When in Rome, do as the Romans do...

I believe the main difference between Western and Asian countries is the amount of government interference. We cannot argue that Asian countries are falling behind - in fact most of our Asian countries are 'westernized' in their thinking and way of life. One evidence would be the technological advancement that our Asian countries have achieved - Japan and Korea have succeeded in building a reputation for themselves in establishing brands that are trusted. However, government intervention in countries like China, North Korea and Singapore is more 'active' than our Western counterparts who are more liberal.

Public relation practitioners dealing with government-sensitive countries should be wary when handing out information, especially when it might offend the government. British freelance journalist Benjamin Bland's visa renewal application was rejected without explanation by the Ministry of Manpower because of his history of writing articles offensive towards the Singapore government.

I believe that when dealing with Asian countries, a lot of respect should be given and relationships should be built first, therefore inevitably making the process much slower as opposed to dealing with a Western company I suppose. This is because Asian countries are still very much rooted to their culture where these values are held in high regard.