The following are my summary points, which shared during a panel discussions.
General thoughts on ASEAN
- ASEAN needs visionary leaders who given ASEAN and the community a strong vision. Think Adenauer and de Gaulle, who forged a peaceful and prosperous Europe post World War II. What will ASEAN and the AEC be when it grows up?
- Slow market liberalisation through the AEC and also other free trade agreements
- Launch and adoption of digital businesses like UBER, GrabTaxi show both the need and that existing players across ASEAN (the globe?) aren’t addressing clients needs
- Local companies need to drive scale or excel in a niche to compete, due to market liberalisation
- Foreign companies who are having a global operating model can compete easier in some sectors versus locals
- Integration drives organizations to expand — competition to head up dramatically
- Many “fake” experts on AEC, ASEAN Integration, and Corporate Transformation
- Having had global, regional, and local roles, I would argue that from a multi national perspective the priorities and views are are more clear versus a local only perspective.
Business challenges for ASEAN integration
- Asean Conglomerates often prefer to expand horizontally into different verticals versus expand vertical businesses (sense of control within a geographic area)
- ASEAN and APAC integration drives competition and hence (verticals) organizations to scale, to regionalize
- Expanding vertical business such as banks or telecommunication company, requires operational and technology excellence
- Depending on businesses entry cost across the region still high:
- Rules of incorporation and shareholder ship
- Visa and Labour rules
- Easier for large corporation
- Languages / it’s not always about english! Why are there no similar institution like Goethe Institute and Alliance Francaise by asian countries? A Thai or Indonesian Institute for language and culture across the region…
Addressing organization readiness
Business Operations
- Process and ongoing optimization, goal oriented
- Better measurements and metrics
- Data driven and flexible
Technology & Digitization
- Often outsourcing but not innovation attitude
- Innovation and continues evolvement
- Adoption of Free and Open Source to drive internal tech skill and innovation
Human Resource Function
- People development
- Metrics setting / KPI
- Fair renumeration — still huge gaps
- Integration of ASEAN and other Foreigners
Generating regional and global structures
Opinions are my own!
aw@axelwinter.com — www.axelwinter.com
Generating regional and global structures
Opinions are my own!
aw@axelwinter.com — www.axelwinter.com