Inside Asia Podcast

Elisa Mallis: China Going Global

We live in transformative times. China is coming into its own in an unprecedented way. Previous episodes have focused on this trend in a connection with a variety of sectors: trade, economic growth, politics, digital media, environmental policy. In this episode our focus is on corporate leadership and China’s overseas ambitions.

Evidence of global expansion first came to light in 2016, when Chinese companies spent $246 billion in overseas acquisitions. The move alarmed Chinese regulators who feared capital flight and its implications for the RMB. In 2017, outbound capital has slowed to a trickle, but that hasn’t altered the aspirations of Chinese executives who increasingly believe that China’s time has arrived at last. Commercial success at home, however, does not always translate to success abroad.

That’s where our guest this episode comes in.

Elisa Mallis is an executive coach and leadership development expert. She’s been working for years with Chinese executives, guiding them in the development of a global mindset. She’s also an aspiring astronaut. I asked her what the Chinese corporate leadership had to do if they planned to win the hearts and minds of those with a global mindset.

Take a look at this chart. It tells the whole story. Western economic dominance is a mere blip on the historical screen. For centuries, the territories of modern-day India and China dominated trade and wealth. The last hundred years of industrial revolution first in Europe, then in the US, changed all that…at least for a while.

It’s not so much a question of when, but how Chinese corporate leaders will engage with the rest of the world. Will they adopt Western leadership and managerial practices? Or will they arrive with a new set of operating principles? Elisa reminds us that we are living in very different times. She suggests that through a process of mutual understanding and adaptation a new leadership paradigm will arise – one premised on what she calls, a global mindset.

 

 

Mikko Niemela: Asia, Cyberattack, The Dark Web

The word “hacker” has been around since the early ‘60s. It first shows up at MIT after the successful hacking of a telephone system. “Many telephone services have been curtailed,” announces the memo where the word debuts, “because of so-called hackers” who have “accomplished such things as tying up all the lines between Harvard and MIT, or making long-distance calls.”

Those were the days. Hackers looking for free long distance!

Today we all worry about what would happen if our lives and businesses were to fall victim to hackers. As the recent Equifax breach demonstrate, we are all cyber-vulnerable in ways we can’t even guess. With so much negative press around hackers it’s hard to see them as anything but mischievous if not downright disruptive.

My guest this episode represents the other side of the hacker coin. Mikko S. Niemelä is the founder of Silverskin Information Security - a cyberattack company and Kinkayo - a cyber threat intelligence agency. Mikko’s the kind of hacker you want on your side.

We sat at a small café tucked between the five-fingered towers of Suntec City, the commercial tech hub in Singapore that also features a convention center, shopping mall, and a Lamborghini showroom. It seemed appropriate that our conversation about hacking should take place at this intersection of fast cars and tech wizards.

Mikko and his band of merrymen at Kinkayo are out to provide a service to companies and stock exchanges that otherwise might be operating in a state of naïve oblivion.

It’s an audacious undertaking, but one that Mikko argues is of the greatest necessity. It’s essential and amazing perspective. You can find more about Mikko as well as the full version of what’s behind Mikko’s claim that Asia has the cybersecurity advantage here.

Rucina Ballinger: Bali Prepares for Mount Agung Eruption

We’re on the cusp of a possible environmental crises in Bali. Mount Agung is about to erupt. We don’t know when, but Bali remains on high alert. It’s now more than two weeks since the volcanic threat level was raised to its maximum. Earth tremors are a daily event and as many as 150,000 people – mostly farmers and herders – have been evacuated a safe distance from the volcano’s blast zone.

We’re rushing this episode out with things still in flux. Bali is my home. It’s imperative that people understand how things look on the ground.

My guest is Rucina Ballinger. A resident of Bali for more than thirty years, Rucina first came to Bali when she was in her twenties. She fell for the place and a guy who happened to be part of the Balinese royal family. They got married and since then she’s dedicated herself to the people of Bali. She’s also one of the most thoughtful and insightful commentators on Balinese culture and tradition. I wanted to ask her what people are doing to prepare and to give us some perspective on how this impending eruption is understood from within Balinese culture.

For nearly three weeks, authorities have been calling the eruption of Mount Agung “imminent.” Seismic activity continues unabated and though it’s taking longer than expected the danger is just as real today as it was weeks ago when the alarm was first sounded.

In the meantime, people are preparing for the worst, gathering supplies, stockpiling bottled water, and running blankets and tents to the tens of thousands environmental refugees that are camped out on the outskirts of the so-called “red zone.” While the government has planning teams and military on the ground to help orchestrate the evacuation, NGOs are playing their part as well; rallying volunteers and filling the gaps by focusing mostly on supply-lines, providing water purification systems, and safety masks to protect against the threat of toxic ash.

