https://www.scmp.com/rss/505253/feed Colleen K. Howe is a programme associate at the Asia Business Council. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Businesses like certainty. So why are they bullish on the business environment in Asia, as a new survey has found, even as uncertainty is on the rise? In a world of overlapping crises, uncertainty has become the new normal, forcing business leaders to put adaptability at the core of their strategy. Increasingly, executives must think about how to stay relevant in a rapidly changing environment and use diversity to their advantage to build more resilient and adaptable businesses. The... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3231043/how-businesses-still-upbeat-asia-can-adapt-uncertainty-new-normal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3231043/how-businesses-still-upbeat-asia-can-adapt-uncertainty-new-normal?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Aug 2023 07:45:17 +0000 All eyes have been on Southeast Asia recently. From China and South Korea to Japan and the United States, international businesses increasingly see the region figuring in their expansion plans. Some want to build manufacturing bases in the Asean economies to take advantage of the lower labour costs compared to China. Private equity and venture capital companies are interested in the region’s growing start-ups, and other investment opportunities arising from young, digitally savvy... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3224731/how-upgrade-aseans-infrastructure-more-global-businesses-turn-region?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3224731/how-upgrade-aseans-infrastructure-more-global-businesses-turn-region?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Jun 2023 16:30:07 +0000 With the global electronics industry still reeling from the latest volleys in the semiconductor trade war, biotechnology could become the latest strategic sector in the US-China technology competition. Yet if biotech is divided across geopolitical lines, it could have worrying implications for global health and biosecurity. An executive order by US President Joe Biden in September last year to increase domestic manufacturing stoked speculation that biotechnology could go the way of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3217365/what-us-china-biotech-war-would-mean-hong-kong-and-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3217365/what-us-china-biotech-war-would-mean-hong-kong-and-world?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Apr 2023 07:45:09 +0000 Many scientists believe we are in the middle of a mass extinction event – only the sixth in earth’s geological history. Around 1 million species worldwide are expected to die out unless we can reduce the pressure we are putting on nature. Asia is ground zero for efforts to stop the extinction crisis. Southeast Asia alone has around one-fifth of all plant and animal species, while China is one of the world’s largest markets for wildlife products. Directly and indirectly, the effects of our... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3210058/pressure-asian-businesses-protect-regions-biodiversity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3210058/pressure-asian-businesses-protect-regions-biodiversity?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Feb 2023 14:00:20 +0000 Would you want to talk to a digital version of your loved one after they have died? The idea may sound like something out of the dystopian sci-fi series Black Mirror (and as it turns out, the idea did feature in a 2013 episode). But it’s not entirely science fiction. Using artificial intelligence, the California-based company HereAfterAI lets people “talk” to loved ones who have passed on, though it’s unclear how realistic the experience is at the moment. But as this kind of technology improves,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3203842/hong-kong-can-ensure-artificial-intelligence-remains-force-good?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3203842/hong-kong-can-ensure-artificial-intelligence-remains-force-good?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Dec 2022 14:00:15 +0000 Will the post-pandemic era in Asia herald an economic recovery reminiscent of the “Roaring Twenties” decade that followed the Spanish flu a century ago, or is the region facing stagflation and continued economic pain? Asian CEOs are divided on that question, and the uncertainty could weigh on the growth prospects of the region. A recent survey of Asia Business Council members, who head businesses headquartered or with significant operations in Asia, found that 38 per cent expected business... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3193098/ukraine-war-energy-crisis-and-geopolitical-tensions-mean-asian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3193098/ukraine-war-energy-crisis-and-geopolitical-tensions-mean-asian?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Sep 2022 01:15:11 +0000 Colleen K. Howe Colleen K. Howe What happened to the metaverse? In 2021, we were all convinced we would be buying NFTs and digital Gucci bags in no time. While those business lines are still around, the average consumer is more focused on covering rising food and housing bills than on buying virtual possessions. But behind the furore over NFTs, engineers and hardware developers have quietly been developing their own version of the metaverse, which could ultimately become one of the building blocks of the next-generation... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3181612/industrial-metaverse-grows-platform-must-remain-open-and-available?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3181612/industrial-metaverse-grows-platform-must-remain-open-and-available?