Failure is not something to fear but something to embrace, learn from and leverage into a powerful motivator. This message was a constant one throughout the World Business Forum in Hong Kong on June 2 and 3, which brought together global business and economic leaders to share their insights to an audience of more than 1,200 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. “When you don’t give up, you cannot fail,” was one of the slogans in a video shown by George Kohlrieser, a leadership thinker who draws on his experience as a psychologist and veteran hostage negotiator. He wowed the audience with an inspirational message of thoughtful leadership. The point is, he said, that leaders learn from their failures as much as they do from their successes. “The day you stop learning is the day you stop being a leader,” said Kohlrieser, who is also a professor of leadership and organizational behavior at the IMD business school in Lausanne, Switzerland. A half dozen other speakers at the event also echoed this message. Among them was Sarah Lewis, a faculty member at Yale’s School of Art, best-selling author and an adviser on US President Barack Obama’s arts policy committee. She recounted story after story of famous overachievers who were not held back by adversity but rather empowered by it. Among them was Martin Luther King, one of the United States’ most influential civil rights activists, who received low grades in school for public speaking before going on to rally a nation with his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Another example Lewis gave was Ben Saunders, a British endurance athlete and the first person to walk to the South Pole, who was told in school that he lacked the drive to accomplish anything significant. The focus of the two-day forum was on the thinking of world-class leadership experts, but the event was also an opportunity to discuss broader economic topics, thanks to the presence of Ben Bernanke, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve and the man who oversaw the US economy during the global financial crisis. Now an economist at the Brookings Institution and an adviser at hedge fund firm Citadel, he recounted the fateful weekend leading up to Sept 15, 2008, when the storied investment bank Lehman Brothers went bust despite efforts to save it. “The goal, the idea, was to do what we did with Bear Sterns and have another company acquire Lehman Brothers and take over the liabilities,” he recounted, but no likely buyers were found. Bear Stearns was a New York-based global investment bank that failed in the global financial crisis and was subsequently sold to JP Morgan Chase. Bernanke did engineer another rescue, however, the $85 billion bailout of insurer AIG. “AIG lost money in certain divisions of the company but it had a whole lot of assets, including insurance subsidiaries, that it could use as collateral for the loan,” Bernanke said. To this day, he believes the bailouts of Wall Street firms were necessary to avert an even greater crisis, despite negative public opinion. “We knew there was not going to be a whole lot of support, political or otherwise, for our efforts to avoid the crisis,” he said. “The financial crisis was finally brought to an end, but then we had to face a deep recession.” Seven years later, the US economy is driving global growth and, said Bernanke, is on a solid footing despite a couple of weak quarters that he attributed to variable factors such as weather. The real challenge for the world economy is the slowdown in the other big drivers of growth: Europe and China. “The risk of being dragged back by the global slowdown is certainly there,” he said, but he also pointed out that people tend to be too pessimistic. Bernanke highlighted how the yuan is now “better aligned”, despite criticism that it might be undervalued. His comments echoed similar statements by the International Monetary Fund, which said late last month that the currency is now at fair value. He also noted how China is undergoing changes that should make it a stronger economy, moving from a top-down approach to growth to one led by the market, a hallmark of a large and sophisticated economy. “The private sector is where all these changes have to come about,” he said. In this new economy, the private sector is emerging as a key player and effective corporate leaders are more important than ever. Throughout the conference, themes emerged in terms of leadership in times of uncertainty, said Steve Mullinjer, regional leader for Asia Pacific at Heidrick & Struggles, an executive search firm that was one of the sponsors of the forum. “The world is becoming more of a VUCA environment,” he said. VUCA refers to volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity — key words that help define the business environment today. The emergence of Asia as a global force is a factor in this. Two decades ago, global corporations made less than 20 percent of their earnings in Asia but now the percentage is above 50 percent. “There are a lot of companies in Asia that are on the cusp of becoming global,” Mullinjer said. The most successful of these are going to be the ones that adapt to global realities and embrace diversity of thinking in their corporate culture. Other high-profile guest speakers included Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak, film director Oliver Stone, scholar and consultant Mohanbir Sawhney, and Don Peppers, founding partner of the consultancy Peppers & Rogers Group. For the past 11 years, the World Business Forum has been a source of inspiration, learning and transformation for business leaders. Since its inception, it has been held in Europe and the Americas. Last year, the forum opened for the first time in Sydney, Australia, and proved a great success. This is the first year it has been held in Hong Kong. Australian event organizer Business Executive Education is behind the forum’s move into Asia. In a statement, Alberto Saiz, CEO of the event company, said: “The World Business Forum has been held for over a decade in Europe and the Americas. Hong Kong has seen its role as a rapidly increasing international business hub in Asia.” The overall concept of the conference is to discuss new ideas, pointed out Kohlrieser, asking: “What are the ideas that are on the cutting edge? “Looking at the history with Steve (Wozniak), looking at the future with Tom (Peters) and looking at the creativity,” he said. Source: http://www.chinadailyasia.com/2015-06/05/content_15272868.html
2015-06-05Global businesses must pursue innovation, be willing to take risks and engage customers in order to prosper, renowned management strategist Tom Peters said on the opening day of the World Business Forum (WBF) in Hong Kong. One of the most influential management thinkers in the global business scene for the last 30 years, Peters rose to partner at McKinsey & Co in San Francisco where he worked from 1974 to 1981, when he left to become an independent consultant. Since 1982, he has operated out of the Tom Peters Company, providing management consultancy services. Tagged variously as the “Red Bull of management thinkers” or the “uber-guru”, Peters is also a best-selling author. He co-authored In Search of Excellence, a seminal work widely considered to be the best book on management. His latest work, The little BIG Things, is a guide to achieving business excellence. The foremost strategy business firms should cultivate is to never be afraid of making mistakes. On the contrary, whoever makes the most mistakes wins and this is the paradox of innovation, Peters told the audience at the WBF seminar, held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. “What really matters is that companies that do not continue to experiment — companies that do not embrace failure — eventually get into a desperate position,” Peters said. “Success can only be achieved through repeated failure and introspection. In business, you reward people for taking risks because they are willing to try new things.” Besides risk-taking, businesses should focus on raising customer satisfaction, Peters advised, pointing out that there is a slight disjunction between how customers and companies perceive the notion of customer satisfaction. Peters quoted a survey by global management consultants Bain & Co, which found only 8 percent of customers described their service experience as “superior”, while as many as 80 percent of companies used the same term to describe the service experience they provided. The business strategy to aim for is to turn “Things Gone Wrong” into “Things Gone Right”. “Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones that strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart,” Peters noted. Besides raising customer satisfaction, enhancing customer engagement should be a core business strategy, especially in the age of social media. “Customer engagement is moving from relatively isolated market transactions to deeply connected and sustained social relationships,” Peters said. “The Internet and technology have made customers more demanding, and they expect information, answers, products, responses and resolutions sooner than ‘as soon as possible’.” “What used to be word of mouth is now word of mouse. (The Internet) is either creating brand ambassadors or brand terrorists doing brand assassination. In the age of social media, it takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it,” Peters warned. The fourth strategy for business success involves being careful of every relationship-partnership decision — whether related to an employee, vendor or customer — because this is a strategic decision that will affect whether the companies will innovate or not. Companies must create more innovative designs because they cannot rely only on low prices to drive business growth, Peters concluded. Source: http://www.chinadailyasia.com/hknews/2015-06/03/content_15271812.html
2015-06-05Having been taken hostage four times in the past, George Kohlrieser has more experience than many psychologists in handling the emotions of hostage victims, and professes what he believes in — most conflicts can be resolved through patience and perseverance. At the World Business Forum in Hong Kong on Wednesday, Kohlrieser, a licensed psychologist, scholar and bestseller writer and currently a professor of leadership and organizational behavior at the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland, told the audience how to achieve high performance leadership by building the power of focus, a cycle of bonding, resolving conflicts and making concessions. Great leaders start with themselves, by understanding their own foundations and being aware of their secure bases — meaning the people, places, events, experiences, beliefs which have shaped them, he said. Only from this point can one become focused on external goals and then aspire to take the fear out of others. Leaders are often faced with conflicts, Kohlrieser said, acknowledging that conflict solving is problematic in both Asia and the West. In his words, conflict is nothing more than a difference and the task is to turn a conflict into something positive. But if you come with a mindset that conflict is bad, it will limit your options, he argued. Conflict is a difference between two or more persons or groups characterized by tension, emotionality, disagreement and polarization, where bonding is broken or lacking, thus negotiation is crucial, Kohlrieser said, adding that the complete stages of negotiation would include creating bonds, identifying needs and wants, dialogue, and realizing mutual gain. “Differences can come in the form of values, goals, perceptions, power and rivalry, resistance to change, personal needs and lack of communication. All of these are issues that you have to be able to put on the table and understand that,” Kohlrieser said as he strode on the stage. He used the first major meeting between Ronald Reagan (former US president) and Mikhail Gorbachev (former Soviet leader) as an example to show how crucial concession works in resolving conflicts. Reagan got really offended by something Gorbachev said and he stood up and walked toward the door, huffing and puffing. But he stood at the door, turned round, changed his mindset, his emotions, and his body and reached out his hand to Gorbachev. That, Kohlrieser said, was the beginning of a major relationship. When there is conflict and tension, ask questions and understand the need, Kohlrieser urged. He also touched on the issue of youth education in Hong Kong, saying teachers need to ask why young people are very often angry or dissatisfied. Try to understand their minds and answer their questions. “Teaching is done with telling. Teachers have to ask questions. And, as for the government, it should be sensitive to people being unhappy or who tend to break the bond,” he added. “Maintaining strength and maintaining life balance”, Kohlrieser said, are the key elements in achieving high performance. “Stress is not as bad as we thought … it depends on how you think about it. If you take it negatively, and feel yourself as a hostage, then it will have serious consequences. But a positive mindset will change the impact,” he said, adding:“Never be a hostage to any one or anything. Focus on excellence through lifelong learning.” Source: http://www.chinadailyasia.com/hknews/2015-06/04/content_15272348.html
