Even with the growth of information technology and internet, doing business in South East Asia, South Asia and Asia Pacific still takes a giant leap of faith and moving through number of variables. The business culture in most of the countries of the region is different in number of ways.
In India even though one won’t find difficult to enter the market but paper work, regulations, and regional diversity takes a lot of time of the foreign entrepreneur to enter the market. The tax rates and regulation with in the country varies from one state to another and overall there are 28 states in India. Understanding and going through each of them is task in itself.
In Philippines even though one won’t find the language problem while doing business with the local players but the being an island nation it provides its own geographical challenges. Secondly the government policies and regulations are not very easy in the country and starting a business often requires Filipino partners. If an entrepreneur wants to enter in the agriculture industry then he/she has to take number of clearance from the government and has to live with the protective nature of policy making.
In South Korea starting a business can be tricky due to the language barrier. Most of the contracts in South Korea are written in Korean and one has to have a reliable lawyer and business partner to excel in the South Korean business environment. Secondly unlike the western society the South Korean society is a hierarchy society and age of the person means a lot while doing business with them. Negotiations in South Korea are also more determined by respect and affiliation rather than purely business terms.