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Category: ASB Thought Leadership

The ASB Thought Leadership delves into the profound essence of being an extraordinary and unconventional member of the ASB community at all levels.

For business leaders, it could take something as simple as checking a mobile notification in the morning to be alerted to a news story 5,000 miles across the world. But, to truly understand the mechanics of what lies behind a headline and the implications it has on a firm’s business – we have to go above and beyond the morning news recap.

At the Asia School of Business, Professor Renato Lima de Oliveira is someone who’s devoted a better portion of his life to the study of political economy and non-market strategies in international business. Or, to put it simply, the study of how the law and government interacts with and impacts businesses, and how economic theories such as varieties of capitalism play out in the real world.

“Globally, international trade has increased and foreign direct investment has increased – in doing business, we are more exposed to events outside our home countries that can affect how we operate. This type of risk, from political decisions, has increased,” says Prof Renato, emphasizing the importance of the subject for every business leader.

Prof Renato has always held a keen interest in political economy, with a special focus on energy, industrial and innovation policies, and government accountability. He has also worked as a consultant for energy, environment, and politics, including assignments for the Ministry of Energy of Mexico and the World Bank.

As a PhD holder from MIT in Political Economy and Comparative Politics, Prof Renato teaches Political Economy not only as a subject in ASB’s MBA program, but also in an executive education short course called Navigating Political Dynamics in International Business under ASB’s Iclif Executive Education Center.

Gaining A Firsthand Understanding of the Political Landscape

“Growing up in a large emerging market such as Brazil was a constant reminder of how economic policies could change overnight,” explains Prof Renato, as he describes his beginnings in the field of political economy. “This includes how political instability can affect exchange rates and business plans, and how state companies could pursue investment decisions not on the basis of market return but rather on political expediency.”

Prof Renato has also had first-hand experience delving into political issues working as a business reporter in Brazil prior to his academic pursuits. It was during the pursuit of his PhD that Prof Renato then acquired the frameworks and tools necessary to capture the complexities and dynamics of international business and political risk – lessons that have become the bedrock of his courses today.

Navigating Politics is Essential for the Modern Leader

How does this apply to current issues and situations that modern-day leaders might find themselves in? Prof Renato gives a few examples of situations where understanding the political dynamics and the impact of the state on business might be critical: “Is your line of business classified as an essential service that would be able to operate during a lockdown?”

“Will you need to restructure your supply chain in order to deal with government restrictions to imports or in order to escape from newly-imposed tariffs?” “If you are an exporter (such as ASEAN rubber glove and palm oil companies) facing export restrictions to the US due to alleged violations of labor practices, how will you approach the situation?”

Prof Renato goes on to illustrate that these questions are just some of the examples that would affect businesses in countries in the ASEAN region, and spill over to the US and the UK. Whether you’re a C-suite executive, manager, director, or business owner – having insight into the political landscape of your country and the countries your suppliers and stakeholders operate in can make all the difference between business success and failure.

“To just comply with local laws is not enough when the world is your marketplace – consumers, investors, NGOs and even governments may pressure companies to change their behavior.” “Politics is not only a source of risk, but also of opportunity. If you can identify these opportunities, they become a source of competitive advantage,” emphasizes Prof Renato.

The Challenges of Understanding Political Forces at Work

Prof Renato argues that one of the biggest challenges for businesses is understanding the risks and rules of the political risk in international business. In the World Bank’s Global Investment Competitiveness Report 2017/2018, a groundbreaking survey of 750 top executives found that political stability, security, and macroeconomic conditions .

In addition to a business-friendly legal and regulatory environment is the key driver of investment decisions, ahead of market size, available talent and labor force, infrastructure, and tax rates. Yet being politically-savvy is a skill that is not easily acquired. “The business and the policy world speak different languages, operate according to different incentives and timelines, and are staffed with people who come from different backgrounds,” Prof Renato explains.

According to him, the way companies deal with that mismatch is to hire government affairs professionals who will lead the advocacy work on behalf of the company. “However, unless the C-suite is involved, such professionals will just be reactive (instead of proactive) to adverse events, with lower efficacy and being late in bringing solutions to the table.”

The IA3 Framework: A Tool to Map Non-Market Strategies

To avoid this from becoming reality, Prof Renato recommends a proactive and collaborative course of action, requiring the buy-in of top management as well. Mapping out a company’s non-market environment can be done with one of the tools he teaches in his classes called the (IA) 3 framework, developed by David Bach and David Allen.

While it might be normal for businesses to analyze their surroundings and success in terms of competition, customers, supplies, etc. – this framework helps companies to take into account non-market forces and develop a strategy for dealing with governments, other regulators, activists, society at large, and other non-market stakeholders.

In short, the (IA)3 framework is a way to understand the driving force behind an event and a roadmap to develop a nonmarket strategy. “Take for example a situation where a country is lagging behind in the adoption of renewable energy because it does not provide good fiscal incentives or flexible regulations. If you’re in this business and want to grow faster, there needs to be legislative changes.

You, as head of the company, need to understand who to engage with (the Actors, or regulators and politicians), identify the potential allies and how to influence them,” explains Prof Renato. “What are the Information and Assets that your company brings to the table that you can use for your cause? Think scientific studies, evidence-backed reports, amounts of potential jobs generated if changes are approved.

It’s now up to your company to figure out what are the Interests of the relevant Actors and in what Arena (through the media, through lobbyists, and so on) you need to engage in order to pursue your cause of driving solar energy adoption, for example.” This structured way of thinking about politics and business helps companies to formulate market strategies and understand current events.

“Despite Donald Trump’s rhetoric and pushback on environmental policies, green energy sources continued to grow in the US, in part driven by state mandates and the phenomenal cost-competitiveness of renewable energy that are making them the most economical source of new energy,” Prof Renato says.

“What Biden’s energy plan can do is to have better coordination of federal and state policies and speed up the transition, aligning incentives. Specifically, it is committing to achieve a 100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions no later than 2050. However, the O&G industry in the U.S. is phenomenally strong and provides lots of local benefits too. They are not sitting idle; we have seen strong advocacy for a delayed transition.”

Navigating Politics With ASB

If you aspire to be in a position of managing or investing your companies’ efforts in different countries, participating in a course such as Prof Renato’s Navigating Political Dynamics in International Business Executive Education is an added weapon to your arsenal. “When you are in charge of running an established operation, you may do well just by looking inward, trying to optimize internal processes, taking care of your human resources, making your production leaner,” Prof Renato emphasizes.

He continues: “However, when you get to the position of deciding where to invest, and who to partner with, knowledge of politics and how it interacts with the business world is fundamental. If you see yourself taking a leadership position, you should take this course.” Pursuing an ASB education in the heart of the Southeast Asian ecosystem also provides for rich case studies and numerous opportunities to acquire nuanced regional knowledge.

“Both Asia and Latin America are fascinating places to study. There is a lot of variability in political Dynamics in ASEAN which gives rise to a lot of risks.” “Asia and the emerging world is growing in importance on a global scale. Many investments come from Asia and it’s an important part of the global supply chain,” he emphasizes.

Students undergoing the Navigating Political Dynamics in International Business Executive Education course will also benefit from being in the presence of not just a diverse syllabus, but diverse peers from around the world, possibly sharing their own case studies and war stories from the ground. To begin your journey of political mastery, join globally-recognized ASB faculty member Prof Renato for his Navigating Political Dynamics in International Business Executive Education course.

AI (Artificial Intelligence), ML (Machine Learning) and PM (Product Management) – these are the hottest fields for jobseekers today and everyone is making a beeline for them, especially MBAs. But few truly understand what it takes to succeed in these emerging fields, and fewer still know what it means to take risks in their career to work on frontiers where few have gone before.

Dubai-based Swami Sekar is one of these rare individuals and technologists who does understand, having worked across Asia, the US, and Europe as an entrepreneur and angel investor. His career history that runs the gamut of established tech names from AMD to Amgen, Intel and VMWare, as well as start-ups in edtech and martech. Currently, he runs Winimy.ai, a Singapore start-up he co-founded in 2016 which provides omni-channel communication and voice-assistant technology services.