2015-06-05Global businesses must adopt the “Four-As” strategy (adapt, absorb, acquire and attack) to compete in a fiercely competitive market unleashed by digital technology, Mohanbir Sawhney, director of the Center for Research in Technology and Innovation at the Kellogg School of Management, told the first-ever World Business Forum in Hong Kong on Wednesday. Speaking on the second day of the forum, Sawhney, a globally-recognized scholar, teacher and consultant on strategic marketing, business innovation and new media, highlighted an increasingly hyper-connected world, with people, information, things and infrastructure linked by a broadband network, transforming work, life and business. He said the Internet, mobile and desktop are the agents of this hyper-connectivity. “This hyper-connectivity will transform the industries of discretionary manufacturing, process manufacturing, utilities, healthcare, consumer, transportation and retail.” Sawhney cited the example of Connected Fitness for its “seamless connection of equipment, sensors, applications and devices to provide an interactive and personalized experience for fitness service customers”. This seamless connection, he said, will improve the efficiency and profitability for facility operators. He said hyper-connectivity has transformed global businesses by bringing in more innovative competitors, changing the nature of business and intensifying the channel disintermediation process; and described how hyper-connectivity affects businesses as digital disruption. Sawhney cited Uber — a technology company that operates a popular business app to connect riders and drivers — saying the company has completely transformed the transportation industry forever. However, he called Uber a “disruptive entrant” because its innovative and tailor-made transportation services have changed the rules of the game in the industry. But, as far as driver selection and contact, waiting time, taxi cost and payment methods are concerned, Uber has given consumers unrivaled freedom in making choices. The second change unleashed by hyper-connectivity is that consumer products are no longer tangible ones, but rather they have become software to provide seamless services. “US premium electric-car manufacturer Tesla ... has devised apps to transform the car to become a connected appliance and the apps will be updated to enhance customer experience,” Sawhney said. He urged global businesses to adopt the “Four-As” strategy to deal with digital disruption. “Adapting, that is leaning the business model of the competitors, is the easiest way to deal with market competition. Businesses can leverage their unique endowments such as balance sheets, sales channels, marketing techniques and business staff as privileged assets to compete. “Business should also learn to absorb — to integrate digital technology with their physical shops. They should leverage social media for in-store sales promotion, link online commerce with retail stores and design digitally-enhanced physical brand experiences,” he added. Companies can also consider acquiring other technology-savvy firms to bolster their digital capabilities to compete. “The most difficult strategy is disruption. This is because firms have to create their own e-commerce business models that can attack the competitors. Companies have to make sure that their assets and brand can be capitalized to create a business model that other competitors cannot copy,” Sawhney envisaged. Source: http://www.chinadailyasia.com/hknews/2015-06/04/content_15272381.html
2015-06-05The Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, as well as Asia’s film market, can take a leaf from the Hollywood style of movie production while maintaining their unique cultures and values, the first World Business Forum Hong Kong heard on Tuesday. At a session co-branded by China Daily, prominent Asian film personality Wilfred Wong Ying-wai shared his insights with the theme “Managing Asia: A Case Study of Asia’s Film Industry Development”. "Unless China also collaborates with the world, it’s not going to be able to elevate the standards of its movies, and the appreciation or the tastes of its audience,” he said. Wong chairs the Asian Film Awards Academy and the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, and is also vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Film Development Council. He said that across the Asian film industry, its unique cultures and languages, as well as its lack of sophisticated distribution channels, have made it difficult to promote its filming fruits to the world, but emerging markets like South Korea and Hong Kong are already making their appearance internationally. One successful example is Snowpiercer — a 2013 South Korean science fiction film co-produced by South Korean and Hollywood filmmakers, with an international cast and English-language dialogue. But in order to attract a wider audience base, Asian movies need to embrace the Hollywood system, which is very mature and sophisticated in the recognition of talents, understanding of the market, and the administration of distribution channels, Wong said. "None of these exists in China or in Asia today,” he argued. The Chinese mainland, as a young emerging market but already the second-largest box office in the world, is still limited by its experience and a dominating director-oriented mindset. In order to confront all the challenges, the annual Asian Film Awards was inaugurated in 2007 to celebrate excellence in Asian cinema. Its award academy, established in late 2013, gathers members of the three major international film festivals in Asia — Busan, Hong Kong and Tokyo. A series of activities will also be initiated by the academy this year, such as organizing a tour of Asia’s emerging markets to showcase the award-winning films, sending college students to intern at the Busan International Film festival, and encouraging Asian talents to patronize the world’s renowned film academies. In an exclusive interview with China Daily, Wong pointed out some of the unique traits in Asian films that can motivate them to excel in the global market. "Values presented in Asian films can stand out themselves, especially those that narrate common and universal values in their scripts. These movies will have a wider appeal,” he said. For example, 3 Idiots from India, A Separation from Iran and Little House from Japan all illustrate values and concepts that can resonate with viewers all over the world. However, no matter how Asian filmmakers choose to march into the world, whether through co-production with Hollywood gurus or screening their films at international film festivals, market and quality should always be their top priorities. At the same time, the changed pattern of film investment in Asia is prompting an upgrade of film making, as many investors are not working for the film industry and would demand a more sophisticated system for stable returns. "In Hollywood style, the producer is the center of everything, and he gets to examine and decide every procedure, such as a very strict budget to careful casting,” Wong said. But, in Asia, where the director gets the final call and can change the script whenever he wants and over the budget, this will not assure investors, he added. Within the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, a clear understanding of the film’s target market is crucial to its survival in that particular market — whether catering to the mainland’s taste or to Hong Kong’s, or both, or the globe’s. Wong does not consider Hong Kong filmmakers’ co-production with the mainland as a distraction from the city’s own film spirits. "For most movies, whether they can touch the hearts of the audience is vital, so the original scripts matter,” he said. “For co-productions, we can gather talents of different regions while taking care of different cultures in the movies as well.” Wong summarized three directions for Hong Kong filmmakers — local production, co-production with the mainland, or marching into Hollywood. agnes@chinadailyhk.com PDF Download: attach/pdf/20150602/0603-010s.pdf
2015-06-04Mar 25, 2015, Hong Kong – More than 300 delegates from the movie industry around the world attended theChina Daily Asia LeadershipRoundtable Panel on “The New Silk Road of Asia’s Film Industry: Challenges, Opportunities and Partnership”at 10.00AM to 12.30PM at FILMART. We are delighted towork with Hong Kong Trade Development Council again and to be the Media Partner for FILMART 2015for the third consecutive year. Mr. ZHOU Li, Publisher & Editor‐in‐Chief of China Daily Asia Pacific believed that the rapid development of China’s film industry in alignment with President Xi’s ‘New Silk Road’ initiative will make recognizable contribution to the growth of Asia’s film industry. Mr. Zhou welcomed the distinguished keynote speakers together with Mr. Raymond YIP, Deputy Executive Director of Hong Kong Trade Development Council including Dr. Wilfred WONG Ying‐Wai, Chairman of Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, Chairman of Asian Film Awards Academy & Vice Chairman of Hong Kong Film Development Council; Mr. LEE Yong-Kwan, Festival Director of Busan International Film Festival; Mr. Yasushi SHIINA, Director General of Tokyo International Film Festival and Dr. MA Runsheng, President of China Radio, Film and Television Program Exchange Center. Seven panelists from across Asia including Mr. Pantham THONGSANG, Deputy Secretary for Academic Affairs of The National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents Associations, Thailand; Mr. LI Yansong, President of iQIYI Motion Pictures and Vice President of iQIYI.com, Inc; Ms. Ann AN, President of Desen International Media; Mr. ZHU Huilong, Chief Executive Officer of Heyi Pictures, Senior Vice President of Youku Tudou Inc; Mr. William PFEIFFER, Chief Executive Officer of Dragongate Entertainment Ltd; Mr. Clifford COONAN, Asia Bureau Chief of The Hollywood Reporter and Mr. Raymond ZHOU, Columnist/Film Critic of China Daily further discussed the challenges and opportunities from their own industry perspectives. https://youtu.be/SwF4Pd3Om30
2015-05-06Jan 20 2015, Hong Kong - More than 250 delegates representing some of the largest financial institutions from around the world participated in a special panel session organized by China Daily at the Asian Financial Forum held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center on January 20, 2015. https://youtu.be/crhjoNqg9dk
