Hatching an ASEAN business strategy
Who has an ASEAN strategy among ASEAN-based companies and non-ASEAN companies
Is ASEAN a diverse collection of countries or more than the sum of its parts? How are companies approaching the region from the perspective of sales and marketing – many countries or one region? To answer this question, the Economist Intelligence Unit surveyed 171 business leaders running operations in the ASEAN region in July 2014. Respondents came from a broad mix of industries, and worked at large companies: 78% had global revenues of more than US$1bn. The survey results suggest that companies already think of ASEAN as an identifiable entity that demands its own strategy.
NON-ASEAN COMPANIES ARE MORE LIKELY TO HAVE AN ASEAN BUSINESS STRATEGY
A majority of companies now have a strategy that is tailored specifically for the ASEAN region. However, a larger share of foreign multinationals have a regional strategy compared with companies from the region. Reasons for this may include a larger incentive to take advantage of scale and apply tried and tested regional approaches.