An MBA graduate from MIT Sloan (ASB’s partner school), Swami was kind enough to share his experiences with soon-to-graduate MBA candidates (including yours truly).

Here’s some of my key takeaways from an intimate fireside chat with Swami:

Don’t dismiss sales roles 💼

Swami had his first taste of entrepreneurship during his undergraduate years in Singapore, when he started a marketplace platform to connect local businesses with freelancers. The team growth-hacked the business without venture funding from zero to 10,000 freelancers. After graduating from Nanyang Technological University with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, Swami spent a couple of years as a product engineer at AMD.

But it was his next stint – as part of the team setting up Meltwater’s operations in Singapore – that was pivotal. “It was amazing to work with all these hustlers in a new sales new office,” he says. “The managing director was about 27 years old, and it was a terrific experience.” Swami’s role at Meltwater involved selling to government, technology and finance clients across the Asia region.

Whilst MBAs have an easier pathway to marketing and business development functions, sales could actually turn out to be the better choice, according to Swami. Apart from the fact that technology multinationals in Asia are primarily sales offices, carrying sales quota can pay off in the long term, he says. “Don’t just think about the salary,” Swami says. “Instead, think about whether this will be a valuable experience five years down the line, as there will be opportunity costs to doing foot soldier-level work.”

Swami’s advice is to look for high-risk and high-growth learning opportunities in developing markets, more so if you have the backing of a large corporate or some kind of buffer. Ironically, Swami regrets declining such an opportunity when he was asked to start a new local office for one of the multinationals he worked at.

How to PM your PM career 👨🏼‍💻

Swami has the following tips for MBAs looking to launch careers in technology product management for AI and ML: be comfortable with using platform tools and get familiar with the technology stack and technical requirements (for e.g. Jira, agile and scrum), because PM is all about managing expectations between engineering and sales. Python, R and statistics and probability skills are pre-requisites.

Much of our conversation with Swami revolved around the opportunity set in product management roles, which was natural given the increasing importance of PMs. From my own vantage point (based on discussions such as this one on project versus product management from WWCKL), product-oriented thinking and agile development are set to become the dominant mode of management in most organizations if they haven’t already.

And the product management track is seen as the strongest pathway to business leadership roles. But the truth is dedicated product management roles in Asia are still few in number, according to Swami. In Singapore, where there’s a higher concentration of technology talent and product management vacancies, tightening immigration rules and a saturated MBA market could prove to be significant barriers to entry.

It may be helpful to look elsewhere in Southeast Asia instead, Swami points out. His advice is don’t be afraid to take the road less travelled, for instance by exploring Vietnam or a less developed market where competition isn’t as fierce, and where visa authorities are more welcoming.

On entrepreneurship, life, and living 🦸🏼‍♂️

As an entrepreneur, Swami knows how to launch companies and scale them from zero to $1 million in revenue. But because start-ups are so high-risk, nobody should start a new business if they just want to give it a try, he says. “Entrepreneurship is not a job due to the high probability of failure, and you have to be married to the vocation,” he says.

According to Swami, there are three types of businesses: lifestyle (revenue up to $10m), growth (revenue between $20m and $100m) and rocket ships, otherwise known as “unicorns”. Like Stephen Covey, the author of The Seven Habits of Highly-Effective People, Swami adheres to the belief that everything happens twice in the world: first, through mental conceptualization and visualization and secondly, through the physical, actual creation.

He puts this into practice by outlining five-year growth plans and using a hypothesis-testing approach to find the strategies that work for him. His framework involves reflecting on where he wants to be in five years in terms of geography, industry and role. Even more fascinating is the fact that Swami has two mentors at any one time. On the post-MBA job search, Swami agrees that in light of Covid-19, the world has shrunk when it comes to available options.

The world is no longer our oyster – at least in the short-term. But rather than being distracted by the noise of what we can’t do, Covid-19 has eliminated the paradox of choice, and made it easier to be clear about what we really want and are willing to overcome challenges for, Swami says. “Staying optimistic is the most important thing,” he says. I couldn’t agree more.

Digital transformation is changing how and by whom financial services are provided, bringing benefits to consumers in the form of expanded and simplified access to financial services. However, this transformation is also affecting the financial services industry in ways that could lead to greater risks to systemic financial stability.

The arrival of big data and artificial intelligence

Transformation of the financial sector and the provision of financial services is driven by ‘big data’ and the computer-aided ability of financial institutions to analyze these data to provide improved services to customers.

By big data, we mean very large structured and/or unstructured data sets containing tens of thousands of observations on bank customers, insurance policy holders, and users of online payment platforms etc., as well as textual data that can be digitized and used for the computer-aided analysis of newly issued financial regulations, newspaper reports to search for indicators of economic uncertainty, and reports by investment banks that may reveal information about market sentiment.

The evolving analytical techniques that enable financial institutions to take advantage of big data are commonly known as machine learning or artificial intelligence (AI). These are sophisticated methods to discover intricate, often non-linear, relationships between variables that can inform decisions on customer credit worthiness, asset allocation decisions, risk management, and forecasting.

AI is widespread in the financial services industry

The use of AI in the financial services industry is widespread. A survey of AI in financial services conducted jointly by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance and the World Economic Forum found that 70%–80% of the firms surveyed had already implemented or were in the process of implanting some form of AI solution in their business models.

Not surprisingly, fintech firms were in general more active users of AI, although only by a relatively small margin. While these developments will change the nature of financial services and how they are provided by incumbent financial institutions and new start-up fintech companies, they are not likely to pose an existential threat to the traditional financial services industry as a whole. The arrival of new institutions, so-called ‘Big Tech’ firms, may do so.

The challenge from Big Tech

Big Tech institutions are firms like Alibaba and Tencent in the People’s Republic of China; Amazon, Google, and Facebook in the United States; Uber in Europe; and Grab in Southeast Asia. These companies did not start as financial services companies, but by taking advantage of their vast networks of customers and the consequent huge amount of data generated by the actions of these customers, they have entered into the financial services business.

Big Tech companies are a source of numerous direct benefits for consumers, especially in emerging and developing economies, where they have contributed substantially to the financial inclusion of previously unserved segments of the populations. Particularly important has been their engagement with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which traditional financial institutions have not served adequately.

In lending, Big Tech firms can use their wealth of data on the payments and receipts of SMEs to assess creditworthiness and, hence, be in a better position to grant loans. Big Tech companies are also a source of indirect benefits for consumers as they provide technology infrastructure for traditional financial institutions and encourage innovation, diversification, and efficiency.

With their size, extensive customer base, and access to customer information, Big Tech companies constitute a competitive threat to traditional banks that goes beyond that of fintech start-ups. While incumbent financial service providers can and do replicate many of the innovations of fintechs, it is much more difficult to replicate the business model of Big Tech companies because of the advantages the latter can extract from their vast information data bases on just about all aspects of their customers’ behavior.

Financial stability risks

Financial liberalization and financial innovation have traditionally preceded stresses in the financial system. The basic mechanism is as follows. Financial deregulation and financial innovation create opportunities to expand credit extension and engage in new financial ventures without adequate understanding or appreciation of the underlying risks.

The extension of credit leads to economic expansion, which makes the increased debt burden of the borrower seem tolerable, and the riskiness of new financial products are not well understood because, by definition, there is no or very little past data to guide decisions. The result is overextended borrowers and over-leveraged lenders, and when the tide turns, turmoil and even havoc ensues.

These mechanisms apply also to the digital transformation of finance. The emergence of new types of institutions providing financial services is akin to financial liberalization, as some of the activities of these institutions lie outside the perimeter of the regulatory system. Innovations brought by fintech and Big Tech can introduce products whose risk characteristics are not well known and that can have systemic stability consequences, the rapid growth of peer-to-peer lending by fintech firms being one example.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence may also amplify systemic risk as risk management functions in financial institutions are employed to optimize compliance with the existing regulatory framework. If the optimization algorithms lead to solutions that are similar across institutions, the result may be a financial system that is increasingly procyclical when shocks materialize.