2015-05-06Five decades after its founding, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is ready to be a game changer in global affairs while unleashing a tidal wave of business opportunities with the expected launch of a common market at the end of this year. The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will create the world’s seventh largest economy with a combined GDP of $2.4 trillion (according to 2013 figures) and a young population of over 600 million. The pace of growth, demographic dividends and economic potential of the region have positioned ASEAN as a significant global player. In a report titled ASEAN: The Next Horizon, the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) painted a positive picture of the region’s economy in the next decade and a half. Trade is expected to soar close to $5 trillion — $1 trillion from intra-regional trade within Southeast Asia and $3.7 to $3.8 trillion from trade with the United States, China, Europe and Japan. GDP growth for the 10 member states of ASEAN is estimated to range between 6 and 8 percent, and foreign direct investment (FDI) of $100 billion is projected to flow into the region. “As China’s growth slows in the next 10 to 15 years, the way the world manufactures will change. And critically, where it consumes will also change — it is consuming in ASEAN,” said Andrew Geczy, CEO of international and institutional banking at ANZ. “Greater integration is essential to realizing this potential.” Geczy was speaking at a China Daily co-organized roundtable discussion held as part of the 12th ASEAN Leadership Forum in Kuala Lumpur on April 27. With the theme of Deepening ASEAN Integration and Strengthening Competitiveness, the meeting focused on the creation of the kind of seamless connectivity needed to realize the AEC’s goal of a single market and a single production base. Co-organized by the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute, a think tank, and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Malaysia, the overall forum was held in conjunction with the 26th ASEAN Summit which also took place in the Malaysian capital. Vivek Pathak, regional director for East Asia and the Pacific at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), echoed Geczy, saying that economic integration has become a necessity for ASEAN. “Companies invest in countries that are either a large market or where they can produce competitive goods,” Pathak said. “Between China, Japan and emerging India, each of the individual ASEAN countries are going to find it harder to compete.” With the AEC, the region gains strength in numbers, becoming a mega market of consumers while opening up the borders of ASEAN for businesses. “Unlike the single market model — like the European Union where the strong get stronger and the weak have to exit the market — the AEC model allows inclusive integration,” said Hidetoshi Nishimura, executive director of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA). But maneuvering ASEAN’s diversity is no simple task. A double-edged sword that is both a source of opportunity and a challenge, the fractious nature of the region extends to almost every facet of life — politics, governance, regulations, infrastructure, education, healthcare, culture and more. The World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index provides a snapshot of just how different the 10 ASEAN nations are. While Singapore sits in first place, Myanmar is ranked 177 out of 189; Brunei, Cambodia and Laos all fall below the top 100 countries. The development gap between the ASEAN-6 (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines) and Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (collectively known as the CLMV countries) is often so vast, the idea of a cohesive ASEAN community seems like a pipe dream. Yet the panelists were largely positive about the AEC, even if it is unlikely to materialize fully this year as envisioned. “You couldn’t pick 10 countries that are more dissimilar and yet there is an organic process driving them towards a sense of community,” said Justin Wood, director for Southeast Asia and India with the Economist Corporate Network. “I think we should be more optimistic about the AEC; we’ve come a long way,” added Pradap Pibulsonggram, Thailand’s representative to the ASEAN High Level Task Force on Connectivity and ASEAN Connectivity Coordinating Committee. Pointing to the progress made in transport integration, Pradap reported that seamless connectivity in mainland ASEAN via land transportation is becoming a reality with improvements to roads and supporting infrastructure. This year should also see the finalization of the framework for easier cross border movement of people and goods over land. “There are specifications for a number of professions that allow ASEAN citizens to work across the region in the tourism sector. Integration is happening,” Pradap added. Moving across borders Similarly, private sector and private citizens are integrating across ASEAN. “The number of cross border tourists in ASEAN in 2000 was 15 million,” said Wood. “Last year it was 45 million. And we are seeing the same in trade and investments. So people, money and companies are moving across borders in Southeast Asia.” In Redrawing the ASEAN Map, a report published in January by The Economist, more than three quarters of the 200 multinationals surveyed said they were increasingly organizing themselves around the bloc and developing strategies specifically for Southeast Asia. “Companies are increasingly thinking of ASEAN as one instead of 10 countries and implementing strategies as one even though it is a long way to go and barriers remain,” Wood said. One of the key drivers has been the harmonizing of consumers. Customers are becoming more similar in their preferences, allowing companies to adopt a regional approach in their production, supply chain and go-to-market strategies. However, for the AEC to move forward, regulators must still accelerate the reconciliation of cross border regulations and build a consistent interpretation of regional commitments, without which the ideal of a single market and single production base will be difficult to realize. “If you look at manufacturing and logistics, you have high- to medium-tech industries in a number of countries and low- to medium-tech industries in a number of countries,” Pathak of IFC explained. “In an integrated ASEAN, you could have a large factory with each country playing to its strengths and it could give you a far more competitive product.” The pace at which regulatory harmonizing is happening, however, has been largely frustrating. ERIA’s Nishimura is of the belief that government mindsets need to change. “Regulators need to be more responsive, to look at their roles as facilitators of the AEC,” he said. “Because the reality is, businesses want to be connected.” Wood, however, urged companies not to wait for the right situation or environment to integrate. “I think if you asked, no business is satisfied with the pace. The ASEAN secretariat acknowledges that it is running behind schedule,” he said. “But companies should move in the expectation that ASEAN will catch up.” More attention is also needed in regulating financial services and developing financial markets to support the AEC’s single market, single production base goal, and in the longer term to facilitate freer movement of funds across borders. “Integrating stock and bond markets will reduce transaction costs, facilitate cross border flow of funds, draw analyst coverage as part of a bigger bloc, all resulting in capital flows from larger economies to smaller economies,” Pathak reasoned. Deepening integration Closer cooperation between the AEC and the “two super regionals” driven by China, namely, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the One Belt, One Road initiative, may be critical to this as well as to deepen integration, said Edward Chen, distinguished institute fellow and honorary professor at the University of Hong Kong. “Financial development and coordination are underdeveloped in ASEAN with attempts being more defensive and based on regulations rather than market development,” Chen said. “I think it is time for AEC to work with the super regionals to put more emphasis on developing the bond market, new financial products and coordinate the markets in ASEAN and Asia.” Chen, who is also president of the Qianhai Institute for Innovative Research, suggested the region should look at how it can capitalize on Chinese FDI outflows. “The history of ASEAN’s economic development has been via FDI, which has played a crucial role in integration. Today there are trillions ‘waiting to go out’ from China whether through mergers and acquisitions or greenfield investments. ASEAN should look at how it can capitalize on this and work with Chinese investments.” This year marks a milestone in ASEAN’s journey rather than an arrival point. It is important, however, to question what is in store for ASEAN and the AEC beyond 2015. Nishimura said the remaining challenges are not easy. “I think, to move beyond 2015, we have to cultivate a deep sense of an ASEAN identity to realize a highly connected, integrated, cohesive and globally significant community,” he said. “We need to invest in the sociocultural development of ASEAN to support the economic aspiration. ASEAN has to be inclusive and caring; resilient and sustainable; dynamic and globally competitive.” Economic transformation cannot happen in isolation and, more crucially, development must be equitable and inclusive. Geczy from ANZ said: “We have to accept and recognize that each country is at a different stage of evolution; there are different strengths and weaknesses, different competitive abilities.” The challenge in integration is to recognize differences exist, he said, adding that each country must be allowed to evolve and integrate at different levels. “With the right regional leadership to accelerate the AEC, ASEAN will become a center of manufacturing excellence and, more importantly, source of consumption for the world economy,” Geczy added. Source: http://www.chinadailyasia.com/2015-05/01/content_15258313.html
2015-05-04Amid the euphoria surrounding this year’s establishment of a common market for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), many remaining obstacles and pitfalls have to be carefully navigated. At the 12th ASEAN Leadership Forum (ALF) — which was held in conjunction with the 26th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur — government, business, academic, youth and civil society leaders took stock of realities and debated the way forward for the region. “ASEAN is essential for continued peace, stability and prosperity in Southeast Asia and (the fact) it has kept peace in the region for 50 years is a testimony to (its) resilience and success,” said Michael Yeoh, chairman of the ALF. Yeoh is also CEO of the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute, the think tank that co-organized the forum together with Malaysia’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry. This is a pivotal year for ASEAN, marking the start of its three community pillars: The ASEAN Political-Security Community, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. Diversity across all fronts among the 10-member ASEAN remains more of a challenge than strength at the moment. Even economic integration, which has received the most attention in view of the upcoming AEC, has been plodding. “Sometimes people wonder whether economic integration is even possible in such a diverse region,” said Pushpanathan Sundram, chairman of the China-ASEAN Business Association. Implementation is lagging and current scorecards only offer a simplistic tracking of compliance, not actions taken. “The gains of trade liberalization have been overtaken by non-tariff barriers. Governments are trying to protect their domestic industry at the expense of ASEAN and global competitiveness,” said Sundram, who is also the former ASEAN deputy secretary-general. ASEAN needs to harmonize. Pointing to the World Bank Ease of Doing Business Index and the disparity between ASEAN nations’ ranking, Ian Buchanan, senior executive advisor at consultancy firm Strategy& in Sydney, cautioned that there will be a dramatic pullback in foreign direct investment if the region does not close the gap between its members. “Domestic reform, domestic institution capacity building, political reform, business and politics are important to stay in the game moving forward,” he added. While Southeast Asia has enjoyed a period of peace, stability and economic growth, the external environment that made this possible is changing and the region cannot hope to achieve the same without making fundamental changes. “Let’s do a reality check on what’s happening,” said Rafidah Aziz, chairman of AirAsia X. “We need to ensure ASEAN and AEC remain in the game, let alone be a game changer.” Rafidah, the former minister of International Trade and Industry in Malaysia, is less concerned about the AEC and economic integration. “It will happen,” she said. “The private sector will ensure that it does. The AEC has evolved much stronger, faster, (and become) more visible. But we cannot move forward — one vision, one community, one people — if we’re only focusing on the AEC.” Rafidah added that to form the kind of entity that can shape events globally, ASEAN leaders need to pay attention to peace and security, and social cohesiveness. There needs to be a better articulation of the ASEAN identity. In tandem, the grassroots have to be engaged to bridge the fractious nature of the region, whether internally or across borders. This includes connecting with millennials — the generation born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s — at their level and on their preferred platforms to get them on board the ASEAN community agenda and identity. Inclusiveness and people-centeredness — both of which were highlighted by Philippine Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory L Domingo and Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen in their respective addresses in Kuala Lumpur — must be emphasized to close development gaps. But there needs to be less lip service and more action. “Let’s stop with the endless motherhood statements, endless visioning, bureaucracies that don’t understand ASEAN, domestic imperatives that don’t allow people to come on board, scorecards that don’t matter because nobody is pushing for ratification,” said Rafidah. ASEAN needs to get its house in order because the world is waiting to connect with the region. Source: http://www.chinadailyasia.com/2015-05/01/content_15258314.html
