Market entry assessment
Market Entry Assessment establishes whether a country or sector in a given region is worth entering, and if so, by what route. It is commissioned before capital is committed.
The assessment is built from primary sources, through open source research (company registries, customs and regulatory filings, official statistics, local-language press) and, where commissioned, field research conducted in-market in the local language, with components detailed below.
It is scoped to the market, not to the counterparties within it. Once specific partners, distributors or acquisition targets are named, those are examined under our Integrity Due Diligence service.
Subcontracting and white-label services
We are open to supporting consultancies, strategy firms and in-house teams that need Southeast Asian market research without building it in-house. Our name does not appear on anything that reaches your client unless you choose to name us. Each engagement follows the agreed scope, methodology and reporting format, on a fully confidential basis.
THE SEA CIRCLE NETWORK
Local expertise, regional reach
Our market entry assessments are directly supported by SEA Circle, a network of Southeast Asian analysts, journalists, researchers and writers, from or living in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. They research in the local language, know which agency holds which data and how a sector is organised on the ground, and interview the distributors, operators and advisers already working in it.
Working languages: Chinese, English, French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Filipino, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese.
GEOGRAPHIC SCOPE
Southeast Asia
With a presence in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam through our SEA Circle network as well as expertise in the other five regional markets, we cover all eleven markets in the region, with field access in the six where we have people on the ground.
Europe
With contributors in Paris and research coverage of the wider single market, we work principally on French market entry and EU access for Southeast Asian companies.
WHAT WE ASSESS
Components
The components can be commissioned together as a full assessment or individually.
1. Market and demand
4. Political risk
2. Competitor analysis
3. Regulatory landscape
OUR PROCESS
Methodology and timeline
The components can be commissioned together as a full assessment or individually.
Exploratory discussion
Within a few days of enquiry: 45 mins, no charge
We establish what decision the report has to serve, which market and sector it concerns and when the decision is being made.
Scoping note
3-5 working day
The scoping note shows you what the report will look like. No research is conducted at this stage. It will set out:
- Questions the report will answer
- Structure of the final report, by section
- Sources we expect to draw on, by category
- Timeline of the project
- Financial proposal with breakdown of fee
- Methodological options (see below)
Once the scoping note is agreed upon, a working agreement and NDA will be signed.
Open-source research
1-3 weeks
Research from the open source records:
- National statistics agencies, investment boards and central banks
- Customs and bilateral trade data
- Company registries and regulatory filings
- Sector regulators and industry association publications
- Local-language press
Document availability varies across the region. Where we expect registry or regulator delays in a particular market, we flag it in the proposal rather than absorbing it into the timeline.
Field enquiry
Adds 2-3 weeks, on request
Structured interviews conducted in-market and in the local language with distributors, operators already in the category, industry associations and local professional advisers.
Details regarding the interviews are agreed in the proposal or added on (with additional working agreement) after delivery of the open source research.
Delivery
On completion of research
Revision
Revision request period is open 5 working days after delivery
one revision round included
One revision round is included in the fee. It covers factual correction, clarification of anything unclear and expansion of a section within the scope agreed in the proposal.
Revision does not extend scope. New questions, additional markets or additional sectors are a new mandate, quoted separately.
We do not revise a verdict on request. If you present evidence we did not have, we will test it and amend the report if it holds. If the disagreement concerns the conclusion rather than the evidence, the report stands and we will record your dissent in it if you want that on file.
Requests received after the window close are quoted as additional work.
Final submission
5 working days from receipt of revision requests
The report is submitted and an invoice is issued for payment within 30 days.
COMMISSIONING
Open source research
Five components, single market and sector: starting from 1,000 USD Single component: starting from 300 USD
Open source research and field enquiry
Five components, single market and sector: starting from 2,000 USD Single component: starting from 600 USD
Multi-market and multi-sector mandates are scoped on enquiry.
Tailored market intelligence to support informed entry decisions across
Southeast Asia.
OUR WORK
Sample reports
The sample reports below were produced as independent research rather than client mandates. We publish them so prospective clients can judge our method before commissioning.
A commissioned Market Entry Assessment is more specific, fully sourced and addressed to one decision.
Europe–Southeast Asia Business Briefing
Maps EU foreign direct investment across all eleven Southeast Asian markets and examines the two that most reward attention this cycle: Singapore, the largest position, and Vietnam, the fastest-rising.
Demonstrates: Market and Demand and Political Risk at regional scale, resolving to a comparative view of where to enter.
Southeast Asia Climate Technology Spotlight
Analyses the imbalance between where climate capital concentrates in the region and where its largest carbon assets sit underused, then names a single route to market: building carbon removal supply in Indonesia and routing verified credits through Singapore.
Demonstrates: a sectoral assessment resolving to one Entry Route with a named vehicle and base location.
Southeast Asia Fintech Spotlight
Examines where value is moving in the region’s fintech market as it leaves the land-grab phase and identifies the strongest available position for a European entrant: B2B cross-border payments and compliance infrastructure, based in Singapore and extended into Indonesia through partnership.
Paris Market Entry Assessment: Indonesian Heritage Textile Brand
The one commissioned engagement published here and the closest of the four to a client deliverable in form. Batik Sutra Putih, an Indonesian batik brand with twelve domestic stores, commissioned an assessment of the French market ahead of a European entry decision: competitive field in French heritage textiles, demand for craftsmanship and traceability, price positioning against incumbents, distribution options, import and labelling requirements and a phased Paris entry route. Published with the client’s permission.
Closest to a client deliverable in form, scoped to the Europe direction and not the more common Southeast Asia geographic scope.