olitical and practical difficulties facing foreign firms trying to sell their products in the Asia Pacific market. We are also going to look at two case studies of firms that have attempted to break into the Asia Pacific market - Unilever in China and Carrefour in Taiwan - and consider the difficulties that they faced and how they overcome them.
             Although the markets of the Asia Pacific have been opened up over the past twenty years or so, the societies remain very much closed to foreign firms. The Asia Pacific countries are known for their sticking to tradition and their strong cultural beliefs and these act as a barrier to the entry of foreign firms into the market. Social and cultural barriers include:
             * The unique buyer-supplier relations that exist in many countries. We are usually taught that a market place is where buyers and sellers agree to meet at a certain price. Buyers try to obtain products and services from whoever gives them the lowest price and sellers will try to find buyers who offer the highest price. This concept is in many ways inappropriate for the Asia Pacific markets. Instead, a transaction is carried out after a relationship has been established, and price is considered only one ingredient in a complex recipe of expectations and interactions. As a general rule, relationships matter more than a good price, which is rarely allowed to define a relationship or social obligation. The degree to which a supplier is prepared to provide services is perceived by many Asians to be a strong indicator of commitment to the country, market or customer. This creates a difficult environment for the foreign firm to enter into. carrefour tries to introduce low price strat!
             egies In Japan firms prefer to deal with proven suppliers, which usually means Japanese companies, thus making it difficult for foreign firms to get contracts. Also in Japan a lot of bidding for contracts goes on behind closed thus excluding foreign firms. ...