To learn more about the real-time situation in Bali and what you can do to help visit the website of Kopernik at www.kopernik.info. Click on the “pitch in” tab and thanks, as always, for listening.

Kent Wertime: Fukushima, Bali, Corporate Philanthropy

The past few months have been turbulent. Natural disasters are wreaking havoc everywhere. Just as the U.S. has been beset by a string of powerful hurricanes, Bangladesh is experiencing some of the worse monsoons ever with an estimated one-third of the country under water, more than a thousand dead and as many as 41 million people displaced or affected by the floods.

Earlier this month, Mexico endured its own crises: a succession of powerful earthquakes that have killed more than 300 people and left thousands homeless. And now it may be Bali’s turn. More than a week has gone by since the island was placed on high alert—a 3,000-meter high volcano is set to erupt.

I’m recording this from my home just 35 kilometers west of the mountain. As of this moment, close to 130,000 people have been evacuated.

This brings me to the topic of this week’s episode, which eerily addresses the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami in Fukushima, Japan. You’ll hear about how Kent Wertime, Co-CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Asia-Pacific, joined the recovery effort to discover what human endurance really looks like. He also learned something about his adopted country and the people of Japan.

I wasn’t in Japan at that time, but the event reverberated throughout the region. Many of us living and working in Asia lost friends, offered shelter, and did our best to raise relief funds to support those who suffered the tsunamis devastating effects. The residents of Senai, on Japan’s northeast coast, suffered the most. But the earthquake that triggered the tsunami was felt 350 kilometers away that day in the Japanese capital of Tokyo. A long-time resident told me that when the quake struck everyone rushed into the streets and out of the buildings. Even in open, no one felt safe, he told me. “I stood in amazement,” he recalled, “as the pavement rippled and curled around us. I didn’t think pavement could do that,” he said. “It forever killed for me the idea of stable ground.”

It’s an unforgettable conversation. Thanks for listening.

Gaurav Sinha: Innovation and Humanity in Hospitality

What’s the future look like for travel and tourism? From health care, to telecom, to asset management, very few industries are spared the onslaught of a tech-driven business proposition that brings with it major disruption. The old timeworn solutions to old timeworn problems are rapidly disappearing.

I sat recently with the Asia Pacific head of one of the world’s largest hotel chains and when I asked what kept him up at night, he barely missed a beat: AirBNB, he said. Barely a decade old, this rooms-for-rent business is today valued at more than US$30 billion. It boasts 150 million users, and operates in close to 200 countries. Today, AirBNB has more rooms on offer than the top three global hotel chains combined. What started out as a quirky lodging alternative for the casual tourist is rapidly becoming a high-end choice for the business traveler.

Re-thinking the future of travel and its implications for the hospitality sector is the subject of this episode. My guest is Gaurav Sinha, Founder of Insignia Worldwide & Chairman and CEO of Quillon Hospitality.

Befitting the topic of our discussion, I spoke with Gaurav on the beautifully manicured grounds of the Maya Ubud Resort in Bali. On a grassy knoll, we watched the late afternoon sun paint the gardens with a soft orange glow and listened to the rise and fall of the sound of cicadas.

Sinha spoke of something different than the “industrialized luxury” that has become all too familiar, where success is determined by room rates and occupancy levels. The day is coming, he suggested, when hoteliers will wake up to a new brand of service, driven less by the bottom-line and more by a commitment to assist the traveler in the experience of the place to which he or she has traveled.  

It’s a riveting discussion. Thanks for listening.

David Hoffman: China's Economy at the Crossroads - Caged Songbird or Winged Dragon?

The question this episode: “What does a globalized, digitized, and increasingly liberalized China look like?”

Official Chinese government pronouncements tell us that change is underway. Reforms are in place and things are opening up.

But, of course, it’s a bit more complicated than that.

While tidings of speedy privatization and catastrophic growth delight mainstream capitalists, Chinese officials are less enamored. A planned economy has been the path to prosperity for China for more than 35 years.

But as China emerges as the world’s second largest economy, the stakes have changed. Future growth depends on greater global inter-connectedness and therein lies the rub. Going global means less control, more opening up, greater liberalization and of course, some element of volatility and even chaos. These are words that make China’s Communist Party leaders wince.

It's a brave new world and how China responds to these challenges is the subject of this week’s episode. To help us answer this and other questions my guest is David Hoffman, senior vice president and managing director of The Conference Board in Asia.

During the course of our conversation Hoffman invokes the so-called “birdcage” analogy made popular by the Chinese communist stalwart, Chen Yun. David paraphrases Chen’s 1982 essay saying, “the market is a beautiful songbird that can make beautiful music, but it must always be confined within the steel cage of the state, lest it escape and reap chaos.”

But can the chaos be contained? Is the market a songbird or a winged dragon?