Regulators must be vigilant and ready to adapt to the new financial landscape. New entrants that are not yet included in the perimeter of the regulatory system must be monitored, and potential systemic consequences of new sources of risk to individual institutions must be continuously assessed.

As some activities of unregulated institutions are indistinguishable from the same activities in regulated institutions, there is a risk of regulatory arbitrage taking place. It is, therefore, imperative that regulatory frameworks be adjusted to focus on activities rather than on institutions.

Post-pandemic implications

This is being written in the midst of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which has created unimaginable human suffering and great economic upheaval. As it unfolds, it is hard to imagine that the world will return to what it was just over a year ago.  How might the above analysis and conclusions be affected?

A salient feature of the digital transformation of finance is that virtual AI-assisted financial intermediation is challenging financial intermediation and payment services that are based on personal contacts. The social-distancing behavior that has been mandated or highly recommended during the pandemic, and that may well continue voluntarily in a modified form in the future, increases the competitive advantage of the virtual business model.

Entities that have broad access to potential customers, either through their social media presence or their Internet-based commerce engagement, will be particularly strongly positioned to expand in this environment. These are the Big Tech firms.

Because of their ability to take advantage of scale, there is a risk of greater concentration in the financial intermediation industry and, hence, a greater risk of monopoly pricing, cybersecurity challenges, and too-big-to-fail problems. Regulatory authorities must be vigilant and ensure that the financial services activities of these firms are appropriately regulated.

Further discussion and analysis on this topic can be found in the recent ADBI publication:

Genberg, H. 2020. Digital Transformation: Some Implications for Financial and Macroeconomic Stability. In J. Beirne and D.G. Fernandez (eds.), Macroeconomic Stabilization in the Digital Age. Tokyo: ADBI.


About the Author
Hans Genberg is professor of economics and senior director of central banking and finance programs at the Asia School of Business.

This article was originally published in Asia Pathways, the blog of the Asian Development Bank Institute.

As part of ASB’s MBA Action Learning Curriculum and Entrepreneurship Trek, successful entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs are invited as guest speakers to give students an insightful lesson on their journey and struggles to get to where they are today.

In this guest talk session, Professor Loredana Padurean, Associate Dean and Faculty Director for Action Learning speaks to ASB 19’ alumnus, Jack Farrell, to discuss how he came to launch a fully vegan, cruelty-free D2C beauty brand after his MBA, the venture building support he receives, and why he thinks Asia is a great place for building businesses.

Loredana: One of the reasons why we invited you today is to talk a little bit about your LAVLAVLUV journey, but before we go into that, I want to talk about the beginning of your journey at ASB. Did you always know that you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

Jack: So, when I graduated undergrad I joined Venture for America where even throughout college, I was always entrepreneurial. I bought and sold textbooks on Amazon back in 2012-2013, just hustling textbooks and I have always loved that. Even as a kid, I would put lemonade stands out in front of my parent’s house so I could buy baseball cards. I was even on eBay back then. So, I’ve always loved the game of buying and selling.

My parents told me “Jack, can you get a real job?!” I thought I’ll do consulting, or go do investment banking. When I joined ASB and completed Action Learning projects that were centered around that, I realized I really don’t want to [go into consulting or IB]. I didn’t lie in bed at night and think about doing consulting or working at Google. I would lie in bed and think about cool products that I could sell online, how I can build them, and how I can make them unique.

In ASB, I kind of went through that full spectrum. I thought to myself, I’m coming here, I’m going to grow up, I’m going to do something that is, you know, considered legit.

Doing my own thing matters more than anything else because I love it. You know, I love the game, I love figuring it all out and I’m just fortunate that ASB put me in Malaysia in Southeast Asia, which, I believe is genuinely the best place you can build a business for many, many reasons. So, I’m just very fortunate that ASB gave me the opportunity to be exposed to all this.

“I didn’t lie in bed at night and think about doing consulting or working at Google. I would lie in bed and think about cool products that I could sell online, how I can build them, and how I can make them unique.”

Just to take you back in time. Do you remember what projects you worked on for your last semester in trek five (the entrepreneurship trek)? And do you remember what product, problem, and solution you worked on?

When I was at ASB, I produced a lot of video content on LinkedIn. The process of making a professional video and putting it up on LinkedIn was difficult. So we created Thought Leaders Labs, a service software deal that was going to help people easily make videos to put up on social media, whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn. It was an idea that came about from what I was doing at the time, making these videos. I said, dang, this is kind of hard. There’s got to be a better way to do it.

Jack, I have a hard time looking at such a beautiful feminine product (LAVLAVLUV) and looking at you and thinking this product came out of your mind. What compelled you to create this bedtime face mask made with lavender lava?

The thought for Direct-to-Consumer brands is the idea that we build e-commerce brands around products that are small in size, light in weight, have a high-end value and really focus on today’s social media driven world.

We’re early in our process of building these brands but everything that we’ve done has justification and rationale behind it, which is really important. Nike’s ‘Just do it’ or Apple’s ‘think differently’ really showcases what makes them unique and why you should believe in it. Cosmetics is phenomenal, especially since we’re trying to build decisive business. You can truly get differentiation without the need to invest huge amounts of money.

So, you started working with the advertising agency, TBWA, and this is how you got here. Can you take us back to that journey of how you actually got on this partnership?

I remember I was first introduced to TBWA by you, Loredana, probably 6 months into my ASB journey. I met Tim and I liked him as a partner and investor in the stuff that we’re doing. Long story short, we met up again sometime later by chance. I told him I had this idea and this is what I want to do. And he’s said, ‘Well, why don’t you try and we’ll invest in you, we’ll help support you.’ From that day on, I thought to myself, ‘Okay this is what I’m going to do.’

Share with us more about the deal you have with TBWA, because I think a lot of people are interested in knowing. What’s that partnership like?

Jack: TBWA is an advertising agency under Omnicom, which is one of the world’s largest advertising agencies. The group that I operate inside of TBWA is called START, and we’re a venture builder of startups that just creates businesses. The way you win market share is with brand, and that’s what START does. It’s a venture builder, which really builds businesses from the ground up inside of the world’s largest advertising agency. In exchange for investment and shared resources, they own equity in the stuff that we’re doing. I’m just genuinely grateful for that relationship and I’m very grateful for Tim, and I’m very grateful that Loredana introduced me to him and TBWA.

10,000 followers on Instagram. How many jars of LAVLAVLUV have you sold? Can I ask you that approximately?

It arrived in the US around middle of April 2020. We started ramping up some content, you know, for socials and building out ads. Since June or July, we’re averaging about 25 to 30 sales a week, which is still relatively small. Everything is directly correlated to ad spend, the whole game we play is literally what we call return-on-ad-spend (ROAS).

Listening to you, I’m realizing that you have an amazing combination of smart and sharp skills in the sense that your decisions are actually very quantitatively driven. How did you learn to be so good in digital commerce and understand the game?

Being part of an advertising agency is a huge advantage. Getting a brand built, you know your brand architecture and you’re creative with all that stuff. Luckily, because of the relationship and the way that we structured our deal with TBWA, that’s all included. So, we know they’re able to help us with creative work, design our Instagram feed and do our web design.

Another reason why I love Malaysia is because the quality of work is the same, but you’re paying in Ringgit as compared to USD. We spent about RM5,000 to take a flat artwork and turn that into a Shopify website. Cost does not equal quality; It’s about value. And if you hustle around enough and you talk to enough people, you can get anything you want done for a very good price.

“The way you win market share is with brand.”

Are there any plans for extending the product range? Are you going to make a product for beards?

Many of these things I can give you an answer to, but they are hypotheses and we can debate that. The way my model is built is once we hit 10,000 sales for LAVLAVLUV, we will then layer on a second product. We’re already going to have those 10,000 customers that we can dump this new product on top of that love what we do.