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jun 2022 17:30:13 +0000 Uber, Airbnb and WhatsApp: all were founded in the wake of the last economic crisis in 2008. This time, could the next economic dynamos come out of Asia? After a slew of successful start-ups in 2021, momentum is gathering in the region. As the dust settles from the economic disruption of the past two years, attention will shift towards technologies that promise a more resilient, sustainable and healthy future. While country and economy-level dynamics shape start-up markets, three broad trends... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3163798/trends-driving-asias-start-boom-2022-digitalisation-carbon-cutting?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3163798/trends-driving-asias-start-boom-2022-digitalisation-carbon-cutting?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Jan 2022 09:15:20 +0000 The International Monetary Fund last week called on central banks to watch out for persistent inflationary pressures but said it was too early to talk about stagflation. From the perspective of business, though, worries about stagflation are already here. In a recent survey of Asia-based CEOs conducted by the Asia Business Council, nearly 40 per cent of respondents believed that inflation – driven by supply-side constraints and loose monetary policy – would be the biggest economic challenge over... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3152825/why-asias-ceos-fear-inflation-biggest-hurdle-coronavirus-recovery?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3152825/why-asias-ceos-fear-inflation-biggest-hurdle-coronavirus-recovery?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Oct 2021 09:00:19 +0000 If there were any questions about whether the US and China would remain strategic rivals under a Biden presidency, no one is wondering now. The US fears China wants to change the global order and reshape the world in its own illiberal image. China believes the US intends to hold back its hard-won economic rise. There is probably truth to both views. These opposing world views are on a collision course. The goal now is to carve out a space for peaceful coexistence. That means drawing lines and... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3141772/us-china-relations-how-business-can-help-write-new-rules-engagement?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3141772/us-china-relations-how-business-can-help-write-new-rules-engagement?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Jul 2021 19:30:13 +0000 Hong Kong announced late last year that it would join the growing ranks of the cities, countries and companies aiming to be carbon neutral by 2050. With power generation contributing to almost two-thirds of the city’s carbon emissions, all eyes are on the electricity sector. But Hong Kong has little space for renewable energy, and while natural gas releases around half as much carbon emissions as coal when burned, it is still far from zero. Last month, local electricity generator CLP Holdings... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3133809/carbon-neutral-2050-how-hong-kong-could-be-leader-green-hydrogen?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3133809/carbon-neutral-2050-how-hong-kong-could-be-leader-green-hydrogen?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 May 2021 21:15:18 +0000 Covid-19 has been a disaster for most businesses in Asia, as everywhere. But the epidemic has given some Asian companies a new-found sense of purpose. Interviews with Asia Business Council members have found the best Asian companies responding to the crisis by deepening community engagement, working intensively with government and civil society, and forgoing short-term profits. The Ayala Group, a 185-year-old Philippine family conglomerate, owns a bank, supplies much of Metro Manila’s water, and... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3097761/coronavirus-has-accelerated-growing-awareness-need-fairer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3097761/coronavirus-has-accelerated-growing-awareness-need-fairer?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Aug 2020 14:00:15 +0000 If you’re an office worker using Zoom while working from home, you’re part of a speeded-up Covid-19-induced technological revolution. Buyers of electrical grid transformers are conducting quality testing remotely via cameras and sensors. Doctors are making diagnoses via video. Employees are swiping QR codes on their mobile phones to confirm their health status and gain access to office buildings. These are only a few of the changes since borders closed across the world and 60 per cent of global... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3084971/post-pandemic-economy-asian-businesses-will-think-smaller-and-safer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3084971/post-pandemic-economy-asian-businesses-will-think-smaller-and-safer?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 May 2020 01:30:09 +0000 The Covid-19 pandemic is exposing weak spots in our medical systems, our supply chains and our political structures. It has also highlighted an often invisible source of strain: demographic risk. The world is getting older. As highlighted in forthcoming research by the Asia Business Council, many countries in East Asia – including Hong Kong and China – are in the early years of demographic decline. There will be fewer young working-age people supporting an ever-increasing older... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3075500/coronavirus-epidemic-warning-hong-kong-and-others-prepare-reality?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3075500/coronavirus-epidemic-warning-hong-kong-and-others-prepare-reality?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 17 Mar 2020 23:00:06 +0000