2015-05-04KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 (Bernama) -- A well-structured legal framework on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) must be established in all ASEAN countries before the initiative could be introduced on a regional basis. Thai representative to the ASEAN Connectivity Coordinating Committee, Pradap Pibulsonggram said Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam were among ASEAN member states that had already instituted the legal framework. However, some countries do not have it, he said. Such framework is crucial to convince the private sector to invest as they need such assurance, he told reporters on the sidelines of the 12th ASEAN Leadership Forum, held in conjunction with the 26th ASEAN Summit, in Kuala Lumpur, Monday. Pibulsonggram said ASEAN member states acknowledged the importance of PPP in mobilising private sector resources and they were trying their level best to come out with a comprehensive PPP law. According to ASEAN secretary-general, Le Luong Minh, the region needs US$100 billion (RM350 billion) a year from 2010 to 2020 for infrastructure development while investments from the public sector and dialogue partners were expected to accommodate only between US$47 billion (RM164.5 billion) and US$50 billion (RM175 billion) a year. ASEAN was established in 1967 by Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, and later joined by Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia. Source: http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v8/ge/newsgeneral.php?id=1129953
2015-04-29The panelists included Mr. XU Ningning, Executive President of China-ASEAN Business Council; Dr. LI Yao, Chief Executive Officer of China-ASEAN Investment Cooperation Fund (CAF); Dr. Perry WARJIYO, Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia; Tan Sri Dr. Michael YEOH, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (ASLI); Mr. Vivek PATHAK, Regional Director Asia and the Pacific of International Finance Corporation; Prof. HUANG Yiping, Professor of Economics and Deputy Dean of National School of Development, Peking University and Prof. Edward CHEN, Distinguished Institute Fellow and Honorary Professor of The University of Hong Kong, and President of Qianhai Institute for Innovative Research. https://youtu.be/crhjoNqg9dk
2015-04-27Reeling in the crowds for regional films Asia’s growing movie industry is set to benefit from a new generation of audiences along the New Silk Road and beyond. A push to develop and produce more Asian films could help the industry use the emerging New Silk Road to grow across the region and globally, a movie industry conference has heard in Hong Kong. More collaboration on- and off-screen, greater resources, growing audiences and markets, as well as a push to raise production values and revenues, will all help domestic film industries in the region expand and reach new audiences. “Since 2014, the Asian (film) market has increased by 12 percent. Asia should account for about 20 percent of the global market in a decade,” said Lee Yong-kwan, director of the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea. And this is not likely to be a difficult target to meet. Lee was speaking at The New Silk Road of Asia’s Film Industry: Challenges, Opportunities and Partnership, a roundtable session sponsored by China Daily during the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (Filmart) conference on March 25. One unique characteristic of the film industry in Asia is that it is growing on all fronts, even in areas that are slowing down in more developed markets. The number of regional theater screens is rising as cities and countries develop, while an increasingly affluent middle class looks for more entertainment options. In sharp contrast, cinema revenues in many developed markets are dropping. At the same time, online platforms are also growing, just as they are in markets around the world. “Traditional theaters are not decreasing their influence,” said Wilfred Wong Ying-wai, chairman of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, who is also chair of the Asian Film Awards Academy and vice-chair of the Hong Kong Film Development Council. “We are looking at a new generation of moviegoers. We are facing a market that is growing in parallel,” said Wong. And closer ties among countries along China’s proposed New Silk Road could power this dual growth further, agreed Wong’s fellow speakers. “We are here today to discuss a new and exciting concept for Asia’s film industry,” said Zhou Li, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily Asia Pacific, in his welcoming remarks. Powered in large part by the rapid growth of the film industry in China, the New Silk Road could provide a path for Asian films to spread globally. China’s push to boost trade through the promotion of the One Belt, One Road strategy extends to the film industry, said Raymond Yip, deputy executive director at the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. It organized the 19th Filmart, Asia’s largest film and entertainment industry trade show, this week. “If you are looking to expand your business in the Chinese mainland or throughout Asia, you are in the right place and at the right time,” Yip said. “China is the second-largest film market in the world after the US. Nearly 6,000 film screens, all digital, have been added across China.” There are now 26,000 screens across the country. “There are, of course, a number of challenges and plenty of issues to be addressed by Asia’s film industry,” said Yip. These challenges could be significant. A first challenge is the demographic change across the region. Japan is a good example of this. The growth of Asian film is on display in Japan, where the size of the market of around $1.7 billion has not changed in a decade despite an aging population. What has changed is the composition of box office revenues, with domestic films taking a bigger share of the pie. “Last year, Japanese movies were a big hit and had about 50 percent of the Japanese market and foreign films took about 40 percent,” said Yasushi Shiina, director general of the Tokyo International Film Festival. “We have made the Japanese market much better for Japanese movies.” But the population of Japan could drop by almost a third in a couple of decades and that could translate into a similar decline in the movie industry. A second concern is access to talent. “We have a shortage of directors, producers, writers and playwrights,” said Ann An, president of the Beijing-based Desen International Media. This may be hindering growth and the development of quality products. “The film industry in China in recent years is very attractive, even amazing.” For example, in previous Spring Festival holidays, about three films were released. However, this past year, there were eight movie releases. “People might think that with all these films squeezing into this time, the box office might be diluted, but we had very good results,” said An. Box office receipts rose 40 percent and audiences rose 30 percent. A third concern is market access. Some markets have rules limiting the number of foreign films that are allowed in. Eliminating those rules, even within Asia, could go a long way toward helping the industry grow. “The New Silk Road should not just be targeting the China market but all Asian markets in a balanced manner,” said South Korea’s Lee. This was a vision that Ma Runsheng, president of the China Radio, Film and Television Program Exchange Center, agreed with. “In the old Silk Road, we had various communications (channels) for various commodities,” he said, adding that it only stands to reason that it could happen again. Pantham Thongsang, deputy secretary for academic affairs at The National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents Associations, in Thailand, said the opportunities the New Silk Road brings are huge, especially in China. “Everyone expects that revenues in China over the next few years will be bigger than Hollywood,” he added. The Thai film industry seems poised to benefit from some recent developments. The country has emerged both as a popular location to shoot films and a producer of films and actors that are popular in China. It would make sense for the industry to focus on their domestic markets first and then to look to neighboring countries for growth rather than to Hollywood, said Zhu Huilong, CEO at Heyi Pictures and senior vice-president at online video company Youku Tudou. “In future, I think we have to penetrate the Asian market first,” Zhu said. “We should start some Asian films. If you combine China and Japan, it would surpass the US, so that is a great opportunity.” The natural progression, then, is more collaboration, said Li Yansong, president of iQIYI Motion Pictures in Beijing. “When I refer to collaboration, I refer to different companies. For our company, we may want to collaborate with Hong Kong companies first,” said Li. “Our international strategy is to enlarge cooperation with international companies.” All this discussion of expanding the film industry from China outward marks a significant reversal, said William Pfeiffer, CEO at Dragongate Entertainment in Hong Kong. “The film industry in Asia 30 years ago was about exporting American films to Asia,” he said. The push to develop more films that appeal to audiences across cultures strengthens the links needed “to create this New Silk Road in film”. And yet, much of the discussion remains academic, said Clifford Coonan, Asia bureau chief of The Hollywood Reporter in the US. A lot of the traffic, at least for films, along the New Silk Road is “one way”. “The big juggernauts from Hollywood are going to China but there is not a lot of traffic the other way,” he said. But there is potential. There is a lot of local content that is doing very well in China and there are visible signs of more regional cooperation, both on- and off-screen. “We are very focused on the shop front but there is a lot happening in the back office,” Coonan said. “Asian filmmakers are really coming together in terms of financing … and off-screen talent,” said Raymond Zhou, a columnist and film critic with China Daily. “We are approaching the era when there will be a so-called ‘Asian film’ … that not only works in one country but in many Asian countries. “When filmmakers can do a story that transcends cultural barriers, they can have a market that transcends their own.” http://www.chinadailyasia.com/2015-03/27/content_15244569.html