When you choose a name, it’s extremely important to be sure that the name communicates what it needs, and that it’s also translatable across countries. When I was trying your LAVLAVLUV product, I was like, ‘Ooh, I love, love, love this.’ It matters so much and sometimes being simple is important.

I think that naming and branding is so important in 2020. It’s not like 1980 when you’re walking down store shelves and you had like 20 options. Now you have tens of thousands of options online, and so what do you do to give yourself a chance to win?

One thing I’ll add: I think it is very important to know what you are trying to build. In the sense of, are you trying to build a brand like L’Oreal that wants to be global and mass, or are you trying to build a brand that can do $2 million a year? It is because the resources that are required to build both of those are vastly different.

If you know what you’re trying to build, like a direct-to-consumer brand with relatively minimal resources, I wouldn’t want to raise tons and tons of money.

“I think startup media nowadays does such a disservice when they only glamorize the metric that uses money raised. What’s wrong with the dude that’s down the road and just opened a coffee shop that has a line out the door and is profitable the day he opens?”

Not to mention that a lot of these business models that are so hyper-glamorized are never going to be financially profitable – billions of dollars behind them and they still don’t break even 10 years later.

What you’re really trying to build and being honest with that – is so important. I think startup media nowadays does such a disservice when they only glamorize the metric that uses money raised. And I think to myself, ‘What’s wrong with the dude that’s down the road and just opened a coffee shop that has a line out the door and is profitable the day he opens?’

To me, that’s what I love. I just wish that there was more focus on people trying to build profitably. You know, not everything is about Facebook or Google, you know, even though that seems to be the only thing people want to talk about.

What will the international job market look like in 2021? Still cloudy with a chance of lockdowns. But the advice given to Asia School of Business in collaboration with MIT Sloan’s graduating MBA Class of 2021 goes like this: keep expanding your fishnet of connections, so that when Covid-19 turns and the floodgates open, opportunities will come flushing in.

That was among one of the many pearls of wisdom shared during a virtual panel organized by ASB’s Career Development Office focused around working in the North Asia region. In the hot seats were Fernando Diaz, Director of Divestment Lead Technology of Budweiser Brewing Company APAC based in Shanghai; Ryan Chan from Nissan Motor Corp’s Future Retail Strategy Team in Tokyo; and Gordon Dudley, a global HR entrepreneur and Country Manager of RDI Worldwide based in Seoul.

All three originally came from non-Asian countries, but they pursued MBAs educations in Asia and have all remained in the region ever since.

Here are my 4 key takeaways from the talk:

1️) North Asia (China, Japan and Korea) is open (but be smart about it!)

Talent who can drive innovation and transformation are in demand

“The perception that Japanese companies only hire foreign nationals if you speak the language is a myth,” said Ryan. The country is increasingly looking to hire from beyond its shores due to a lack of innovative talent and the need for economic transformation. “Japan is ripe with opportunity, even if they don’t know it themselves,” said Ryan.

Networking is crucial – cold interactions alone aren’t enough

Fernando shared that China is hard to crack for foreigners going through the traditional job application route. Instead, you should rely heavily on networking and making connections. His own journey to getting employed in Shanghai came through an introduction made by a friend.

This allowed him to plant the seed and go for several more interviews, eventually landing his current job. “In China, you need to spend a lot of time trying to build relationships and spending time with your colleagues, for instance by going to karaoke,” said Fernando.

Gordon, who set up his own recruitment consultancy in Seoul five years ago after working at Hyundai for a decade, noted that South Korea is undergoing a massive transformation to tech and service-based industries.

As the expatriate population grows in South Korea, English is also becoming more widespread on the back of a more globalized workforce. However, networking and relationships should still remain central to any job application strategy in South Korea.

“A lot of people go on LinkedIn and end up applying for 250 jobs and waste hours and hours throwing their resume into the digital vacuum, and they don’t get a single response back,” said Gordon. “If you’re a foreigner who’s not currently in South Korea, the odds of landing a job through online applications are slim to none,” he added.

It is vitally important to have some kind of relationship with recruiters in South Korea. The best practice is to create a list of target companies or jobs, and then reach out to the hiring manager via email or Linkedin messaging to ask for more information.

Don’t ignore hierarchy

Mainland Chinese society is generally hierarchical and employees often address each other by seniority. It goes without saying that there will be cultural challenges and you are also advised to learn Mandarin. However, these barriers also serve as opportunities. “It’s important for people to see you’re serious about working with them,” said Fernando.

2️) Spray and pray isn’t going to cut it

Which leads me to the next point: don’t rely on Easy Apply. “People love talking about their jobs and themselves, and the higher you climb in an organization, the more it’s part of your job to develop talent and network,” said Gordon. “So, don’t be scared to reach out to C-level people and ask them questions about what it’s like to work in the company.” Make it an opportunity to start a conversation and to learn how you can offer something of value to the company.

Quality trumps quantity

“It’s going to be much more effective to reach out to a smaller number of people and develop a dialogue with them, rather than shooting off dozens and dozens of applications,” Gordon added. But if striking up conversations with random people on the internet sounds intimidating, Gordon has the following suggestions: “take small steps, and make it a weekly habit.”

You can start by putting a weekly reminder in your calendar. For example, set aside time every Friday morning at 10am to send one e-mail to someone in your existing or targeted network. That one e-mail will lead to another and another, and it will spark a positive chain of events. And just like that, you’ve reached out to 52 people in a year.

3️) Figure out how to get people to trust you

How do you get people to trust you? According to Ryan, this is the foundational question every job seeker needs to wrestle with and have a convincing answer for. “If you’re being interviewed and someone asks you that question, can you answer in a way that makes you stand out?” said Ryan. “I’ve heard answers like: I really listen to people. I consider what they say. And I get things done. I’ve heard people say that in so many different ways. But how does that make you unique?” he adds.

And the trust question is a non-trivial one – making change happen is really about getting people to trust you. In addition, Ryan also thinks that soft skills are underrated. “You can easily test for hard skills, but it’s in later-stage interviews that the trust issue becomes paramount,” he said. The questions will quickly go from ‘are you qualified’ to ‘can I trust you’ or ‘can I see you on my team’ and ‘can you manage people.’ After all, people are the vectors of change.

4️) Covid-19 lockdowns will end… someday

Foreign hiring may be at a standstill – but don’t get disheartened. “Given the vaccine developments, things could change very quickly in the next six months,” said Fernando. Gordon agreed, saying it’s never too early to start looking at opportunities. But if physical presence and relocation isn’t an option right now, then this is the time to get creative. For instance, many internships have made remote options available.

The point is exactly this: As a job seeker, you need to keep trucking on. “These (Covid-related issues) are external factors,” said Ryan. “It’s not within your control. But what you can control is expanding your fishnet so that once the pandemic risks abate, your net is going to be so big you’ll be rolling in opportunities. It’s not a matter of if, but when.”

Just do it

And those were my four key takeaways from the discussion. I’ll wrap up by stealing this quote from Ryan, originally said by the hockey Hall of Famer, Wayne Gretzky, “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Even if the opportunities seem slim on the ground for foreign hiring at the moment, you can give yourself a fighting chance and maximize your chances by simply not giving up.

The dawn of the new decade has seen change on an unprecedented scale, in almost every aspect of life. The advent of the novel coronavirus has put some of the world’s most powerful nations – and most notably, their leaders – on their back foot. Political strongmen have seen their usual heavy-handed tactics fail in stopping the spread of COVID-19, even as authoritarianism continues to grow around the world

On the other hand, we have seen the rise to prominence of leaders of a different breed, from the celebrated approaches of New Zealand’s Jacinda Arden to Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen and Iceland’s Katrin Jakobsdottir, to name a few. In less chaotic times, their grace under fire and resolute action may have flown under the radar, with the spotlight trained on their more vocal, flamboyant counterparts.

But as old systems crumble and outmoded approaches come under scrutiny, the world is facing challenges at a scale unlike any we have seen before. This invites the question: Is it time for a new type of leader? To answer this question, we must first touch on the very definition of leadership. What IS leadership, really?

