INSIGHT InterAsia Pte Ltd started as a market consultancy to small high-tech companies that want to do business in Asia. I started it in 2006 while living in Singapore. Although I am a US citizen, I've spent my entire career in technical sales and marketing based in Asia. I liked Singapore very much and when I had the opportunity to start my own company I based it in Singapore so that I could live here.

We weren't quite sure how or where to start though. The Singapore-based business initially started by catering to American companies in the semiconductor marketplace but has expanded to include customers from Europe, Japan and Korea. More recently, we are finding Singaporean SMEs that want help with getting started in the USA and other markets. We also have received recently many requests to help customers establish markets in technologies that are not semiconductor-oriented, such as pharmaceutical manufacturing, robotics, and alternative energy soultions.

Being an SME ourselves, we realise that every day is potentially a "hard day" for SMEs because every dollar counts. This is especially true for the microSME which has only a few employees. You cannot make many mistakes and you have to spend money very wisely and cost-effectively.

Earlier in my career I suffered through the Asian financial crisis in 1998. That was a horrible time for me and the company I worked for at the time. In fact, the business dried up almost overnight and I used that time to go back to graduate school and get an MBA in corporate finance and management of technology. The company I worked for at the time of the Asian financial crisis basically abandoned Asia for a few years, primarily due to uncertainty in Korea and Taiwan. At that time, we were working on some projects in Malaysia and the ringgit was severely affected, as well. Customers could not afford to pay their US dollar based contracts and they cancelled orders. It was really a crazy time but I remember it all very clearly because I learned a lot from it.

For example, I learnt to run a business fairly conservatively, put money aside into a "war chest" to add some protection. Another lesson was to invest in people who will likely be with you when things pick up again. Don't stop marketing activities - in fact, it is best to increase a little and find ways to save money by cutting back in other ways.

Of course, you have to make cost cuts when things are not going well but find some other way to do it instead of cutting marketing. When all is said and done, your customers are the most important part of the business. They need to be reminded that your company's products and services are still available through good times and bad. I think this is very important. Also, in our case, conservatively hedging foreign exchange exposure is very important and I learned this from the Asian financial crisis.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the current financial crisis is just one potential problem. Even in generally better times, some industries face cyclical downturns. The semiconductor industry is a great example. Every several years the industry slips into a valley for 12-18 months even if the surrounding economy is otherwise strong. Thus, some industries will know how to handle the current downturn better because they are used to making sacrifices during such down periods.

The current recession is tough but some industries are doing better than others. Medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and certain types of electronics are still quite strong. People always get sick. In the richest parts of Asia people are getting older, too, so medical technologies aimed at the geriatric market can only grow whether or not there is a recession.

My major concern is that the smaller companies that are our customers tend to cut their marketing budgets in order to keep funding research and development. Generally, our services are paid out of a company's sales and marketing budget. Thus, we could see a decrease in the amount of customers willing to pay us to establish markets for them. It hasn't happened yet, thankfully, but it certainly could if the recession drags on. Our strategy is simple: keep working and find new ways to let our potential customers know we are here and we are ready to work for them. We are an SME - more S than M. Most of our customers are SMEs. Indeed, I'm on the SME Committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore and I know that the SMEs have very different needs than do larger companies.

It is entirely possible to work with other SMEs to save costs. Many SMEs do not want to pool resources and I do not understand this. As an example, share office space or share administrative assistants. Many SMEs don't need as much office space as they have, nor do they need as many vehicles. There are ways to save in these areas if you look closely.

Some people can work from home very effectively and this saves a lot of time and money, and you may get even more productivity by allowing them to work from home.

In Singapore, SPRING has many schemes that are available to help small SMEs. They don't need to be technology-based. Any SME can apply for the various assistance programs at SPRING. I know many people there and many of my local contacts have applied for funding and received it.

But whatever you do to save money, don't cut back on sales and marketing!