2015-04-15Failure is not something to fear but something to embrace, learn from and leverage into a powerful motivator. This message was a constant one throughout the World Business Forum in Hong Kong on June 2 and 3, which brought together global business and economic leaders to share their insights to an audience of more than 1,200 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. “When you don’t give up, you cannot fail,” was one of the slogans in a video shown by George Kohlrieser, a leadership thinker who draws on his experience as a psychologist and veteran hostage negotiator. He wowed the audience with an inspirational message of thoughtful leadership. The point is, he said, that leaders learn from their failures as much as they do from their successes. “The day you stop learning is the day you stop being a leader,” said Kohlrieser, who is also a professor of leadership and organizational behavior at the IMD business school in Lausanne, Switzerland. A half dozen other speakers at the event also echoed this message. Among them was Sarah Lewis, a faculty member at Yale’s School of Art, best-selling author and an adviser on US President Barack Obama’s arts policy committee. She recounted story after story of famous overachievers who were not held back by adversity but rather empowered by it. Among them was Martin Luther King, one of the United States’ most influential civil rights activists, who received low grades in school for public speaking before going on to rally a nation with his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Another example Lewis gave was Ben Saunders, a British endurance athlete and the first person to walk to the South Pole, who was told in school that he lacked the drive to accomplish anything significant. The focus of the two-day forum was on the thinking of world-class leadership experts, but the event was also an opportunity to discuss broader economic topics, thanks to the presence of Ben Bernanke, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve and the man who oversaw the US economy during the global financial crisis. Now an economist at the Brookings Institution and an adviser at hedge fund firm Citadel, he recounted the fateful weekend leading up to Sept 15, 2008, when the storied investment bank Lehman Brothers went bust despite efforts to save it. “The goal, the idea, was to do what we did with Bear Sterns and have another company acquire Lehman Brothers and take over the liabilities,” he recounted, but no likely buyers were found. Bear Stearns was a New York-based global investment bank that failed in the global financial crisis and was subsequently sold to JP Morgan Chase. Bernanke did engineer another rescue, however, the $85 billion bailout of insurer AIG. “AIG lost money in certain divisions of the company but it had a whole lot of assets, including insurance subsidiaries, that it could use as collateral for the loan,” Bernanke said. To this day, he believes the bailouts of Wall Street firms were necessary to avert an even greater crisis, despite negative public opinion. “We knew there was not going to be a whole lot of support, political or otherwise, for our efforts to avoid the crisis,” he said. “The financial crisis was finally brought to an end, but then we had to face a deep recession.” Seven years later, the US economy is driving global growth and, said Bernanke, is on a solid footing despite a couple of weak quarters that he attributed to variable factors such as weather. The real challenge for the world economy is the slowdown in the other big drivers of growth: Europe and China. “The risk of being dragged back by the global slowdown is certainly there,” he said, but he also pointed out that people tend to be too pessimistic. Bernanke highlighted how the yuan is now “better aligned”, despite criticism that it might be undervalued. His comments echoed similar statements by the International Monetary Fund, which said late last month that the currency is now at fair value. He also noted how China is undergoing changes that should make it a stronger economy, moving from a top-down approach to growth to one led by the market, a hallmark of a large and sophisticated economy. “The private sector is where all these changes have to come about,” he said. In this new economy, the private sector is emerging as a key player and effective corporate leaders are more important than ever. Throughout the conference, themes emerged in terms of leadership in times of uncertainty, said Steve Mullinjer, regional leader for Asia Pacific at Heidrick & Struggles, an executive search firm that was one of the sponsors of the forum. “The world is becoming more of a VUCA environment,” he said. VUCA refers to volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity — key words that help define the business environment today. The emergence of Asia as a global force is a factor in this. Two decades ago, global corporations made less than 20 percent of their earnings in Asia but now the percentage is above 50 percent. “There are a lot of companies in Asia that are on the cusp of becoming global,” Mullinjer said. The most successful of these are going to be the ones that adapt to global realities and embrace diversity of thinking in their corporate culture. Other high-profile guest speakers included Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak, film director Oliver Stone, scholar and consultant Mohanbir Sawhney, and Don Peppers, founding partner of the consultancy Peppers & Rogers Group. For the past 11 years, the World Business Forum has been a source of inspiration, learning and transformation for business leaders. Since its inception, it has been held in Europe and the Americas. Last year, the forum opened for the first time in Sydney, Australia, and proved a great success. This is the first year it has been held in Hong Kong. Australian event organizer Business Executive Education is behind the forum’s move into Asia. In a statement, Alberto Saiz, CEO of the event company, said: “The World Business Forum has been held for over a decade in Europe and the Americas. Hong Kong has seen its role as a rapidly increasing international business hub in Asia.” The overall concept of the conference is to discuss new ideas, pointed out Kohlrieser, asking: “What are the ideas that are on the cutting edge? “Looking at the history with Steve (Wozniak), looking at the future with Tom (Peters) and looking at the creativity,” he said. Source: http://www.chinadailyasia.com/2015-06/05/content_15272868.html
2015-06-05Global businesses must pursue innovation, be willing to take risks and engage customers in order to prosper, renowned management strategist Tom Peters said on the opening day of the World Business Forum (WBF) in Hong Kong. One of the most influential management thinkers in the global business scene for the last 30 years, Peters rose to partner at McKinsey & Co in San Francisco where he worked from 1974 to 1981, when he left to become an independent consultant. Since 1982, he has operated out of the Tom Peters Company, providing management consultancy services. Tagged variously as the “Red Bull of management thinkers” or the “uber-guru”, Peters is also a best-selling author. He co-authored In Search of Excellence, a seminal work widely considered to be the best book on management. His latest work, The little BIG Things, is a guide to achieving business excellence. The foremost strategy business firms should cultivate is to never be afraid of making mistakes. On the contrary, whoever makes the most mistakes wins and this is the paradox of innovation, Peters told the audience at the WBF seminar, held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. “What really matters is that companies that do not continue to experiment — companies that do not embrace failure — eventually get into a desperate position,” Peters said. “Success can only be achieved through repeated failure and introspection. In business, you reward people for taking risks because they are willing to try new things.” Besides risk-taking, businesses should focus on raising customer satisfaction, Peters advised, pointing out that there is a slight disjunction between how customers and companies perceive the notion of customer satisfaction. Peters quoted a survey by global management consultants Bain & Co, which found only 8 percent of customers described their service experience as “superior”, while as many as 80 percent of companies used the same term to describe the service experience they provided. The business strategy to aim for is to turn “Things Gone Wrong” into “Things Gone Right”. “Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones that strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart,” Peters noted. Besides raising customer satisfaction, enhancing customer engagement should be a core business strategy, especially in the age of social media. “Customer engagement is moving from relatively isolated market transactions to deeply connected and sustained social relationships,” Peters said. “The Internet and technology have made customers more demanding, and they expect information, answers, products, responses and resolutions sooner than ‘as soon as possible’.” “What used to be word of mouth is now word of mouse. (The Internet) is either creating brand ambassadors or brand terrorists doing brand assassination. In the age of social media, it takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it,” Peters warned. The fourth strategy for business success involves being careful of every relationship-partnership decision — whether related to an employee, vendor or customer — because this is a strategic decision that will affect whether the companies will innovate or not. Companies must create more innovative designs because they cannot rely only on low prices to drive business growth, Peters concluded. Source: http://www.chinadailyasia.com/hknews/2015-06/03/content_15271812.html
2015-06-05Having been taken hostage four times in the past, George Kohlrieser has more experience than many psychologists in handling the emotions of hostage victims, and professes what he believes in — most conflicts can be resolved through patience and perseverance. At the World Business Forum in Hong Kong on Wednesday, Kohlrieser, a licensed psychologist, scholar and bestseller writer and currently a professor of leadership and organizational behavior at the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland, told the audience how to achieve high performance leadership by building the power of focus, a cycle of bonding, resolving conflicts and making concessions. Great leaders start with themselves, by understanding their own foundations and being aware of their secure bases — meaning the people, places, events, experiences, beliefs which have shaped them, he said. Only from this point can one become focused on external goals and then aspire to take the fear out of others. Leaders are often faced with conflicts, Kohlrieser said, acknowledging that conflict solving is problematic in both Asia and the West. In his words, conflict is nothing more than a difference and the task is to turn a conflict into something positive. But if you come with a mindset that conflict is bad, it will limit your options, he argued. Conflict is a difference between two or more persons or groups characterized by tension, emotionality, disagreement and polarization, where bonding is broken or lacking, thus negotiation is crucial, Kohlrieser said, adding that the complete stages of negotiation would include creating bonds, identifying needs and wants, dialogue, and realizing mutual gain. “Differences can come in the form of values, goals, perceptions, power and rivalry, resistance to change, personal needs and lack of communication. All of these are issues that you have to be able to put on the table and understand that,” Kohlrieser said as he strode on the stage. He used the first major meeting between Ronald Reagan (former US president) and Mikhail Gorbachev (former Soviet leader) as an example to show how crucial concession works in resolving conflicts. Reagan got really offended by something Gorbachev said and he stood up and walked toward the door, huffing and puffing. But he stood at the door, turned round, changed his mindset, his emotions, and his body and reached out his hand to Gorbachev. That, Kohlrieser said, was the beginning of a major relationship. When there is conflict and tension, ask questions and understand the need, Kohlrieser urged. He also touched on the issue of youth education in Hong Kong, saying teachers need to ask why young people are very often angry or dissatisfied. Try to understand their minds and answer their questions. “Teaching is done with telling. Teachers have to ask questions. And, as for the government, it should be sensitive to people being unhappy or who tend to break the bond,” he added. “Maintaining strength and maintaining life balance”, Kohlrieser said, are the key elements in achieving high performance. “Stress is not as bad as we thought … it depends on how you think about it. If you take it negatively, and feel yourself as a hostage, then it will have serious consequences. But a positive mindset will change the impact,” he said, adding:“Never be a hostage to any one or anything. Focus on excellence through lifelong learning.” Source: http://www.chinadailyasia.com/hknews/2015-06/04/content_15272348.html
