Value Investing in Asia

Chapter 3Uniquely Asia

Keep a cool head and maintain a low profile. Never take the lead – but aim to do something big.

— Deng Xiaoping

Asia, even after being one of the fastest-growing economies over the past decade, still possesses so much untapped potential. In just a few decades, many countries in Asia have experienced a rich history of economic growth and we believe that this trend may continue for many years to come.

Spanning from Japan to Turkey, Asia is not a single market but rather a giant melting pot of diverse cultures, economies, languages, regulations, religions, and even shopping habits! Since it is impractical to touch on every major market in Asia, we narrowed our scope down to two key regions: Greater China and Southeast Asia.

This area can further be divided into developed and developing economies, such as:

• developed: Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan
• developing: China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam.

No two countries are the same, and this is even more true in Asia. Even within Asia itself, the ways of doing business may differ greatly. In an interview by The Peak with Dr Ng Chin Siau, CEO-Founder of Q&M Dental (Singapore) Limited, there was a short section documenting how business was done in China as compared to his company's base in Singapore.¹ To paraphrase, here are some of the examples given of how the way of conducting business differs between countries:

• In China, deals are struck at the dinner table; a round ...