A New Definition of Leadership for a Changing World

For Muhammad Sabri, Senior Lecturer with the Iclif Executive Education Center at Asia School of Business, finding a clear definition of leadership is a task in itself. “Most people, when asked, tend to focus on the aspects of leadership that are about influencing people, motivating people, creating something to rally people behind, and answers along a similar vein,” says Sabri. “We tend to focus overly on what we do for and to other others.”

If you look at experts’ definitions, you see a similar trend. Said Peter Drucker: “The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers.” And as Dwight D. Eisenhower famously put it, “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” Sabri, however, believes leadership starts with leading oneself.

“It can be as simple as getting up early, making your bed… or it could be taking action against people who are not performing, or giving opportunities to those who are high performers.” A leader’s values and ability to act on those values is what defines his or her leadership agency, and is the true measure of success in the situations they face. A leader who is intrinsically truthful will remain so even if the truth is hard to hear.

The Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, was one of the earliest in Europe to stand up and calmly explain what the impact of the novel coronavirus would be on Germany – that it would infect up to 70% of the population. No cover-ups, no beating around the bush – just a call to action: “It’s serious; take it seriously.” By doing this, she managed to circumvent the fear-mongering, denial, and knee-jerk responses of many of her counterparts.

In contrast, according to an article published in the peer-reviewed journal The BMJ, the UK government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was “hampered by overcentralized, poorly coordinated, and poorly communicated policies.” Prime Minister Boris Johnson encouraged citizens to “go about business as usual” – five weeks after the first case was reported.

Being Popular Versus Making Hard Decisions

The marked difference in the results of these two nations’ initial response to the pandemic can also be seen in an organizational context. According to Sabri, a clear example of this is when it comes to promoting and firing people. “Running an office and running for office are two different things.” Unfortunately, he continues, “Most people behave as if they are doing the latter – they want to be popular and are very cautious when it comes to taking action against non-performers.

Especially in Asia, where relationships and community tend to be more important than anything else – sometimes performance is sacrificed to preserve harmony.” Promoting someone, especially in these times of shrinking budgets and organizations being in crisis mode, requires a lot of work. As Sabri explains, “If you want to request a pay raise for your team member, board members tend to push back and ask you to justify it.

Many leaders don’t do enough when it comes to documenting how well a team member has been performing.” “Managers need to realize that other departments are also seeking promotion for their team members, and when challenged by board members who might say, “Are you sure this person deserves a promotion? The last time I asked them for something, they took a long time to deliver.”

A good leader would be armed with clear evidence and be able to push back, saying, “Well, I believe that was just one instance, and I don’t think you should hold that against her. Here are many other ways that this person has been performing well.” Being able to respond in a clear, decisive way requires discipline to gather and evaluate solid facts and evidence, and the integrity to act on them.

The Right Decisions Begin with The Right Perspective

Conversely, calling out a non-performer should be clear cut – in theory. Yet in practice, Sabri has seen many instances, in companies he has consulted with, where leaders took the path of least resistance. They allowed high performers to shoulder more work in order to retain under-performers, out of a fear of confrontation. In fact, a CEO he advised once proclaimed proudly: “We never fire people.” This is a claim echoed by many organizations – ultimately, to their detriment.

Sabri urged the CEO to look at “firing” differently. “In Malaysia, letting someone go always comes with negative connotations. We grow up hearing the local saying: “Don’t put sand in someone else’s rice bowl.” But what if someone isn’t performing because the role they are in doesn’t suit their personality and skillset? What if they could be encouraged to find something that might work better for them?”

To continue the rice bowl analogy, he told the CEO: “What if you’re not putting sand in someone’s rice bowl, but helping them find something where they can have a bigger rice bowl?” The CEO got the point. He ultimately decided to set up a 3-person unit that was dedicated to helping people strategically advance their careers by moving people outside the company.

“Most career development units focus on internal promotions or lateral transfers, but this department focused on connecting people who were not a fit for the company with external opportunities, which is a very novel approach.”

Keeping People Motivated Amid Change

It’s an incredibly challenging time to be a leader. The rate of technological advancement, rapid-fire globalization, and a global pandemic has turned agility and resilience from buzzwords into daily essentials. As companies pivot and restructure and employees get transferred into new roles, keeping them motivated is an important job for a leader. Sabri has often been asked whether it is more important to help people find their fit, or to motivate them in the roles they are in.

Whatever role a person is in, he believes there are a few key drivers that support motivation. “The first is role clarity: whether individuals know what is expected of them. This is especially important at a time when working from home has become commonplace,” says Sabri. The lack of face-to-face interaction and the camaraderie of working together can be demotivating for many. It is crucial for leaders to help their teams know where to draw the line between work when work and home are in the same place.

The second driver, which is inextricably linked to the first factor, is “job alignment with passion: that is, working within an environment that allows an individual to be successful, and that matches one’s own values and passions.” Whether people are able to bring their full selves to work, they are more likely to stay motivated.

The third driver is having “a clear sense of progression and growth opportunities.” Especially at a time when many are questioning their job security, leaders must be able to help people see what lies ahead for them, and master the tricky balance between stability and adapting to fast-changing realities.

Leaders Must Reach Out and Touch Someone

It all boils down to mindset, Sabri believes. “Leaders today cannot afford to just focus on strategy and KPIs: they need to reach out and touch someone.” He reinforces the importance of face-to-face conversations for leaders.

“Being able to talk honestly and openly, one to one, even if it’s through Zoom, is crucial. Leaders have the challenge and opportunity, more than ever before, to lead through authenticity, when the external markings of being a leader – the corner office, the fancy suit, the art-lined walls – have been taken away. Today, it’s not uncommon to dial into a call with your boss and see them at home, in a T-shirt, perhaps having just come off the treadmill!”

In fact, Sabri believes the notion of “Don’t bring your problems at home to work” is a paradigm of the past, as home and work have become inseparable. Instead, he believes the new leadership paradigm should be: “Tell me your problems at home, so I can help you manage them in order for you to be your best self at work.” This sentiment is echoed and expanded upon by thought leaders from around the globe.

In his book, The Future Leader, published in January 2020, bestselling author Jacob Morgan outlined a collection of mindsets and skills that will best serve the leader of tomorrow, based on insights from over 140 top CEOs from around the world. From embracing a global awareness to fostering diversity and being open to the unknown, the book lays out a blueprint for leaders to survive and thrive in the next decade or so.

When you strip everything down to the basics, the core of true leadership, past, present or future, has always been about humanity. It took the rapid evolution of technology and the widespread effects of a global pandemic to help us reclaim this fundamental fact, but it also provides an opportunity: to rethink leadership and start leading with a fresh focus in mind.

Cultivate Your Leadership Presence at ASB

Learn more from Muhammad Sabri Rawi and explore how to cultivate authentic leadership in a post-COVID era with two exciting programs from the Iclif Executive Education Centre at Asia School of Business, Managing Performance (led by Muhammad Sabri Rawi), and Leading Leaders in Action (led by Muhammad Sabri alongside other ASB-MIT faculty).

Learn more about the program:

Are freedom and discipline at odds with each other? In today’s modern workplaces, Dr. Thun Thamrongnawasawat, Professor of Practice at ASB, explains why both are necessary, and how they can help organizations thrive in the face of uncertainty.

When discussing freedom and structure within organizations, the two concepts are often seen as polar opposites at odds with each other. Common wisdom holds that small companies can allow autonomy and flexibility, but grow more rigid as they scale. For managers trying to strike a balance between what is often seen as opposites, it can feel like a choice between the lesser of two evils: a ‘Wild West’ type of freedom or a bureaucratic hellhole from a Dilbert comic strip.

But freedom and control aren’t necessarily opposites; they can work hand in hand within a framework that provides structure without being suffocating. Dr. Thun Thamrongnawasawat (or Dr. Tan as he likes to be called), Professor of Practice at ASB and prolific leadership author, teaches a course which explores how trust and autonomy can enable agility and innovation, how to balance freedom and good governance, and how leaders and managers should rethink the way they manage their people, using the approach called Freedom Within the Framework.

