Typhoons, terrorism, the threat of war, tsunamis, earthquakes, and epidemic disease. These are but a few of the challenges Asian companies have confronted since the century began. Risk is not new. What’s new is that ever-more-complex business models make companies vulnerable to risk as never before. What’s new, too, is that we are running up …

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has begun to transform businesses, jobs, and economies. Machines are increasingly able to perform tasks that only humans could do previously—often more quickly and accurately, too. Significantly, they are also starting to generate results or insights by themselves when given access to data, without being explicitly programmed. AI presents an enormous opportunity—those …

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) continues its rapid pace of urbanization and industrialization, making it a bright spot in the global economy. ASEAN’s growth relies on increasing amounts of electricity, and coal is an easy choice because it is cheap, abundant, and reliable. Unlike renewables, coal doesn’t need the sun to shine, the …

This briefing focuses on the opportunities and levers to unleash the potential of women, who present an immediate and sizable opportunity for Asia and the Gulf. Improving the education and workforce participation of women in the region is good for society, productivity, and the economy. Expanding opportunities and breaking barriers for women in Asia and …

Asia is the most rapidly urbanizing region in the world, and getting urbanization right is important for the region’s long-term growth. This urban growth is largely an Asian story; there are currently 2 billion people living in Asian cities, and a billion additional people are expected to move and join them by 2030. The current …

The rise of digital technology businesses has the potential to transform the Chinese economy. Digital innovation is becoming the country’s new driver of growth, raising national competitiveness, incomes, and living standards. As China is reaching the point where the rise in wages has made China less cost-competitive as an exporter, the country is attempting to …

  In the past half-century, Asia has seen remarkable growth, lifting millions out of extreme poverty and achieving GDP growth rates that are the envy of the world. While GDP growth has been impressive on the surface, not everyone is benefitting from growth, as higher GDP growth for countries has not necessarily translated to better …

Asia’s economic growth in the past half century has hinged on its “demographic dividend” – it is home to well over half of the world’s population and the majority of the world’s skilled and unskilled workers. Yet many parts of Asia are facing a job creation challenge, a malaise that has hit developed and developing …

  A new generation is coming to power in Asia. Where their parents’ lives too often were defined by hunger, war, and revolution, Asia’s youth have grown up in the midst of the biggest economic boom in history. Today’s young Asians are better-fed, better-educated, and have access to the world through the Internet in a …

  The Greater Pearl River Delta (PRD) region has succeeded in the past as the world’s factory. With about 100 million people, Guangdong province would rank as one of the world’s larger countries, with a population about the same as the Philippines and larger than Germany or Vietnam. The PRD region, where about half of …