YourBIZinASIA
Accelerate your business success in SE Asia
Services
Our primary focus is on Thailand and Vietnam. We also deliver projects in other SE Asian countries through local partners.
We have a diverse team of consultants who work across a wide range of products and services. Examples include F&B, equipment, automotive, plastics, software, education, services, and training.
Some clients have existing relationships with agents and distributors. However, they contract us to maintain a watching brief to ensure their products and promotions are professionally managed. We also monitor their competitor’s activity and alert them if a new entrant appears in their market niche.
We provide full Trade Show support for clients wanting to exhibit with multilingual staff solving language barriers. Some clients also ask us to attend Industry Trade Shows so they can keep up to date with competitor offers. This includes buying products and services so they get a deep insight into competitor pitch, products, and warranty offers.
We are the eyes and ears of your brand in SE Asia while you focus on your home market activities
We Work with Two Main Client Groups
These businesses are new to Asia with a product or service they want to promote in the region.
We conduct an in depth analysis of their product niche to help them define local margin and promotion expectations.
Once they are sure of their numbers we find local agents and distributors with the capability and track record to support their entry into the region.
These businesses are already in Asia and want a review of their current market strategy.
Some have a local office but look for additional market intelligence while protecting their identity.
Others are contemplating entering the market direct or perhaps looking for a potential acquisition. Local presence is critical when businesses are contemplating such activity.
Asian Market Opportunity
For a company looking to enter the Asian market, first we must understand your products and business in detail.
- Strategic Plan
- USP
- SWOT
- Pricing and margins
- Marketing Plan
- Supply chain
We then overlay this with our Asian sector experience to develop strategies for you to consider for your target Asian market.
Once you have a clear understanding of the Asian strategies available to you, we then work further to identify potential JV Partners or distributors – perhaps the outcome is for you to enter the market direct.
Product Sourcing
Many Western companies assume that China is their only option. However, China is only one part of the Asian continent.
Our sourcing focus is on Vietnam and Thailand.
We work with a large number of manufacturers and have an ongoing strategy of finding others. We carry out a comprehensive due diligence process to ensure they are capable of meeting Western standards.
Some clients engage us to oversee production quality. This includes shipping samples to them for additional QA as required.
We also work with Amazon and Shopify sellers. Our clients sell in the US, UK, and EU.
We look after all aspects of product sourcing from finding reliable suppliers, managing samples, and coordinating production, final product inspection shipping.
As of March 2021, we launched an associate company in Mexico: www.mexicansourcing.com
This company serves US ecommerce sellers who want their products manufactured as close to this market as possible. The massive increase in freight costs between Asia and the US along with tariffs are the drivers of this strategy.
About
Greg Reynolds MBA
Founder/CEO
Greg had a 20-year corporate career holding senior roles with Rentokil Initial and Thomas Cook before moving into consulting work in 2001. He moved to Bangkok in 2008 and launched Your Biz in Asia.
He works with a wide range of businesses from startups to large privately held companies. His business base is now Singapore.
His Asian experience is wide-ranging including working with software (German client), plastic manufacturing and education (NZ clients), steel fabrication (Australian client), and products/services in construction and utilities management (USA and UK clients).
Passionate about helping Western companies find business opportunities in Asia, Greg also works with existing businesses in the region to improve their sales, market presence and profitability.
Nick Photchanaphimon BA
Operations Director
Nick has worked in supply chain, logistics, and marketing throughout his career. As a result, he has a solid understanding of Stock management as well as product presentation.
He manages the team monitoring brands products and services in Thailand and Vietnam. This includes reviewing competitor activity so clients have deep insight into these markets..
Our consulting team work closely with Nick so he can monitor milestones and keep clients updated. This ensures a strong flow of coms with clients outside monthly project reviews.
Nick also manages our Trade Show team. Sometimes our presence is just to gather market intelligence for clients. We also provide full service including build and multilingual staff if required.
Project Team
Market Research Analyst is a Thai national who spent 5 years in Japan before returning to Thailand in 2009.
CFO/Financial Analyst is a UK national with senior executive experience in Asia with TNT and PWC.
Industrial Packaging & Chemical Specialist is a German national fluent in English and French with 20 years of experience.
FMCG Specialist is a UK national with over 30 years experience including Director level positions with Tesco.
Electronics Manufacturing & Precision Engineering Specialist is an American national with decades of Asian experience.
Plastics Manufacturing & Production Start-up Specialist is a British national fluent in Thai based in Thailand since 1998.
Operations Management & Production Efficiency Specialist is an American national with 25 years of experience in Asia.
Service Management Specialist is a Canadian national fluent in Thai who has been based in Bangkok since 1993.
Case Studies
US Multinational Expansion in SE Asia
The company has been operating for over 100 years in many international markets. They have already started expanded into Asia and are looking to Thailand and Malaysia to further their growth.
We were contracted to advise on market opportunities, potential competitor positioning, market pricing and to ascertain potential sales volumes. The brief included a detailed review of the top 5 companies already operating in their target niche including financials where possible with a view of potential acquisition.
There was some urgency as the company needed the report within 60 days. A team was assembled to work on all aspects of the project simultaneously. Staff were dispatched in the field with camera phones to discreetly gather market intelligence. This greatly enhanced our clients understanding of competitor product positioning.
A Mystery Shopping campaign was launched to ensure complete documentation of competitor marketing collateral and pricing. This also gave some insight into the operations of their competitors.
The materials gathered including financials were then translated and a report compiled. One of our client’s Directors then flew in to review our report in detail and to work further on their market entry strategy.
Moving production to SE Asia
Our client has been operating for 10 years and ships a plastic injection molded and assembled product to the UK, Europe and USA. Escalating shipping costs prompted their review – some molds were also nearing the end of their productive life requiring significant re investment.
After detailed research, we recommended Thailand as the most cost effective solution and we proceeded to source ISO level manufacturers and mold makers.
This part of the process took 3-months to complete. We then presented the client with a detailed solution including mold and production manufacture, assembly and inventory management in a Duty-Free Zone. Two Directors then flew to Thailand to view the manufacturing operations and to meet with the logistics company for a detailed overview of their involvement in the Supply Chain.
The company is now working through the final contracts as they complete their move.
Partnership in the Education Sector
Our client was a leading university with a strong focus on attracting international students. In discussions with several Thai universities and technical institutes, we realized there was a strong business opportunity for our client to not only attract students for graduate and post-graduate studies but also for them to “export” some of their educational expertise. We worked extensively with a shortlist of Thai educators as our underlying concern was to find a strong match. It can be easy in the educational space for Asian partners to be enthusiastic but this not translating to student movements. It’s almost a trophy mentality. They have an MOU with a Western institution but that’s where it ends. Once we had identified a strong match, we then gained a commitment from our client to make a personal visit to Thailand. This is a vital part of establishing business relationships in Asia – personal introductions including conversations about family and business. Only then did we introduce the two parties along with tentative dates for an initial meeting in Thailand. The meeting in Bangkok was attended by our client’s Vice Chancellor as well as senior staff from their international department. Their country Ambassador also attended as this relationship was seen as important at a country level. An action plan was scoped out the following week at which time we stepped back to allow the parties to close business.