Whose Culture?

As Asian companies look to grow, their path usually takes them to other countries. In Southeast Asia this has taken on new importance as the ASEAN Economic Community has come into existence. When you are looking at operating internationally, the conventional wisdom is to be sensitive to the local culture and try to adapt your practices to what works there. Sometimes, though, you may be better off without that wisdom.

First, let’s be clear: you definitely need to understand the differences between your home culture and that into which you are moving. Some things you may be used to doing might not work in another culture, and other things might work but will take time for the local folks to get used to. You need to know which of your ideas are bad ideas, which are good ideas, and which are good ideas that will need some effort to implement. Only by understanding the culture will you be able to figure out what works.

Having said that, though, remember that just because something is the norm in the local culture does not mean it is the best way to do things in your firm. This depends in part on the kind of operation you’re starting. If you are opening up an assembly line filled with unskilled workers then you may not be able to introduce a lot of change, but if your workforce is composed of knowledge workers, who are often more educated and more familiar with the world outside their own country, you may find that external practices can work pretty well. In fact, they may be best.

During some meetings in Singapore this week, we talked to a Malaysian computer engineer working for a major US company that recently set up a data center in Singapore. He had worked for a smaller Singaporean company before making the jump to the American firm, and he had a thing or two to say about the differences in the working environments.

All the Americans came in and spent a lot of time trying to be sensitive to how we do things in Singapore. The truth is, we wanted to do things like they do them in the US.

For example, he liked the fact that, while Singaporean firms are often very concerned with workers arriving by a certain time and not departing the office before another set time, American firms tend to focus more on getting the work done. Whether you show up at 8:45am or 9:27am doesn’t matter; what matters is the quality of work you do. He also felt that US firms tend to give more responsibility and authority to their employees, while in local firms the decision making and idea generation are generally reserved for those at the top. It sounded like one reason he wanted to work for an American firm was that he could work like an American, so it would be a shame to ignore all of that and function like a local company.

That last point is key. Many people overseas like the idea of working for a foreign company precisely because it’s foreign, and they see opportunities they might not have in a local firm. It’s not just American firms, it works for everyone. One Singaporean who’d been working in finance in Hong Kong before returning to a job at home really missed the working environment he’d had in HK. Many creative workers feel constrained by their home culture, no matter where it is, and are looking for something different. You have the opportunity to be that “something different.”

Remember, this is not to say you can just ignore the local culture when you expand out of your country. You need to understand it so you can set reasonable expectations for both yourself and your local employees. At the same time, don’t forget that the very attributes that made you successful enough to be expanding overseas may be the things that make you most successful once you are there.