ABSTRACT
What do Asian managers understand by Western notions of strategic planning? This is a question that continues to perplex expatriate troubleshooters. Divisional sales and marketing teams are seemingly habituated to an unwritten mechanism of mutual protection within their traditional networks of associates. Such a defense structure has tended to shield them from the negative, uncertain aspect of market forces. The stated need to “plan ahead” in the postcrisis environment has thus largely been taken to mean little more than a heightening of awareness to the possibility of future market downturns.