Big questions. It’s a fascinating, essential discussion with one of the leading minds on the subject.

Peter Alexander: Asset Management in China

In many ways, the failure to invest in China is a failure of the imagination.

Of course there have been risks in the past, and there continue to be; but China is changing. The market is maturing and regulations are becoming increasingly transparent. The combination of internal banking sector constraints and China’s newfound global ambitions is resulting in new opportunities for global financial institutions.

My topic this episode is asset management in China and my guest is Peter Alexander, Founder and Managing Director of Z-Ben Advisors, a consulting firm based in China. Peter’s built his career around
advising clients on how to best capitalize on growing investment opportunities in the Greater China market.

During his conversation with me Peter makes an important point: it’s far easier to latch onto past events to justify staying away from the China market then it is to take run at future possibilities. He reminds us that confirmation bias is always at play particularly when it comes to bad press around treatment of foreign financial institutions in China. It’s easy to find information to support conclusions you have
already drawn. That’s human nature. The important thing is to see around it.

The question is not whether you’re going to get in the game, it’s when. Investing in China requires a new playbook and a novel approach. It’s new territory, and there are risks and challenges. The rules may feel unfamiliar. But as Peter says, if you can get your head around the cultural divide and the nuances of operating in China, there’s money to be made.

This is, as Peter says, the beginning of the beginning. There are miles to go. What is your China strategy?

Whether you’re all in all the way, half way, or not at all, the time is rapidly approaching when to not have an answer is to not be in the game. So, to the world’s financial institutions and asset managers, I
ask: Can you afford not to be in China?

Rosaline Chow Koo: The Birth of an Innovator

In this special bonus episode of the Inside Asia Podcast, we explore the unlikely career trajectory of healthcare industry disruptor, Rosaline Chow Koo.

Rosaline is the founder and CEO of CXA, the first data-driven private insurance and workplace wellness exchange in Asia.

In this episode, we explore Rosaline's backstory - from a daughter of immigrants growing up in Watts to her scrappy career in Wall St., we trace the career of one of today's most impactful innovators.

Deborah Elms and Steve Okun: The Trans-Pacific Partnership

Here’s some old news: this past January President Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement—the TPP.

It shocked some, but it should have come as no surprise.

Candidate Trump—like Candidate Clinton—made the TPP withdrawal a central campaign promise. And fact is for a lot of Americans, getting out of the TPP made a lot of sense. If the US is the big dog why would it want any other dogs at the same table? At bottom, Americans—like Trump himself—thought the TPP dissolution would a chance to put the art of the deal into practice. If the US was going to win, in other words, it should play one on one. The idea that bilateral trade agreements are by definition much better for the US than multilateral agreements is at the core of Trump’s approach to…well, his approach to pretty much everything.

This episode, we ask if this is true—and what happens next. What will replace the TPP?

My guests are Deborah Elms, Founder and Executive Director of the Asian Trade Centre in Singapore and Steve Okun, a member the board of governors on the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore, which was—under Okun’s leadership—the first business association to endorse the TPP (before Obama even announced that the US would be a part of it).

This is a fascinating, detailed discussion that does justice to the complexity of the issue. It’s not the sort of thing you’re going to hear anywhere else. Listen to the end for an extraordinary story of one of the most unexpected and underreported consequences of the TPP dissolution from Deborah Elms.

This is not an episode you can afford to miss. Thanks, as always, for listening.

Eric Olander: What is China Doing in Africa?

What is China doing in Africa?

Is it to establish a beachhead for access to natural resources and commodities? Is it a new frontier for China investment, technology and services? Does China see Africa as the last among market greenfield opportunities, where telecom networks, roads, ports, power plants and payment systems are all in the earliest stages of development?

Some observers question China’s means of doing business in Africa. Specifically, the way Chinese companies extract government concessions or do closed-door deals with the African elite. It feels shady to some, and perhaps it is. Perhaps it isn’t. The lingering fear is that China wont’s so much enrich Africa as it will exploit it.

There’s certainly no scarcity of controversy and bad press swirling around the topic.

In this episode, we get past the hype and hullabaloo by speaking to Eric Olander, founder, host and mastermind behind the China Africa Project. As many of our listeners will already know, Eric is also the host of the China in Africa Podcast which has a listenership that numbers in the hundreds of thousands. Each week Eric and his co-host— South African-based Cobus van Staden—showcase experts with deep knowledge of the trends, developments, investments and controversies associated with China in Africa.

It should come as no surprise, therefore, that Eric has established himself as one of the most rigorously informed and brilliantly articulate voices on the subject.  

I sat down with him on my last trip to Shanghai, and from the executive lounge atop the JW Marriott, and I asked him what he made of the China/Africa connection. Eric’s brilliant and brilliantly articulate—and can be controversial. Thanks for listening.