The global operating environment for businesses in Asia has grown more complex, where cost-efficiency must be balanced with other key concerns including supply chain resilience amid intensifying geopolitical uncertainties. In this landscape, dominance in three critical strategic domains—artificial intelligence (AI), new energy, and digital finance—are increasingly defining national advantage.
Global consumption growth is shifting decisively toward Asia, driven not only by scale but by the rise of Gen Zs and Millennials, whose expanding numbers, income growth, and influence position them as a dominant force in global demand. This briefing examines the drivers behind Asia’s new consumer economy and the defining characteristics of its rising generations. Rather than revisiting the well-documented Millennial story, we spotlight Gen Z, the cohort now driving the fastest shifts in digital culture, consumption patterns, and brand expectations across Asia. Their distinct behaviors and fast-moving preferences will shape global consumption and redefine what it will take for businesses to succeed in this new environment.
Advanced Asia is undergoing a critical transformation as aging populations, fiscal constraints, and slowing productivity converge with technological disruption and trade fragmentation. Traditional growth models built on industrialization and global integration are being tested, requiring policymakers and business leaders to rethink strategies. This briefing explores the structural risks to employment, public finance, and inequality, proposing reforms focused on industrial renewal, labor market redesign, fiscal innovation, and leveraging technology as a tool for inclusive and sustainable growth.
India’s economic development strategy has undergone significant evolution, shaped by changing global and domestic dynamics. At this critical juncture, India’s growth model presents vast opportunities but also faces considerable challenges in achieving its full potential. This briefing examines the historical, systemic, and structural hurdles that could hinder progress while outlining strategies to capitalize on emerging opportunities and maintain growth momentum.
A new report by the Asia Business Council, featuring the Asia Manufacturing Diversification Index, assesses the preparedness of ten emerging Asian economies vis-à-vis China in a new world of global trade, as multinational businesses look to adopt “China-plus-one” or even “China-plus-many” strategies in export manufacturing, and intra-Asian trade continues to soar. It offers a strategic roadmap for countries aiming to increase their investment appeal by identifying new growth opportunities and overcoming obstacles in the face of global supply chain shifts and escalating trade tensions.
Asia and the Gulf have deepened their interdependence over the past decade, particularly in energy, trade, investment, and technology. Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations are strengthening ties with Asian countries like China, India, Japan, South Korea, and ASEAN, fostering mutual economic growth. These partnerships are driven by shared goals including economic diversification, energy security, and the advancement of emerging technologies like AI, renewable energy, and electric vehicles. Growing Asian-Gulf ties are strategically important amid global and regional challenges.
A collaborative article by the Asia Business Council and McKinsey delved into the perspectives of business leaders in Asia as they navigate an emerging and potentially more turbulent era, in terms of world order, technology, demographics, resource and energy systems, and financial capitalization. Overall, they believe the region can sustain its growth but will need strategic adjustments to address disruptions and volatility in a multipolar world.
Asian cities are significant contributors to climate change. Cities in the region are also hubs of economic activity, centers of financial capital and talent, and incubators of innovation and progress. The report offers frameworks, recommendations, and case studies to illustrate how cities could leverage their unique strengths and evolve their development models to concurrently pursue climate resilience, poverty reduction, and biodiversity protection goals.
Asia’s economic growth and development have been unparalleled over the past 75 years. Poverty has declined continuously and more rapidly than at any time in recorded history, and significant welfare gains have been achieved. These achievements have been driven by Asia’s growing participation in international trade and global value chains, which underpin the globalization process. More broadly, globalization refers to the integration of economies that has been achieved through growing levels of international trade, finance, and investment, and through the mounting exchanges of people, ideas, and data.
In Asia, as a more internet-savvy and health and environmentally conscious consumer takes center stage, emerging technologies are offering new opportunities and innovative solutions for people from diverse backgrounds and geographies.
