DATE: Friday, November 14, 1997             TAG: 9711140646

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MEREDITH COHN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: HAMPTON                           LENGTH:   34 lines

CULTURE SAVVY IS IMPORTANT IN ASIA BUSINESSMEN NEED TO KNOW THE RULES

The most skilled American deal-makers won't be successful in Asia if they don't know when to bow or take their shoes off, according to Jack L. Ezzell Jr.

Ezzell is an Air Force information specialist turned overseas business consultant turned technology company founder and president. On Thursday he offered advice on selling products and services in the Pacific Rim.

His lecture was one in a monthly series sponsored by the Peninsula Advanced Technology Center. The non-profit agency helps new and existing manufacturing and service-based businesses access high-tech information, training and financing.

Ezzell said knowing about a nation's culture is equally as important as knowing about business.

``You need to know the rules of engagement if you're planning on doing business there,'' said Ezzell, president of Hampton-based Zel Technologies.

Zel offers business consulting and software development to governmental and industrial users. Its 100 employees work from nine locations around the nation and in Korea. That office, established before Ezzell spun his consulting business into Zel Technologies in 1988, serves as a basis for the company's work around Asia.

Ezzell told his audience that if they plan to be in business in 2005, they need to look past American markets.

And while he described the trip to Asia as ``a four-movie flight you probably don't want to do that often,'' he said building relationships there will pay off down the road.

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