Asian Business Futurist
Back in the early 2000s, I was introduced to Shifeng Ke, a Chinese based fund manager who at the time worked for Martin Currie Investment Management Group, a well known scottish group and the first foreign fund manager to offer a unit trust which invested solely in local China A shares (The Martin Currie China A Share Fund) at a time when...
Trying to place recent developments in the context of the growth of modern China, I believe we have reached a point which will one day be described by historians as ‘the end of the beginning’. After 30 years of adopting a ‘growth at any cost’ model, seeking to lift millions of people out of poverty, raising productivity on a GDP...
After many years of following the fortunes and failures of foreign companies in Asia, there is one region of the world that stands out to me for their consistent success: Skandinavia. It’s hard to argue that the likes of Ikea, Nokia, Maersk, Kone, Lego, Bang & Olufsen, Volvo and Equinor are over-achievers throughout the world, but it’s their success in...
It's good to hear SMEs talking about their “Asian Strategy” again, but the use of these words alone suggest that they have a lot of detailed, analytical and strategic work to do before they will be anywhere near ready to launch their business into this fast growing and highly diverse region, representing more than half of the world’s population.When tackling...
It is often forgotten that relationships between different countries exist on at least 3 levels:Level 1 - Government to GovernmentThis usually receives the most attention, at least from the media, but it should be remembered that Governments and leaders come and go, and attitudes, policies and personalities change faster than it might appear from the relentless 24/7 news cycle.For example,...
The defining moment for the birth of democracy in Asia was the end of World War II, a victory for democracy amongst the colonial powers of Western Europe. In the carve up of the world that followed, many restless colonies were granted independence as a reward for their support for the embattled colonial powers during the war, and representative Governments...
China is a ‘planned economy’. I think we all know this. Having established a viable economic base under Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai in the late 40s, China published their first Five Year Plan in 1953, adopting the Soviet model of State ownership and centralised economic planning which set the agenda for the next 5 years (1953-1957) and...
In the jostling for power, influence and authority in Asia - political, economic and military - the diplomatic tightrope being walked by Indonesia to maintain cordial and peaceful relations with both China and the USA is one to watch in the future. So far, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his team have managed to steer a central course, despite increasing...
