The Negotiation

n this episode of The Negotiation we bring back one of our favourite guests, Bill Tung, Managing Director at Peaks Consulting. As we start to branch out and discuss the broader APAC landscape, we asked Bill about his background in helping Rockport and The Body Shop grow across the APAC region in the 1990s and early 2000s, and diving into his expertise in marketing outdoor apparel and equipment to the Asia Pacific consumers. We also cover topics like the common mistakes brands make doing this, optimizing your organizational structure to thrive in foreign markets, and how to prepare for complaints and returns operating in an overseas market. Enjoy!

Show Notes

Topics Discussed and Key Points:
●      Helping Rockport and The Body Shop grow across the APAC region in the 1990s and early 2000s
●      Marketing to a demographic that you are not a part of
●      Marketing outdoor apparel and equipment in APAC
●      Localizing well-known Western brands in different APAC countries
●      Common mistakes brands make when expanding in APAC
●      Optimizing your organizational structure to thrive in foreign markets
●      Preparing for complaints and returns in overseas markets
 
Episode Summary:
Today on The Negotiation, we speak with Bill Tung, Managing Director at Peaks Consulting. Bill reflects on his time establishing Rockport and The Body Shop’s sales operations across the APAC region.
It was from those experiences that Bill learned the value of knowing thy customer, becoming aware of your home country's biases, and ignoring consumer differences at your peril—especially important considerations for Western brands looking to successfully expand into Asian markets.
Bill also discusses the unique challenges of growing Columbia—a sports and outdoor apparel brand—in China while he served as VP of International Sales from 2003 to 2016.
Finally, Bill talks about the common mistakes that brands make when attempting to expand into foreign markets, and why it is so important to optimize a company’s organizational structure, which includes everything from operations, customer service, and marketing, to merchandising, HR, and finance.
“These really need to be part and parcel of a global mindset,” says Bill. “Otherwise you’re just exporting.”
 
Key Quotes:
“When you fail to understand the consumers that you’re trying to sell to, that gets a lot of companies into trouble.”
 
“Retail is detail.”

What is The Negotiation?

Despite being the world’s most potent economic area, Asia can be one of the most challenging regions to navigate and manage well for foreign brands. However, plenty of positive stories exist and more are emerging every day as brands start to see success in engaging and deploying appropriate market growth strategies – with the help of specialists.

The Negotiation is an interview show that showcases those hard-to-find success stories and chats with the incredible leaders behind them, teasing out the nuances and digging into the details that can make market growth in APAC a winning proposition.