Must-Haves for Leading in Asia

Software vendors who are offshoring work or marketing products in the worldís most-populous and fastest-growing region must stay focused to stay ahead.

By Chris Traub, Strategic Executive Search

The world is becoming ever smaller ñ and the business world is leading the charge. Software is as global an industry as any, and in many ways, leads the charge to leverage new manufacturing centers and new product markets in emerging regions of the world.

Asia today is at the top of the list of global priorities for many software companies. The largest software vendors have significant operations in multiple Asian nations, and emerging competitors are looking to Asia earlier than they used to.

More and more software vendors seek not only to send product development work offshore, but also to leverage a global development cycle ñ very often based or anchored in Asia. At the same time, new opportunities to market products to the burgeoning populations and unique markets in Asia, continues to be a compelling avenue of growth for software vendors worldwide.

It is possible to succeed in Asia with a good understanding of its regional intricacies. In order to lead in Asia, however, it is critical to set forth strong leadership in a culturally-sensitive manner.

News Update: Off and Running

Megavendors face-off at the starting line of a new race; SOA stumbles; open source experts debate fair play; and a win for the U.S. IT industry. Read these stories and more software news of the week in the SandHill.com weekly news summary.

The Final Word on Open Source ìDoomî

During the past two weeks on SandHill.com, experts have debated whether open source will doom the software industry, or whether it will simply be one factor in its restructure and rebirth. Guy Smith of Silicon Strategies Marketing attempts to find common ground in this post to the SandHill.com Blog on open source.

Good Bye Voodoo. ÝHello Metrics.

Technology marketing is maturing. Finally, tech companies are catching up to consumer goods marketers in terms of theirÝ reliance on metrics to quantify and prove marketing impact. Nilofer Merchant of Rubicon lays out the best practices and benefits of incorporating a quantifiable dimension to software marketing plans in this weekís post to the SandHill.com Blog on sales and marketing.

Publish Your Perspective!

The SandHill.com Blog wants your opinions. Send your thoughts on the enterprise software industry to editor@sandhill.com and weíll publish them in our blog.

Softwareís Next Big Thing: Enterprise 2.0

How will SaaS, Web Services, offshoring, open source and Web 2.0 combine to create a new environment for software vendors? Listen in as SandHill.comís M.R. Rangaswami and NetSuiteís director of marketing, Sean Rollings team up for a webinar on Enterprise 2.0: where software vendors turn the hype into real money. The live webinar will take place Wed., Aug. 23 at 2:00 p.m. EDT. Click here to register now.

Donít Miss This Wrap Up of Global Business Trends

A new McKinsey survey of global executives shows innovation is one of the most important drivers of change in global business today. The findings show that future profitability will depend most on the knowledge trends and the forces of globalization. Read more about the top business trends in this story from The McKinsey Quarterly.

Last Chance for Summer Reading!

Put down that romance novel and pick up the lastest titles on business trends. New books on topics including ìThe Long Tail,î blogging, outsourcing, competitive intelligence and team building. Visit the SandHill.com Insight page and scan our list of recommended reading.

Poll: Hot Enterprise Technologies of the Future?

Gartner listed the technologies most likely to have an impact on business over the next 10 years. Which of their picks do you think will be the ìhottest?îÝÝÝ
Take our Pulse Poll >>

Last week, SandHill.com readers gave their opinions on whether enterprise software will be doomed by open source.
Share your opinion and see the results >>

More at SandHill.com:

Oracle survey says open source making in-roads. And is IT scared of SOA?
Read the most important enterprise software industry news of the week >>

New investments made in Microland, Mangrove Systems, Nexidia, Imaginova and more....
Monitor the latest software venture capital deals >>

Deals of the week include Brocade buying McData and Citrix Systems buying Orbital Data.
Size up last week's software M&A deals >>

New execs take the reins at 3Com, Digital Influence Group, EMC, EverNote, KnowNow and more...
See who's made it to the top in our list of recent software executive appointments >>

Send us your feedback on this newsletter and the SandHill.com site.

Parting Thought

ìLeadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.î
ñDwight Eisenhower

Courtesy of Malcolm Kusher, The Kushner Group