Competitiveness Rankings sees South East Asia on the rise

Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore are the rising stars of the IMD's World Competitiveness Scorecard for 2003 published in their yearbook last week. At the same time traditional lean and mean Scandinavian economies which have dominated the rankings since their inception, as well as the mature East Asian economies, seem to be losing their competitive advantage.

SARS and ASEAN: Some facts - Some perspective

In the lead-up to the ASEAN SARS summit in Bangkok Thailand this week, a call for some perspective. SARS is not so much an Asian problem, but a world-wide and China and Singapore problem. China, Singapore and Hong Kong distinguish themselves by high incidence levels and local transmission. Incidence and local transmission among other countries, Western and Asian alike, is much lower, at least for the moment. And latest data suggests that the peak of new infections, especially outside China, may have been reached.

Why when China sneezed, the world caught a cold

It used to be said that when the US sneezed, Asia caught a cold, usually referring to the economic health of the US, based on the importance of that market both to the dependence of Asian manufacturers on US imports, and the central place of the US economy and investment on the global economy. However in the case of the SARS virus, for maybe the first time of many, the reverse is true.

Malaysiakini: Not the Messiah - just a very naughty boy

To the Malaysian ruling government, MalaysiaKini is not the Messiah of the Press - he's just a very naughty boy...

FEER reader survey: Best Companies in Asia for business leadership

The Hong Kong based Far Eastern Economic Review has just released their Review 200, an annual reader survey of the best companies in Asia ranked by their leadership qualities.

Japan forges into China

Many Japanese manufacturing industry executives who have visited China recently are impressed with the ever increasing quality of the work-force, causing them to dispel the common assumption that China's strategic opportunity for foreign manufacturers is low costs and little else.

Asian Strategy Brief Archive August 2002

Singapore's Port, has suffered several blows to its highly competitive position as major shipping companies diverted to the gradually improving cost effectiveness of Malaysian ports in Klang and specifically Pelepas in Johor. However, Singapore won a major battle, if not the war, with the signing of the South Korean shipping company Hanjin for a 10 year contract.

While consumers spend, how healthy really is Thailand's economy?

It may well be looking good on the outside, but Thailand must start to emulate the strategic planning skills of Singapore or even Malaysia's recent efforts at professional strategic planning to address Thailand's competitive weaknesses. Hard it will be, as personal interests and repaying favours often monopolizes the agenda over the public interest when tough decisions need to be made in Thailand.

Singapore well on the way to recovery - strategic implications

A very high standard of strategic planning and transparency as well as much lower levels of corruption is the often under-estimated equity for stakeholders and investors in Singapore business.

Asian Strategy Brief July 2002

Evidence is strengthening that the Asian economic power house of Japan is showing signs of a slow but steady recovery.

BG Lee on Singapore strategy, globalization, and government

Singapore's PM in waiting BG Lee fronted up for an extended interview with Foriegn Policy magazine this week, in a useful piece which outlines his views on Singapore global strategy..

Thailand strategic brief

Economically things are looking good for Thailand, being the South East Asian 'star' in the first quarter of 2002, and economists are raising their estimates for 2002/2003 GDP growth to an average of around 2.5 to 3% for 2001 and 3 to 3.5% in 2003.

Chinese fridge strategy goes chilly

Guangdong Kelon Electrical, a giant Chinese electronics firm selling mainly aircon and fridges has announced massive losses. In countries experiencing as much change as China, strategy is even more crucial, but in this case, they got it wrong.

The lighter side of Chinese contract negotiations

Heard around the coffee houses and restaurants all around Asia lately, a joke that may well have a slight ring of truth to it...

Samsung Electronics go up market

Of all Asian economies, South Korea has been the leader by a long way in the past year. It's stock market has also led the way of recovery for Asia. Samsung may just have found the magic strategic potion for Asian exporters today..

Malaysian strategic mini capsule

Compact strategic brief on Malaysia. Originally published as the APMF Weekly brief March 9th to March 20th

Ninety Percent of the 101 Dumbest Moments in Business happen in the US

The US magazine Business 2.0 lists in their latest issue what it calls the '101 most dumbest moments in business'. Unsurprisingly, more than 90% happened in America.

K-logs the new open source knowledge management system

...A chance for the gonzo-journalism/ personal-takes phenomenom of "blogging" to lead to something maybe even useful.

Lincoln Electric's China strategy

Managing relationships and consumer awareness are two key planks of the Lincoln Electric's China strategy.

The Internet and doing business in China

The Internet, as we all know, came later to China. Today, we are told that Sohu.com is the largest portal in China, but a lapsed Yahoo-ite says that Yahoo is in actuality far bigger.. In China.. all is not as it seems...