2015-06-05Global businesses must adopt the “Four-As” strategy (adapt, absorb, acquire and attack) to compete in a fiercely competitive market unleashed by digital technology, Mohanbir Sawhney, director of the Center for Research in Technology and Innovation at the Kellogg School of Management, told the first-ever World Business Forum in Hong Kong on Wednesday. Speaking on the second day of the forum, Sawhney, a globally-recognized scholar, teacher and consultant on strategic marketing, business innovation and new media, highlighted an increasingly hyper-connected world, with people, information, things and infrastructure linked by a broadband network, transforming work, life and business. He said the Internet, mobile and desktop are the agents of this hyper-connectivity. “This hyper-connectivity will transform the industries of discretionary manufacturing, process manufacturing, utilities, healthcare, consumer, transportation and retail.” Sawhney cited the example of Connected Fitness for its “seamless connection of equipment, sensors, applications and devices to provide an interactive and personalized experience for fitness service customers”. This seamless connection, he said, will improve the efficiency and profitability for facility operators. He said hyper-connectivity has transformed global businesses by bringing in more innovative competitors, changing the nature of business and intensifying the channel disintermediation process; and described how hyper-connectivity affects businesses as digital disruption. Sawhney cited Uber — a technology company that operates a popular business app to connect riders and drivers — saying the company has completely transformed the transportation industry forever. However, he called Uber a “disruptive entrant” because its innovative and tailor-made transportation services have changed the rules of the game in the industry. But, as far as driver selection and contact, waiting time, taxi cost and payment methods are concerned, Uber has given consumers unrivaled freedom in making choices. The second change unleashed by hyper-connectivity is that consumer products are no longer tangible ones, but rather they have become software to provide seamless services. “US premium electric-car manufacturer Tesla ... has devised apps to transform the car to become a connected appliance and the apps will be updated to enhance customer experience,” Sawhney said. He urged global businesses to adopt the “Four-As” strategy to deal with digital disruption. “Adapting, that is leaning the business model of the competitors, is the easiest way to deal with market competition. Businesses can leverage their unique endowments such as balance sheets, sales channels, marketing techniques and business staff as privileged assets to compete. “Business should also learn to absorb — to integrate digital technology with their physical shops. They should leverage social media for in-store sales promotion, link online commerce with retail stores and design digitally-enhanced physical brand experiences,” he added. Companies can also consider acquiring other technology-savvy firms to bolster their digital capabilities to compete. “The most difficult strategy is disruption. This is because firms have to create their own e-commerce business models that can attack the competitors. Companies have to make sure that their assets and brand can be capitalized to create a business model that other competitors cannot copy,” Sawhney envisaged. Source: http://www.chinadailyasia.com/hknews/2015-06/04/content_15272381.html
2015-06-05The Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, as well as Asia’s film market, can take a leaf from the Hollywood style of movie production while maintaining their unique cultures and values, the first World Business Forum Hong Kong heard on Tuesday. At a session co-branded by China Daily, prominent Asian film personality Wilfred Wong Ying-wai shared his insights with the theme “Managing Asia: A Case Study of Asia’s Film Industry Development”. "Unless China also collaborates with the world, it’s not going to be able to elevate the standards of its movies, and the appreciation or the tastes of its audience,” he said. Wong chairs the Asian Film Awards Academy and the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, and is also vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Film Development Council. He said that across the Asian film industry, its unique cultures and languages, as well as its lack of sophisticated distribution channels, have made it difficult to promote its filming fruits to the world, but emerging markets like South Korea and Hong Kong are already making their appearance internationally. One successful example is Snowpiercer — a 2013 South Korean science fiction film co-produced by South Korean and Hollywood filmmakers, with an international cast and English-language dialogue. But in order to attract a wider audience base, Asian movies need to embrace the Hollywood system, which is very mature and sophisticated in the recognition of talents, understanding of the market, and the administration of distribution channels, Wong said. "None of these exists in China or in Asia today,” he argued. The Chinese mainland, as a young emerging market but already the second-largest box office in the world, is still limited by its experience and a dominating director-oriented mindset. In order to confront all the challenges, the annual Asian Film Awards was inaugurated in 2007 to celebrate excellence in Asian cinema. Its award academy, established in late 2013, gathers members of the three major international film festivals in Asia — Busan, Hong Kong and Tokyo. A series of activities will also be initiated by the academy this year, such as organizing a tour of Asia’s emerging markets to showcase the award-winning films, sending college students to intern at the Busan International Film festival, and encouraging Asian talents to patronize the world’s renowned film academies. In an exclusive interview with China Daily, Wong pointed out some of the unique traits in Asian films that can motivate them to excel in the global market. "Values presented in Asian films can stand out themselves, especially those that narrate common and universal values in their scripts. These movies will have a wider appeal,” he said. For example, 3 Idiots from India, A Separation from Iran and Little House from Japan all illustrate values and concepts that can resonate with viewers all over the world. However, no matter how Asian filmmakers choose to march into the world, whether through co-production with Hollywood gurus or screening their films at international film festivals, market and quality should always be their top priorities. At the same time, the changed pattern of film investment in Asia is prompting an upgrade of film making, as many investors are not working for the film industry and would demand a more sophisticated system for stable returns. "In Hollywood style, the producer is the center of everything, and he gets to examine and decide every procedure, such as a very strict budget to careful casting,” Wong said. But, in Asia, where the director gets the final call and can change the script whenever he wants and over the budget, this will not assure investors, he added. Within the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, a clear understanding of the film’s target market is crucial to its survival in that particular market — whether catering to the mainland’s taste or to Hong Kong’s, or both, or the globe’s. Wong does not consider Hong Kong filmmakers’ co-production with the mainland as a distraction from the city’s own film spirits. "For most movies, whether they can touch the hearts of the audience is vital, so the original scripts matter,” he said. “For co-productions, we can gather talents of different regions while taking care of different cultures in the movies as well.” Wong summarized three directions for Hong Kong filmmakers — local production, co-production with the mainland, or marching into Hollywood. agnes@chinadailyhk.com PDF Download: attach/pdf/20150602/0603-010s.pdf
2015-06-04Mar 25, 2015, Hong Kong – More than 300 delegates from the movie industry around the world attended theChina Daily Asia LeadershipRoundtable Panel on “The New Silk Road of Asia’s Film Industry: Challenges, Opportunities and Partnership”at 10.00AM to 12.30PM at FILMART. We are delighted towork with Hong Kong Trade Development Council again and to be the Media Partner for FILMART 2015for the third consecutive year. Mr. ZHOU Li, Publisher & Editor‐in‐Chief of China Daily Asia Pacific believed that the rapid development of China’s film industry in alignment with President Xi’s ‘New Silk Road’ initiative will make recognizable contribution to the growth of Asia’s film industry. Mr. Zhou welcomed the distinguished keynote speakers together with Mr. Raymond YIP, Deputy Executive Director of Hong Kong Trade Development Council including Dr. Wilfred WONG Ying‐Wai, Chairman of Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, Chairman of Asian Film Awards Academy & Vice Chairman of Hong Kong Film Development Council; Mr. LEE Yong-Kwan, Festival Director of Busan International Film Festival; Mr. Yasushi SHIINA, Director General of Tokyo International Film Festival and Dr. MA Runsheng, President of China Radio, Film and Television Program Exchange Center. Seven panelists from across Asia including Mr. Pantham THONGSANG, Deputy Secretary for Academic Affairs of The National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents Associations, Thailand; Mr. LI Yansong, President of iQIYI Motion Pictures and Vice President of iQIYI.com, Inc; Ms. Ann AN, President of Desen International Media; Mr. ZHU Huilong, Chief Executive Officer of Heyi Pictures, Senior Vice President of Youku Tudou Inc; Mr. William PFEIFFER, Chief Executive Officer of Dragongate Entertainment Ltd; Mr. Clifford COONAN, Asia Bureau Chief of The Hollywood Reporter and Mr. Raymond ZHOU, Columnist/Film Critic of China Daily further discussed the challenges and opportunities from their own industry perspectives. https://youtu.be/SwF4Pd3Om30
2015-05-06Jan 20 2015, Hong Kong - More than 250 delegates representing some of the largest financial institutions from around the world participated in a special panel session organized by China Daily at the Asian Financial Forum held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center on January 20, 2015. https://youtu.be/crhjoNqg9dk
