, installers. Forget the PowerPoint.
Commit → to two outcomes the board will defend (e.g., reduce lead time by 20%, rebalance revenue mix).
Translate → culture into process. Who decides, how often we meet, what we measure.
If you do this, frustration decreases and results appear—not instantly, but sustainably.
8. Closing reflection
Travel does not automatically create value. I have learned this the hard way.
Value is created when you combine:
Respect for the fact that speed looks different in Asia (longer, but relationship-driven).
Awareness that culture pays the bill (trust and rituals are part of the process).
Discipline of P&L impact (every slide must speak to cash flow).
Yesterday’s young manager will understand this in time. He will realize that metrics are not universal. They are cultural translations.