ABDA needed a coalition staff before the war

How could ABDA have performed better against Japan?

By organizing a coalition command and staff before the war, then concentrating its ships around a properly supported task force.

ABDA was improvised after the crisis had begun, without the staff practice or shared command arrangements required to combine British, Dutch, American, and Australian forces. Earlier planning could have concentrated cruisers around Force Z, strengthened anti-aircraft defence, and made a carrier-backed formation the coalition's operational core. That work needed to begin by 1940, and ideally around 1937, especially because the Dutch knew they would depend on allies. Coalition staff preparation and prewar shipbuilding decisions help explain why ABDA was too little and too late.