The value of freedom in a pandemic affected business environment

“More than ever, autonomy is a big motivating factor for the current workforce, especially for the younger generation. Increasingly, it is not money that is driving them to quit their jobs, but having the freedom and choice of what to do and how to do it,” said Dr. Tan, who has worked with over 100 global companies on strategy, leading change, training, and executive coaching, and specializes in the neuroscience of leadership, with MSc and PhD degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Dr. Tan started his career at the Boston Consulting Group, before holding a series of management positions in multinationals and eventually devoting his career to his passion of empowering leaders using what is known about the brain, giving him tremendous experience to draw upon when it comes to the science of management. “People want the autonomy and agency to be able to create change and do things in the way they see fit.

Even for those who don’t quit employment to start their own businesses, they may seek out opportunities in the corporate world where they are treated as an intrapreneur,” he added. Covid-19 has made the increase in autonomy at work even more apparent. More employees than ever are working from home, away from their usual oversight, rules, processes, and in-person interactions.

“There are both pull and push factors contributing to the increased need for autonomy and being able to trust your people,” said Dr. Tan. “The pull factor is that employees want this. The push factor is that Covid-19 has forced this upon management teams.” Science backs the value of giving workers greater trust and freedom, as Daniel Pink’s 2009 New York Times Bestseller, Drive, highlights, drawing from research including an MIT study.

Pink argues that traditional “carrot and stick” approaches to management are insufficient to meet the needs of today’s economy which requires businesses to be innovative, creative, and agile. Successful modern workplaces cultivate intrinsic motivation among employees, underpinned by three key components: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.

Freedom through discipline

But the benefits of autonomy don’t come from letting people do whatever they want. “Ironically, it is the companies who are the most disciplined that reap the most benefits of entrusting their employees with freedom,” he argues. “Take Netflix, for example. They got rid of their expense policy and replaced it with a short, simple statement: ‘Act in Netflix’s best interest’.

But they could do this because they were fanatical and extremely disciplined about their culture, and had an extensive culture handbook.” “Another company closer to home that I can think of is EPF (Employees Provident Fund) Malaysia, which has implemented staggered working hours, telecommuting options, and a flexible benefits program to enable staff to easily strike a balance between work and their personal lives,” added Dr. Tan.

For EPF, the key was to enable freedom in the form of flexibility, without compromising on outcomes or KPIs. The company reports since implementing its work life practices, productivity has increased, along with winning them TalentCorp’s LIFE AT WORK Awards 2018 in the Best Public Sector Organization, CEO Champion and Outstanding Practice (Workplace) categories.

So how much freedom can you give your people while avoiding unnecessary risks, and how do you ensure that, like at Netflix, your team will ‘act in the company’s best interest’? Conversely, how can you know if working constraints are too tight, leading to a lack of trust and agility?

The key to freedom within a framework: Alignment of values and purpose

Dr. Tan explains that before managers can determine how much freedom to give to their team, they need to understand and map out their values and those of their team. Next, it’s important to understand which ones overlap and which ones don’t, to “avoid the landmines”, as Dr. Tan puts it. The final step is honing in on the sweet spot – or the overlap in common values and purpose that both parties share.

“Without this map, you might unintentionally step on a landmine – something another person values, because it’s not something you value. You might be caught off guard, wondering why this person is suddenly acting difficult and uncooperative,” said Dr. Tan.

“There are many ways this model can be applied – between individuals, or between groups of people,” said Dr. Tan. Dr. Tan shared a recent story of how he applied this model:

“A fellow colleague and I were tasked with running a leadership program, and we were making a decision about whether to host this program in person or online, given the current Covid-19 situation. We thought that because we had limited the number of participants and would be able to adhere to social distancing protocols, we could safely proceed with running it in person. Our boss was very concerned about this approach.

After some discussion, we recognized that the main value driving our boss’ concern was the participants’ safety and wellbeing. We could find common ground in wanting to ensure people’s safety. So, we decided to run the program but go a step further – we required all participants to take a swab test before joining us, even though it was not mandatory.”

The Six Zones of Freedom within the Framework

After a clear map has been made of the team and individuals’ values and purpose, what comes next? This is where the alignment of values and purpose is plotted on a horizontal axis, while the degree of freedom employees have is plotted on a vertical axis. This forms the framework developed by Dr. Tan together with Michael Kossler.

“While the concept of ‘freedom within a framework’ has been talked about for a long time, it wasn’t until we put this graph together that managers had a tangible tool to help them map out their framework,” explained Dr. Tan.

To use the framework, managers identify where each team member stands in terms of alignment, and how much freedom each one currently has. Anything outside zones 1 to 3 in the diagram below is suboptimal.

“Zone 4 employees are being given unearned freedom. These are the people who will cause you headaches. When there is too much freedom, smart people can do bad things. It’s not only one’s skillset that must be aligned with the job; the heart must be aligned with the company’s values.”

Meanwhile, Zone 5 employees are those with the capacity to perform at a higher level, but have their hands tied behind their backs. “With too little freedom, they stop being invested, start coasting by, and they don’t give you extra effort. They will probably start looking for a new job – and that’s where they enter Zone 6 – separation.”

For more detailed step-by-step guidance on using applying this framework, read Managing by Freedom Within A Framework by  Dr. Tan.

The key is to get employees outside the blue zones into those zones, by either reducing or increasing the amount of freedom given. For employees in Zones 1 and 2, the key is to work on increasing alignment, so that freedom can gradually be increased as well.

Avoiding landmines and building resiliency

One of the practical considerations with implementing Freedom Within A Framework is that it should be done on multiple levels to see where the overlaps are on an organizational, team, departmental, and individual level. And mapping it out is only the beginning.

“For this to be effective, people must talk about it. The hidden must be made visible. Groups must be brought together, or it won’t take long before people start stepping on each other’s landmines and talking behind each other’s backs. Trigger points are plenty – finding common ground requires intentionality,” said Dr. Tan. Beyond the workplace, he even uses this approach with his kids and spouse to build alignment through connecting on common values.

In today’s fast-changing world, alignment is more critical than ever to survive, adapt, and thrive. “Rules and governance are prescriptive. In light of Covid-19, it’s clearer than ever that we cannot fully know everything that will happen and prepare for all scenarios,” said Dr. Tan. “Instead of governing through rigid dos and don’ts, organizations can build greater resiliency, agility, and adaptability by giving people a framework to work freely within, guided by common values and shared purpose.”


About the ASB Iclif Executive Education Center
The Iclif Executive Education Centre at the Asia School of Business offers cutting-edge and action-oriented Executive Education programs that cover the key areas of Corporate Governance, General Management, Leadership, and Finance and the Global Economy.

For more information on our programs, please visit: https://asb.edu.my/executive-education

Building brand-customer relationships and driving brand transformation in the wake of Covid-19 is essential

Covid-19 has accelerated the digital disruption, changed the way businesses interact with their customers, and increased the need for businesses to move interactions online. During the recent period of lockdowns, customers have massively embraced these digital channels. And the growth numbers are staggering. Just two to illustrate: global digital sales are up +36% compared to 2019 (Salesforce.com, 2020).

Beyond B2C, in B2B the shift is remarkable: with 70 to 80 percent of B2B decision makers preferring remote human interactions or digital self-service over in-person interactions (McKinsey & Company). So how does Digital Age brand transformation play out for brands and branding? Firstly, as more customer and company eyeballs move online, the war for their attention is intensifying.

The advertising industry hit hard by Covid-19 sees the advertisers shift from traditional media to digital. Digital advertising spending is estimated to have increased year-on-year by 6 percent in 2020, according to WARC data, and presently accounts for more than half of all global ad spending. But branding and brand transformation in the Digital Age goes beyond employing new media channels. There are more fundamental strategic considerations to think of.

To empower companies to navigate the challenges of branding and marketing themselves in a digital world, Professor Willem Smit, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Asia School of Business and an International Faculty Fellow at MIT Sloan, teaches a range of executive education and MBA courses on marketing strategy with a special focus on digitalization and internationalization of brands.

