The Asian Markets

Yesterday I met with several diplomats from Asia (Japan, Korea, China, Singapore, Thailand and more). They came to see the incubator model here in Israel, so they visited JVP Studio which is the incubator in which GamearraY grew.

Now, I have already written about the importance of Asia, and in particular Japan and Korea in the mobile market. But when I was asked by the Japanese delegate why do Israeli companies prefer doing business with Europe and the US, my spontaneous answer was "force of habit".

Usually when asked this question, people will say "cultural difference" or something like that. And while it's true that there are huge differences in the culture, but there are also differences between Israeli culture and the US & European culture and still Israeli companies feel confident approaching these markets at early stages (and are doing quite well there...)

It is my feeling that while there is some more profound cultural gap between Asia and the western world, in the modern business world the "culture" is becoming a lesser factor, since the real "culture" guiding businessmen is actually some sort of a global "business culture". The only problem is that it takes time to these changes to be realized, and since before Asian markets were not very open to western companies, people still think that and already have the instant answer of "cultural differences".

I may be oversimplifying things, and I know that there are a lot of nuances, but still, I think that Asian markets are more open today than they have ever been, and it is worth exploring the Asian option, especially in the mobile market.