Does Higher Education Drive R&D in Asia?

How important are Universities in creating R&D and contributing to national innovation? A recent report by the Asia Development Bank highlights the differences between countries in Emerging Asia and developed country averages. The findings: Most countries in Asia have a low Higher Education contribution relative to developed countries, suggesting that scientific research at University level […]

Workforce Projections for Asia to 2050

Stanford’s Center on Longevity provides some intriguing long-range projections for working age (16-64 year) populations in Asia through the year 2050. As the chart below indicates, the most profound “worker bulges” occur in countries of South Asia–specifically India, Pakistan, Bangladesh–as well as the Phillipines. India’s employment segment expansion alone is near 300 million people. Important […]

Asia's Brain Race II – Investment Returns and Pitfalls

By 2030 Asia will witness intensifying urbanization, rising disposable incomes, a shift to service sector training needs, millions more students studying abroad (within and outside of Asia), and extended student lifecycles focused on adult and continuing education. These trends were present first in Japan in 1970s and 80s, then the “Asian Tigers” of Korea, Hong […]

The Myth of Asia's Miracle: Who's Laughing Now?

Back in the early 1990s when I began my career in Hong Kong as a research analyst, Paul Krugman attended an investment conference and set more than a few bankers’ jaws dropping when he suggested that, no, Asia’s phenomenal growth (this is even before China got rolling) was really nothing special, original or unique. If […]

Where are Asian Households Spending Their Money? (Hint: Education)

By 2030 Asia’s emerging middle class is expected to account for over 60 per cent of total world spending and, if past history is any guide, a significant part of family budgets will be spent on education. But what exactly? A recent survey by MasterCard profiled 16 markets in the Asia-Pacific over 2012-13 and asked families how […]

What Multinationals Can Teach Universities Expanding into Emerging Markets

Universities have been around for centuries, and for good reason: they move glacially, if at all. If you were look at a list of the leading American companies in 1920 and try to determine how many have survived to the present day, that number could be counted on both hands. This is not the case for Universities. They […]

Why Asia’s Real Competitive Race Will Be Brains, Not Arms

In late 2012 the governments of Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia followed a long line of Asian countries in calling for the end of “cheap labor.” This was on the back of China’s tumultuous labor issues at Foxconn and elsewhere, which signaled a push toward higher wages and the need for economic “re-balancing.” Yet developing Asia’s […]