“We live in a changing, uncertain, and increasingly polarized world,” said Professor Smit. “We live in a branded world, where brands need to continuously seek to engage better with people who have changing needs and desires, and respond to changes to stay relevant. Brands and change cannot be seen in isolation – they are connected,” he added. “Moreover, strong brands are in a position of leadership and can or even must lead positive change and transformation. They must have a purpose. One that fits them.”

The dilemma of brand transformation in the digital age

How can brands use digital to build their strength and Brand Purpose to do good? With digitalization, Professor Smit explains, there is more information readily available, including more alternatives that are just a Google search away. A more equal and competitive playing field is created where local brands can delight customers just as well as global multinationals.

However, while technology brings new opportunities, it also presents a challenge. The sheer amount of data points for customers to judge brands by can be overwhelming, pushing customers to rely on trusted brand names and heuristics. This is where branding comes in. According to Professor Smit, “Many businesses find brand transformation a challenge in the digital age.

The dilemma of branding in the digital age is that unlike branding in the past, which you could carefully shape and craft, branding online requires a handover of brand ownership to your customers. It’s almost impossible to control what people say about you in user-generated and co-created content, from reviews to fan posts, and requires a shift to a more collaborative mindset.”

“Many people are excited about new technology, but are wary of not being able to control it. Amid privacy concerns and the reliability of online information, the importance of brand trust has never been greater. Brands who understand this and can build strong relationships digitally will be able to overcome the challenges,” he added.

Helping brands in emerging markets succeed on the frontier of change

Professor Smit brings with him a wealth of experience in global multidisciplinary marketing since earning his doctorate in Marketing from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands in 2006. He joined IMD as a research fellow and began lecturing at the Université de Lausanne for several years, before moving to Asia in 2011 and holding various positions at Singapore Management University (SMU) the National University of Singapore (NUS), the MIT-affiliated Malaysia Institute for Supply Chain Innovation (MISI), and Hult International Business School in Shanghai.

While in Asia, Professor Smit’s exposure to brand transformation and brands at the forefront of change in emerging markets lead him to launch the ALL-ASEAN brands report in 2017 which surveyed 2,645 brands to understand how ASEAN brands are managing the digital disruption and which brands are leading in making ASEAN a more integrated marketplace, to share trends and best practice.

In the upcoming 2021 report, research on 4,153 different brands strong in ASEAN social shows a very interesting development: “ASEAN is witnessing a Cambrian explosion of new homegrown brands. Many of them have adopted digital to build their homemarket base. Yet, whereas ASEAN continues to integrate as markets, still only a very selective group succeeds in engaging consumers from neighboring markets, outiside of home.”

In addition to his teaching and research, Professor Smit is a prolific marketing practitioner and advises management teams and boards on strategy, marketing, and brand transformation. During his almost 10 years in Asia, he built a 700+ member community of junior brand managers, called So-You-Think-You-Can-Brand.

He also created a hands-on digital program for both MBA students and executives, where mixed student-employee teams collaborate to improve the digital marketing strategies of participating companies through a series of “hacks” implemented during the course itself.

Professor Smit’s experience translates to his hands-on classroom approach in teaching on topics such as:

  • What makes a brand strong?
  • Creating meaning-driven brands (with a purpose)
  • Measuring brand equity and brand success
  • Conducting a brand audit
  • Identifying growth opportunities: Brand extensions and internationalization
  • Making brands smarter: new tech and storytelling approaches

In his classes, case studies featuring brands from Asian and emerging markets are plentiful, from Pinkfong’s viral Baby Shark to Samsung alongside international brands like HubSpot and Aqualisa. Additionally, through practical exercises applied to participants’ own brands, participants can learn from peer brands throughout the region as well.

Bringing marketers and top leadership together to create brand value

For brands to thrive in a digital age, marketing and branding must be a core part of the corporate agenda, argues Professor Smit. Instead of viewing marketing as a service or cost center, it is imperative for firms to view marketing as a strategic and innovative function.

Through attending Professor Smit’s courses, current and future CMOs and marketing specialists will be armed with the knowledge and experience to make marketing and branding a key topic on the corporate agenda and drive brand transformation, while top management and board members will be better informed to make strategic marketing investments and decisions.

“Learning to understand each other’s perspectives and cater to each other’s priorities is the key,” said Professor Smit. “Marketing managers need to demonstrate the strategic value of marketing to the firm, and board members and top management need to understand marketing and ask the right questions to evaluate how their brands contribute to the corporate strategy. Both groups converge in seeing the customer groups as key to generate future cashflow.”

How To Win Customers in a Digital World: Transforming Asian Brands for Success

Iclif Executive Education Course by Professor Willem Smit  (4-day online course)
The next course on will be held on March 3, 4, 10, and 11, from 2.00PM – 5.15PM each day.

To download the Course Guide and for more information on upcoming courses, register your interest below:

Download the Course Guide

Q&A Session on ‘Transforming Asian Brands for Success’

A consultative Q&A webinar will be held with Professor Willem Smit on 18 February 2021, 4PM – 5PM for interested participants to preview the course material and ask Professor Smit any questions you may have about the course.

What should businesses and employees do when someone at work tests positive for Covid-19? And how can this be done without risking further business losses? MIT and ASB professor Kevin Crow discusses these issues and more with BFM: The Business Station.

The Coronavirus pandemic has undoubtedly affected the lives of people around the world across demographics. 2020 was a year many wish to forget, with many hardworking individuals losing their jobs and livelihoods during this pandemic. Small and medium businesses are being hit especially hard, faltering one after the other like domino pieces as losses force them to shut down.

For businesses who are still clinging on for dear life, some will go to desperate lengths to stay open and in operation for as long as they possibly can, concealing Covid-19 cases within their workplaces to do so. Large businesses are not exempt from this temptation as well, out of fear that a positive case may cause stigma and further losses.

Professor Kevin Crow, Assistant Professor of Law and Ethics at the Asia School of Business and International Faculty Fellow at MIT, is also active in legal consulting and international impact litigation and is also an affiliated researcher with Columbia University’s Freedom of Expression Initiative.

He recently spoke with BFM: The Business Station, a leading Malaysian radio station, to discuss these ethical dilemmas and provide businesses and employees with solutions on how to navigate when someone at work tests positive:

BFM: What is the impact of hiding positive Covid-19 test results among employees, especially from a legal point of view?

Professor Crow: There are many impacts from many points of view. There are the obvious economic concerns, reputational concerns, concerns on productivity, effects on other employees and legal concerns. From a legal point of view, there are concerns that are attached to contractual obligations between both the firm and employee; all of these can be implicated in lack of transparency and a lack of disclosure.

What duty of care does a business owe its employees as well as its customers?

A duty of care, in general tort claims, suggests that businesses have to take whatever action is considered to be reasonable by the society under the circumstances. There are a lot of factors that might come in to play there. You could consider factors like sector, industry, business type etc. Would a reasonable business of this sector or industry have acted as this business did? That is sort of the general standard to take into consideration, in any kind of tort claim.

With that in mind, if one of the main drivers in hiding the results is concerns about profit and loss of business, could you make a case for why it is better to be more transparent rather than be secretive about the health status of your employees? Because I think that tends to be where a lot of people are coming from.

Yeah sure, I guess I’m a lawyer, so I can make a case for anything. (chuckle) It’s important to first look at an entire social and economic system and not to place all the blame on economically strained businesses. It needs to be attractive to be transparent. Governments play a large role in creating that attraction through both punishment and reward.

The most obvious reason or case for transparency regardless of political circumstances is an ethical one: you could spread harm to others, both within your business and within the broader society if you hide it. There are also two obvious economic reasons that flow out of that: spreading the virus within your business harms your human capital within your business and spreading it to society, harms the broader economy of that society, therefore it harms your business as well.

How does non-transparency affect customer sentiments and their sense of loyalty towards brands?

Research shows there’s a pretty strong correlation between transparency and customer loyalty. So, non-transparency conversely reflects poorly. Those kinds of reputational harms affect customer-facing businesses more than B2B businesses.