2015-05-06Five decades after its founding, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is ready to be a game changer in global affairs while unleashing a tidal wave of business opportunities with the expected launch of a common market at the end of this year. The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will create the world’s seventh largest economy with a combined GDP of $2.4 trillion (according to 2013 figures) and a young population of over 600 million. The pace of growth, demographic dividends and economic potential of the region have positioned ASEAN as a significant global player. In a report titled ASEAN: The Next Horizon, the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) painted a positive picture of the region’s economy in the next decade and a half. Trade is expected to soar close to $5 trillion — $1 trillion from intra-regional trade within Southeast Asia and $3.7 to $3.8 trillion from trade with the United States, China, Europe and Japan. GDP growth for the 10 member states of ASEAN is estimated to range between 6 and 8 percent, and foreign direct investment (FDI) of $100 billion is projected to flow into the region. “As China’s growth slows in the next 10 to 15 years, the way the world manufactures will change. And critically, where it consumes will also change — it is consuming in ASEAN,” said Andrew Geczy, CEO of international and institutional banking at ANZ. “Greater integration is essential to realizing this potential.” Geczy was speaking at a China Daily co-organized roundtable discussion held as part of the 12th ASEAN Leadership Forum in Kuala Lumpur on April 27. With the theme of Deepening ASEAN Integration and Strengthening Competitiveness, the meeting focused on the creation of the kind of seamless connectivity needed to realize the AEC’s goal of a single market and a single production base. Co-organized by the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute, a think tank, and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Malaysia, the overall forum was held in conjunction with the 26th ASEAN Summit which also took place in the Malaysian capital. Vivek Pathak, regional director for East Asia and the Pacific at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), echoed Geczy, saying that economic integration has become a necessity for ASEAN. “Companies invest in countries that are either a large market or where they can produce competitive goods,” Pathak said. “Between China, Japan and emerging India, each of the individual ASEAN countries are going to find it harder to compete.” With the AEC, the region gains strength in numbers, becoming a mega market of consumers while opening up the borders of ASEAN for businesses. “Unlike the single market model — like the European Union where the strong get stronger and the weak have to exit the market — the AEC model allows inclusive integration,” said Hidetoshi Nishimura, executive director of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA). But maneuvering ASEAN’s diversity is no simple task. A double-edged sword that is both a source of opportunity and a challenge, the fractious nature of the region extends to almost every facet of life — politics, governance, regulations, infrastructure, education, healthcare, culture and more. The World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index provides a snapshot of just how different the 10 ASEAN nations are. While Singapore sits in first place, Myanmar is ranked 177 out of 189; Brunei, Cambodia and Laos all fall below the top 100 countries. The development gap between the ASEAN-6 (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines) and Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (collectively known as the CLMV countries) is often so vast, the idea of a cohesive ASEAN community seems like a pipe dream. Yet the panelists were largely positive about the AEC, even if it is unlikely to materialize fully this year as envisioned. “You couldn’t pick 10 countries that are more dissimilar and yet there is an organic process driving them towards a sense of community,” said Justin Wood, director for Southeast Asia and India with the Economist Corporate Network. “I think we should be more optimistic about the AEC; we’ve come a long way,” added Pradap Pibulsonggram, Thailand’s representative to the ASEAN High Level Task Force on Connectivity and ASEAN Connectivity Coordinating Committee. Pointing to the progress made in transport integration, Pradap reported that seamless connectivity in mainland ASEAN via land transportation is becoming a reality with improvements to roads and supporting infrastructure. This year should also see the finalization of the framework for easier cross border movement of people and goods over land. “There are specifications for a number of professions that allow ASEAN citizens to work across the region in the tourism sector. Integration is happening,” Pradap added. Moving across borders Similarly, private sector and private citizens are integrating across ASEAN. “The number of cross border tourists in ASEAN in 2000 was 15 million,” said Wood. “Last year it was 45 million. And we are seeing the same in trade and investments. So people, money and companies are moving across borders in Southeast Asia.” In Redrawing the ASEAN Map, a report published in January by The Economist, more than three quarters of the 200 multinationals surveyed said they were increasingly organizing themselves around the bloc and developing strategies specifically for Southeast Asia. “Companies are increasingly thinking of ASEAN as one instead of 10 countries and implementing strategies as one even though it is a long way to go and barriers remain,” Wood said. One of the key drivers has been the harmonizing of consumers. Customers are becoming more similar in their preferences, allowing companies to adopt a regional approach in their production, supply chain and go-to-market strategies. However, for the AEC to move forward, regulators must still accelerate the reconciliation of cross border regulations and build a consistent interpretation of regional commitments, without which the ideal of a single market and single production base will be difficult to realize. “If you look at manufacturing and logistics, you have high- to medium-tech industries in a number of countries and low- to medium-tech industries in a number of countries,” Pathak of IFC explained. “In an integrated ASEAN, you could have a large factory with each country playing to its strengths and it could give you a far more competitive product.” The pace at which regulatory harmonizing is happening, however, has been largely frustrating. ERIA’s Nishimura is of the belief that government mindsets need to change. “Regulators need to be more responsive, to look at their roles as facilitators of the AEC,” he said. “Because the reality is, businesses want to be connected.” Wood, however, urged companies not to wait for the right situation or environment to integrate. “I think if you asked, no business is satisfied with the pace. The ASEAN secretariat acknowledges that it is running behind schedule,” he said. “But companies should move in the expectation that ASEAN will catch up.” More attention is also needed in regulating financial services and developing financial markets to support the AEC’s single market, single production base goal, and in the longer term to facilitate freer movement of funds across borders. “Integrating stock and bond markets will reduce transaction costs, facilitate cross border flow of funds, draw analyst coverage as part of a bigger bloc, all resulting in capital flows from larger economies to smaller economies,” Pathak reasoned. Deepening integration Closer cooperation between the AEC and the “two super regionals” driven by China, namely, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the One Belt, One Road initiative, may be critical to this as well as to deepen integration, said Edward Chen, distinguished institute fellow and honorary professor at the University of Hong Kong. “Financial development and coordination are underdeveloped in ASEAN with attempts being more defensive and based on regulations rather than market development,” Chen said. “I think it is time for AEC to work with the super regionals to put more emphasis on developing the bond market, new financial products and coordinate the markets in ASEAN and Asia.” Chen, who is also president of the Qianhai Institute for Innovative Research, suggested the region should look at how it can capitalize on Chinese FDI outflows. “The history of ASEAN’s economic development has been via FDI, which has played a crucial role in integration. Today there are trillions ‘waiting to go out’ from China whether through mergers and acquisitions or greenfield investments. ASEAN should look at how it can capitalize on this and work with Chinese investments.” This year marks a milestone in ASEAN’s journey rather than an arrival point. It is important, however, to question what is in store for ASEAN and the AEC beyond 2015. Nishimura said the remaining challenges are not easy. “I think, to move beyond 2015, we have to cultivate a deep sense of an ASEAN identity to realize a highly connected, integrated, cohesive and globally significant community,” he said. “We need to invest in the sociocultural development of ASEAN to support the economic aspiration. ASEAN has to be inclusive and caring; resilient and sustainable; dynamic and globally competitive.” Economic transformation cannot happen in isolation and, more crucially, development must be equitable and inclusive. Geczy from ANZ said: “We have to accept and recognize that each country is at a different stage of evolution; there are different strengths and weaknesses, different competitive abilities.” The challenge in integration is to recognize differences exist, he said, adding that each country must be allowed to evolve and integrate at different levels. “With the right regional leadership to accelerate the AEC, ASEAN will become a center of manufacturing excellence and, more importantly, source of consumption for the world economy,” Geczy added. Source: http://www.chinadailyasia.com/2015-05/01/content_15258313.html
2015-05-04Amid the euphoria surrounding this year’s establishment of a common market for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), many remaining obstacles and pitfalls have to be carefully navigated. At the 12th ASEAN Leadership Forum (ALF) — which was held in conjunction with the 26th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur — government, business, academic, youth and civil society leaders took stock of realities and debated the way forward for the region. “ASEAN is essential for continued peace, stability and prosperity in Southeast Asia and (the fact) it has kept peace in the region for 50 years is a testimony to (its) resilience and success,” said Michael Yeoh, chairman of the ALF. Yeoh is also CEO of the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute, the think tank that co-organized the forum together with Malaysia’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry. This is a pivotal year for ASEAN, marking the start of its three community pillars: The ASEAN Political-Security Community, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. Diversity across all fronts among the 10-member ASEAN remains more of a challenge than strength at the moment. Even economic integration, which has received the most attention in view of the upcoming AEC, has been plodding. “Sometimes people wonder whether economic integration is even possible in such a diverse region,” said Pushpanathan Sundram, chairman of the China-ASEAN Business Association. Implementation is lagging and current scorecards only offer a simplistic tracking of compliance, not actions taken. “The gains of trade liberalization have been overtaken by non-tariff barriers. Governments are trying to protect their domestic industry at the expense of ASEAN and global competitiveness,” said Sundram, who is also the former ASEAN deputy secretary-general. ASEAN needs to harmonize. Pointing to the World Bank Ease of Doing Business Index and the disparity between ASEAN nations’ ranking, Ian Buchanan, senior executive advisor at consultancy firm Strategy& in Sydney, cautioned that there will be a dramatic pullback in foreign direct investment if the region does not close the gap between its members. “Domestic reform, domestic institution capacity building, political reform, business and politics are important to stay in the game moving forward,” he added. While Southeast Asia has enjoyed a period of peace, stability and economic growth, the external environment that made this possible is changing and the region cannot hope to achieve the same without making fundamental changes. “Let’s do a reality check on what’s happening,” said Rafidah Aziz, chairman of AirAsia X. “We need to ensure ASEAN and AEC remain in the game, let alone be a game changer.” Rafidah, the former minister of International Trade and Industry in Malaysia, is less concerned about the AEC and economic integration. “It will happen,” she said. “The private sector will ensure that it does. The AEC has evolved much stronger, faster, (and become) more visible. But we cannot move forward — one vision, one community, one people — if we’re only focusing on the AEC.” Rafidah added that to form the kind of entity that can shape events globally, ASEAN leaders need to pay attention to peace and security, and social cohesiveness. There needs to be a better articulation of the ASEAN identity. In tandem, the grassroots have to be engaged to bridge the fractious nature of the region, whether internally or across borders. This includes connecting with millennials — the generation born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s — at their level and on their preferred platforms to get them on board the ASEAN community agenda and identity. Inclusiveness and people-centeredness — both of which were highlighted by Philippine Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory L Domingo and Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen in their respective addresses in Kuala Lumpur — must be emphasized to close development gaps. But there needs to be less lip service and more action. “Let’s stop with the endless motherhood statements, endless visioning, bureaucracies that don’t understand ASEAN, domestic imperatives that don’t allow people to come on board, scorecards that don’t matter because nobody is pushing for ratification,” said Rafidah. ASEAN needs to get its house in order because the world is waiting to connect with the region. Source: http://www.chinadailyasia.com/2015-05/01/content_15258314.html
