April 6, 2010 2:55 PM

Very clear article from Peter ter Weeme. pleasure to read!

As you stated we should get away from the approach of 'WE can provide the innovation that Asia is looking for' to be more of a listener/observer BEFORE we can become PARTNERS in global/local sustainability efforts.

I thought the sentiment expressed by Lord Nicholas Stern of Brentford, British economist & the Chair of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change/Environment at the London School of Economics offered a good starting point for exploring insights in the intricacies of West-East relationships.

He has been quoted saying that "..."disappointing" outcome of December's climate summit was largely down to "arrogance" on the part of rich countries."

The economist told BBC News that the US and EU nations had not understood well enough the concerns of poorer nations. Lord Stern said the failure of the Copenhagen talks was largely down to rich nations' failure to understand developing world positions and concerns.
"[There was] less arrogance than in previous years - we have, I think, moved beyond the G8 world to the G20 world where more countries are involved - but [there was] still arrogance and it could have been much better handled by the rich countries," he said.
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/365011.php

April 7, 2010 12:34 AM updated: April 7, 2010 12:37 AM

A great read indeed. I wanted do evaluate a few points, but then I'd have to write a post probably just as long as the article. Hence, I'm going straight to the key point:

Asia offers so much more than cheap consumer goods. China is innovating in solar, wind and electric vehicle technology. India is an IT powerhouse with strong English language skills. Asia is a multicultural, pluralistic, melting pot of religions and cultures that is home to the worldÂ's oldest civilizations. And they are on the ascendency again. What can we learn from them, and how can we engage them, to fuel our, and their, business success?

First of all, let me respond to the question by advertising a project I'm currently involved in: http://www.myeulink.org . It's an EU-funded initiative intended to bring EU and Malaysia closer together by encouraging knowledge exchange, raising awareness and strengthening mutual business ties. It is true indeed that Asia has a lot of talented, well-educated people and hard-working people. It is a resource definitely worth tapping into.

One of the things I'd like to see in Asian countries is a strong culture of innovation. Being highly traditional, with considerable power distance and hierarchical societies, there is no habit of questioning status-quo (or even complaining about faulty products/services!). I remember attending a briefing on Business Plan Competition, organized by one of world's major banks. During the Q&A session, a question was raised:

-Is it ok if the business idea is something rather new?
-Yes, as long as it is viable.
-Even if it is something no-one has done before?

Our answer to it would probably be "even better!", but it's clearly not that obvious to others as it is to us. Nevertheless, once an innovative product is out, Malaysians are quick and happy to embrace it.

Now imagine a scenario in which all the highly-skilled personnel of South-East Asia embraces the culture of innovation and responds to local consumer demand. Something tells me that Tata and AirAsia would be "just another companies", and emergence of far-eastern Richard Bransons would be just a matter of time.

Greetings Maciek Kokot

April 12, 2010 1:25 PM

Great post Marc.

I recently participated in a competition sponsored by Duke University's business school, called the Duke Start-up Challenge. There were ideas ranging from new medical devices to social networking sites. But, one of the greatest ideas I heard while "working the room" didn't even come from the US. The co-president of the competition, Shalav Gupta, is working with a contact in India who is struggling to get his idea afloat. The innovator Shalav is working with knows about his product, but is having the hardest time "selling it". I hope we'll see more people like Shalav who will dedicate time to help these innovators enter a market that is in the position to fund ideas.