The SIS Asia Business Journal

Trends in Aerospace and Defense Industries

2010-07-25T20:33:52Z

Relative to Europe and the Americas, Asia's security situation is increasingly fluid. Emerging superpowers, weapons proliferation and nuclear tensions are key movements in the defense industry.

Increased nuclearization among Emerging Markets, particularly China, India, Pakistan, and Iran, has created geopolitical tensions and new demands for defense offerings. Meanwhile, political calls are growing in developed nations for collaborative efforts toward reduced nuclearization.

Conversely, weapons imports have grown dramatically in South East Asia over the past few years. Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia are leading the growth with triple and double digit growth in weapons imports.

In addition, defense budgets in Asia are on the rise. The rise is being lead by regional tensions and a desire for more sophisticated technologies. Recently China has publicly announced its advanced capabilities to destroy ballistic missiles and demonstrated its defense capabilities in space.

China's Desire to Ditch the Dollar as World Currency

2009-03-24T03:27:03Z

China's central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan has written a rare essay about his desire for a world currency, other than the dollar, to be be administered by the IMF. His rationale is that the world is no longer "unipolar," implying that the US no longer a single superpower.

Will the US decline like Japan?

2009-03-15T04:55:34Z

An illuminating, thought-provoking article in the Washington Post provides a shocking assessment of Japan's likely decline over a long period of time. As an American company, we raise the question of whether the US will decline like Japan.

That article points out several reasons for Japan's eventual decline:

Ageing population reducing economic growth to 0% by 2050
Excessive regulation (property markets, re-regulation after Junichiro Koizumi)
Aversive attitude toward foreign capital (FDI, foreign management)
Nationalist attitudes toward foreign management (potential law raised in the past month that would force the few foreign executives to prove Japanese language proficiency)
Focus on old economic realities (manufacturing, in the face of low-cost competitors in China and India)
Lack of vision among politicians (lack of foresight into areas where Japan can better compete in the future)
Apathy among voters

Some similarities are seen between the US and Japan. The US has:

IBM Relocating Laid Off American Employees to Developing Markets

2009-02-15T23:06:22Z

SIS International Market Research Consulting

According to InformationWeek, "Big Blue" is offering its laid off workers in the United States to relocate across the big blue ocean to relocate to Asia, the Middle East or Latin America. As part of its "Project Match", IBM will expedite visa application and provide financial resources for its laid off workers. In so doing, it argues that it is providing its employees new career opportunities in growth markets.

Broadway in Beijing

2009-01-12T04:32:00Z

Beijing Shibo Real Estate, a Chinese developer, is bringing Broadway to Beijing, by developing a row of 32 theaters in Haidian district.

The theaters will present well-established Western shows and musicals. Many of the shows will be translated into Mandarin from English.

The move shows the extent to which an upper class and upper middle class is emerging and expecting Western entertainment.

Secondly, this entertainment is a status symbol, part of conspicuous consumption. Companies and wealthy individuals will likely take their families or connections as part of guanxi to these events.

Lastly, Beijing’s new Broadway illustrates the tendency for Chinese to adapt Western influences. Planners are not innovating musicals, but reproducing them in local terms.

FMCG Market in Vietnam

2008-05-17T00:42:00Z

An Interesting Look into Vietnam

Our Research on Vietnam's FMCG Market

Driven by increasing youth expenditures, better distribution networks and strong economic growth, Vietnam’s FMCG industry, which grew 20% in 2006, is expected to grow more in 2007. China’s growth rate was 11%, while the Thai market grew 4% and the Taiwan market grew 3%. 57% of Vietnam’s population is under 25 years old. Vietnam has a higher family density than other countries in Southeast Asia. The country’s monthly expenditure is around $40 USD. The most widely used cosmetic category in the country is facial moisturizers.

China Youth's Reaction to the Olympics

2008-05-14T01:22:00Z

China has recently been in the news with the negative protests surrounding the Olympic torch ritual which precede the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer. With disruptive protests in France and the United States, Chinese youth struggles to define and "market" itself to the world.

The Indian Enzyme Industry

2008-04-24T00:48:00Z

India is an attractive market with high growth rates in the past years. Enzyme use is still in its infancy with growing awareness of enzyme potential and benefits providing attractive growth perspectives. The industrial enzymes segment, has an estimated worth of $75 million, and is a quickly growing market in India

The Voice of Indian Consumers

2008-02-25T01:51:00Z

By Ramesh Hariharan, Executive Director of Defussion Knowledge Solutions

Today's organized retail sector in India is valued at $7 billion, and within 3 years (by the year 2010) the figure shall be 3.5 times as large at $25 billion.

China's Consumer Goods Market

2008-02-04T01:16:00Z

A 2007 Credit Suisse survey indicates that by 2015, China will overtake developed countries to become the world's second biggest consumer goods market, accounting for 14.1% of global consumption (currently 5.4%). The US is expected to account for 37.7% (currently 42%) in 2015. The Credit Suisse survey also stated that China’s market share will grow to 21.8% by 2020. The 84 domestic FMCG enterprises have realized $46.9 billion in sales. Currently, China is estimated to have approximately $1 trillion in domestic savings. The country’s household consumer sector has been projected to grow to $3.7 trillion by 2015.