Overall, what are the best practices employers should use when they do find a positive case in their business, especially among their workforce?

The same things that everyone has been saying. First, regular testing. Second, when someone does test positive, multilevel contact tracing. Third, isolate both affected and potentially affected employees. And finally, throughout the process, support everyone so that there is no fear of coming forward with a positive test rather relevant information.

Could you elaborate a little on what sort of support employees need when it comes to such circumstances?

First, they need to know that it is a good thing in the eyes of the employer that the employee comes forward. There can’t be any kind of element of punishment or fear associated with someone coming forward. Secondly, depending on the circumstances of the employee, they will need varying degrees of support for quarantine, or for other measures they need to take. So, do they have childcare responsibilities? Do they have elderly relatives at home? Employees need holistic support, and employers should be cognizant of that. Finally, and relatedly, employees shouldn’t be punished economically or otherwise for coming forward.

If you work in a company that is hiding positive cases and you are aware of that, what can you do to keep them accountable?

The answer is different whether you work in management or if you are an employee reporting to management. If you work in management, you should make it an issue if it isn’t already an issue. If you don’t have contingency plans already in place, you should bring this up with colleagues, even if it annoys them or if they don’t want this discussion to occur. History will most likely smile on your actions, so being temporarily unpopular perhaps doesn’t matter so much.

On the other hand, if you don’t work in management, a lot depends on the culture and the degree of trust within the firm. A grassroots organization with co-workers can raise awareness of detrimental impacts of hiding positive cases. Depending on what is important to your management, you could emphasis economic and ethical harms, legal and political repercussions – all of these are arguments you could make.

What can the government do in order to get companies to be more responsible and open when it comes to reporting cases?

They need to make it more attractive to do so. So, they have to provide support, both financial and logistical. In the long term, it is much more expensive for the government to discourage businesses from transparency through cost-saving measures than to incur the short-term costs by providing generous support to businesses that have to temporarily close.

If there no support and closing is a big fear, then non-transparency is more likely to happen. The best way to encourage responsibility is to make responsibility attractive and to make irresponsibility unattractive.

Sharpen Your Understanding of Ethics and Corporate Accountability

Professor Kevin Crow is a highly experienced educator with a wealth of knowledge in international law, constitutional law, economic law, and corporate law. He has taught at the University Halle-Wittenberg Law School in Germany and has practiced international criminal law with NGOs based in Cambodia and France prior to joining ASB. He is also an affiliated researcher with Columbia University’s Freedom of Expression Initiative.

In May 2021, Professor Crow will be teaching a course of on Ethics and Corporate Accountability. The interactive, discussion-based course is focused on teaching managerial responsibility for those who are faced with tough ethical dilemmas and also discussing legal and ethical thought when it comes to difficult business decisions. The courses will be offered digitally on 27 – 28 May and 2 – 3 June, 2021.

For more information on our programs, please visit: https://asb.edu.my/executive-education

An interview with ASB alumna, Zoe Tate

Unprecedented times translate to unpredictable industries. And this uncertain future has left many in a state of constant worry. For some, amidst the confusion and events of 2020, they chose to take advantage of these current changes by upskilling themselves with an education that will equip them with the agility, resilience, and skill to thrive in a fast-changing world.

Asia School of Business (ASB) alumni, Zoe Tate, is one such person who believes her MBA education has positioned her well for the future. Recently, leading MBA platform Poets&Quants had the opportunity to sit down with Zoe, in conjunction with the premium CentreCourt MBA Festival event — to hear about her experience pursuing an MBA in a pandemic, and all that ASB is doing on the forefront of global-tier education.

A life-changing course of action

“My first introduction to ASB was when a group of 4 students came to my startup, to give us strategies and insights to grow the business,” said Zoe. Here, Zoe is talking about students that were involved in ASB’s flagship Action Learning projects, which her startup was one of the hosts. ASB’s Action Learning curriculum is an immersive and rigorous module that allows every one of its MBA students to experience working with corporate, start-up, government and NGO hosts to join them on-site with selected projects.

Upon experiencing first-hand ASB’s Action Learning approach and even visiting the Kuala Lumpur campus a few times – Zoe quickly found herself enrolling as a student. ASB’s MBA program features the rigor and quality of MIT Sloan School of Management (MIT Sloan) set within the culture and environment of Asia. Here, students from all parts of the world gain an immersive and rewarding experience of combined perspectives between American and Asian learning methods.

According to Zoe, it’s this type of diversity that allows ASB to become a truly dynamic and engaging environment for an MBA. “There are students here that come from very varied backgrounds, in terms of their nationalities and their experience.” “You’re constantly negotiating what you learn, where you go, and how you approach problems,” Zoe told Poets&Quants.

Zoe continues to emphasize that because of ASB’s continued search for solving modern problems with modern solutions, it’s an organization that will be beneficial to its students in both the long and short term.

An MIT Sloan-infused syllabus, every step of the way

But how does the ASB curriculum integrate with that of MIT Sloan? Zoe’s personal experience in classes taught by highly-rated professors from MIT Sloan were nothing short of insightful and life-changing. “We’re so lucky that we get to be taught by them. They come for one week, and they teach their entire curriculum that’s usually a semester-long in one week,” Zoe says.

Visiting professors find creative ways to teach an entire semester’s worth of education within that time, as the small class size ensures that students get sufficient time with the professors. (Back at MIT, classes by these top professors are often at maximum capacity and students rush to enroll each time a class is announced – something that ASB students don’t have to compete for.)

Each class is nothing short of a quality experience as Zoe notes. “It gives you a global perspective and you would be able to anticipate in your mind how you’re going to use whatever you’re learning [in class] in your next project; it’s certainly a privilege.” Encouraging avid participation and fostering an active, curious class environment is yet another way MIT Sloan’s values are so prevalent at ASB.

Beyond the classroom to the real world

Zoe, who recently graduated in 2020 after completing her MBA in a pandemic, says that when it comes to her post-MBA working life, she knows that she’ll be ready no matter where in the world she finds herself. “When you learn from the MIT professors, you get a more global perspective. That, of course, is excellent if you want to work on a regional level, or if you want to solve problems from [different] industries or add skills that I have never experienced on my own.”

Zoe has already had some experience in International Development and SMEs. However, armed with an ASB education, she’s able to go beyond her initial scope of work, allowing her to find the bigger picture and see things on a larger scale. Ultimately, this is proof that education doesn’t stop on a professional level either.

Zoe highlights that even while completing an MBA in a pandemic, she was able to grow a natural skillset of three important traits that any company around the globe would accept with open arms. Those are: leadership skills, mindfulness and a strong spirit of teamwork.

“You’re in very close proximity with your classmates all the time, be it in the classroom or if you’re travelling or just socially,” Zoe says. As 2020 hit and students continued pursing an MBA in a pandemic, with many dialing in via Zoom, participation levels remained intense.

“Through all of these interactions that you have in this very diverse environment, you learn to identify what are your skills and what you can bring to the table.” Future-proof skill sets are imbued in all of ASB programs and teachings, in line with their Smart x Sharp DNA (a new framework for rethinking ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ skills) and the ASB promise to completely transform students into extraordinary, unconventional, future and market-ready leaders. Naturally, ASB’s Smart x Sharp culture shines through its Action Learning projects and the careers that graduates and alumni go on to build.

Pursuing a transformative MBA in a pandemic

Even as COVID-19 raged on, the resilience and resourcefulness inculcated at ASB allowed Zoe to keep a level head while pursuing an MBA in a pandemic. “[Southeast Asia is] such a dynamic region with a resilient economic growth and huge youth population as well with more investors being interested in the region; I have no doubt that Southeast Asia is going to recover from this.”

As for Zoe’s advice to aspiring ASB students? “Go in and be ready to be surprised. Have an open attitude, because you cannot predict the experiences you’re about to have, or the things you’ll learn and discover,” says Zoe.

Watch the full Poets&Quants interview with Zoe.