2015-05-04KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 (Bernama) -- A well-structured legal framework on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) must be established in all ASEAN countries before the initiative could be introduced on a regional basis. Thai representative to the ASEAN Connectivity Coordinating Committee, Pradap Pibulsonggram said Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam were among ASEAN member states that had already instituted the legal framework. However, some countries do not have it, he said. Such framework is crucial to convince the private sector to invest as they need such assurance, he told reporters on the sidelines of the 12th ASEAN Leadership Forum, held in conjunction with the 26th ASEAN Summit, in Kuala Lumpur, Monday. Pibulsonggram said ASEAN member states acknowledged the importance of PPP in mobilising private sector resources and they were trying their level best to come out with a comprehensive PPP law. According to ASEAN secretary-general, Le Luong Minh, the region needs US$100 billion (RM350 billion) a year from 2010 to 2020 for infrastructure development while investments from the public sector and dialogue partners were expected to accommodate only between US$47 billion (RM164.5 billion) and US$50 billion (RM175 billion) a year. ASEAN was established in 1967 by Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, and later joined by Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia. Source: http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v8/ge/newsgeneral.php?id=1129953
2015-04-29The panelists included Mr. XU Ningning, Executive President of China-ASEAN Business Council; Dr. LI Yao, Chief Executive Officer of China-ASEAN Investment Cooperation Fund (CAF); Dr. Perry WARJIYO, Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia; Tan Sri Dr. Michael YEOH, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (ASLI); Mr. Vivek PATHAK, Regional Director Asia and the Pacific of International Finance Corporation; Prof. HUANG Yiping, Professor of Economics and Deputy Dean of National School of Development, Peking University and Prof. Edward CHEN, Distinguished Institute Fellow and Honorary Professor of The University of Hong Kong, and President of Qianhai Institute for Innovative Research. https://youtu.be/crhjoNqg9dk
2015-04-27Reeling in the crowds for regional films Asia’s growing movie industry is set to benefit from a new generation of audiences along the New Silk Road and beyond. A push to develop and produce more Asian films could help the industry use the emerging New Silk Road to grow across the region and globally, a movie industry conference has heard in Hong Kong. More collaboration on- and off-screen, greater resources, growing audiences and markets, as well as a push to raise production values and revenues, will all help domestic film industries in the region expand and reach new audiences. “Since 2014, the Asian (film) market has increased by 12 percent. Asia should account for about 20 percent of the global market in a decade,” said Lee Yong-kwan, director of the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea. And this is not likely to be a difficult target to meet. Lee was speaking at The New Silk Road of Asia’s Film Industry: Challenges, Opportunities and Partnership, a roundtable session sponsored by China Daily during the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (Filmart) conference on March 25. One unique characteristic of the film industry in Asia is that it is growing on all fronts, even in areas that are slowing down in more developed markets. The number of regional theater screens is rising as cities and countries develop, while an increasingly affluent middle class looks for more entertainment options. In sharp contrast, cinema revenues in many developed markets are dropping. At the same time, online platforms are also growing, just as they are in markets around the world. “Traditional theaters are not decreasing their influence,” said Wilfred Wong Ying-wai, chairman of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, who is also chair of the Asian Film Awards Academy and vice-chair of the Hong Kong Film Development Council. “We are looking at a new generation of moviegoers. We are facing a market that is growing in parallel,” said Wong. And closer ties among countries along China’s proposed New Silk Road could power this dual growth further, agreed Wong’s fellow speakers. “We are here today to discuss a new and exciting concept for Asia’s film industry,” said Zhou Li, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily Asia Pacific, in his welcoming remarks. Powered in large part by the rapid growth of the film industry in China, the New Silk Road could provide a path for Asian films to spread globally. China’s push to boost trade through the promotion of the One Belt, One Road strategy extends to the film industry, said Raymond Yip, deputy executive director at the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. It organized the 19th Filmart, Asia’s largest film and entertainment industry trade show, this week. “If you are looking to expand your business in the Chinese mainland or throughout Asia, you are in the right place and at the right time,” Yip said. “China is the second-largest film market in the world after the US. Nearly 6,000 film screens, all digital, have been added across China.” There are now 26,000 screens across the country. “There are, of course, a number of challenges and plenty of issues to be addressed by Asia’s film industry,” said Yip. These challenges could be significant. A first challenge is the demographic change across the region. Japan is a good example of this. The growth of Asian film is on display in Japan, where the size of the market of around $1.7 billion has not changed in a decade despite an aging population. What has changed is the composition of box office revenues, with domestic films taking a bigger share of the pie. “Last year, Japanese movies were a big hit and had about 50 percent of the Japanese market and foreign films took about 40 percent,” said Yasushi Shiina, director general of the Tokyo International Film Festival. “We have made the Japanese market much better for Japanese movies.” But the population of Japan could drop by almost a third in a couple of decades and that could translate into a similar decline in the movie industry. A second concern is access to talent. “We have a shortage of directors, producers, writers and playwrights,” said Ann An, president of the Beijing-based Desen International Media. This may be hindering growth and the development of quality products. “The film industry in China in recent years is very attractive, even amazing.” For example, in previous Spring Festival holidays, about three films were released. However, this past year, there were eight movie releases. “People might think that with all these films squeezing into this time, the box office might be diluted, but we had very good results,” said An. Box office receipts rose 40 percent and audiences rose 30 percent. A third concern is market access. Some markets have rules limiting the number of foreign films that are allowed in. Eliminating those rules, even within Asia, could go a long way toward helping the industry grow. “The New Silk Road should not just be targeting the China market but all Asian markets in a balanced manner,” said South Korea’s Lee. This was a vision that Ma Runsheng, president of the China Radio, Film and Television Program Exchange Center, agreed with. “In the old Silk Road, we had various communications (channels) for various commodities,” he said, adding that it only stands to reason that it could happen again. Pantham Thongsang, deputy secretary for academic affairs at The National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents Associations, in Thailand, said the opportunities the New Silk Road brings are huge, especially in China. “Everyone expects that revenues in China over the next few years will be bigger than Hollywood,” he added. The Thai film industry seems poised to benefit from some recent developments. The country has emerged both as a popular location to shoot films and a producer of films and actors that are popular in China. It would make sense for the industry to focus on their domestic markets first and then to look to neighboring countries for growth rather than to Hollywood, said Zhu Huilong, CEO at Heyi Pictures and senior vice-president at online video company Youku Tudou. “In future, I think we have to penetrate the Asian market first,” Zhu said. “We should start some Asian films. If you combine China and Japan, it would surpass the US, so that is a great opportunity.” The natural progression, then, is more collaboration, said Li Yansong, president of iQIYI Motion Pictures in Beijing. “When I refer to collaboration, I refer to different companies. For our company, we may want to collaborate with Hong Kong companies first,” said Li. “Our international strategy is to enlarge cooperation with international companies.” All this discussion of expanding the film industry from China outward marks a significant reversal, said William Pfeiffer, CEO at Dragongate Entertainment in Hong Kong. “The film industry in Asia 30 years ago was about exporting American films to Asia,” he said. The push to develop more films that appeal to audiences across cultures strengthens the links needed “to create this New Silk Road in film”. And yet, much of the discussion remains academic, said Clifford Coonan, Asia bureau chief of The Hollywood Reporter in the US. A lot of the traffic, at least for films, along the New Silk Road is “one way”. “The big juggernauts from Hollywood are going to China but there is not a lot of traffic the other way,” he said. But there is potential. There is a lot of local content that is doing very well in China and there are visible signs of more regional cooperation, both on- and off-screen. “We are very focused on the shop front but there is a lot happening in the back office,” Coonan said. “Asian filmmakers are really coming together in terms of financing … and off-screen talent,” said Raymond Zhou, a columnist and film critic with China Daily. “We are approaching the era when there will be a so-called ‘Asian film’ … that not only works in one country but in many Asian countries. “When filmmakers can do a story that transcends cultural barriers, they can have a market that transcends their own.” http://www.chinadailyasia.com/2015-03/27/content_15244569.html
2015-04-15