Southeast Asia ahead on digital transformation, digital leadership

Source: SAP. Agree or disagree? Senior management and employees weigh in both globally and in Southeast Asia for the Leaders 2020 study.

Nearly one-quarter of Southeast Asian businesses are digital leaders, a new study by SAP and Oxford Economics shows. This is higher than the global average of 16%, according to the Leaders 2020 study.

This new class of high-performing companies is reporting stronger profit growth, higher employee engagement, and cultures that are more inclusive. The organisations have executives who communicate a company-wide digital strategy, keep management and worker skills up to date, and streamline organisational structure.

An analysis of Southeast Asian firms in the Leaders 2020 study also affirms the business benefits of diversity, showing a correlation between those who are leading in digital transformation and those who have a heightened understanding of the importance of diversity. Digital leaders around the world and Southeast Asian respondents are both more likely to recognise diversity’s positive impact on culture (66% and 62%, respectively), but only digital leaders are more likely to see the benefits in financial performance (37% globally against 25% in Southeast Asia).

Companies have become more diverse in Southeast Asia than in other regions over the past three years. Three-quarters of Southeast Asian respondents saw diversity improvements in the general workforce of their organisation, and 42% saw an increase in board and senior leadership, compared with 67% and 34% globally. However, less than 40% in Southeast Asia state that their company has effective diversity programmes in place, signalling more could be done, especially at the senior executive and corporate board levels.

The Leaders 2020 study also found that only 61% of Southeast Asian executives (55% globally) are making data-driven decisions, a key factor that makes a Digital Leader. Not surprisingly 62% of Southeast Asian executives (59% globally) feel that employees are equipped with the skills necessary to keep up with digital technology.

“A diverse workforce encourages bold, innovative ideas to flourish and in turn, presents insights which are only made possible through that diversity. It is of little coincidence that these two capabilities – leveraging data for decisions and maintaining a diverse workforce – both occur for high-performing organisations,” said Scott Russell, President and MD, SAP Southeast Asia.

Other findings for Southeast Asia included:

· Stronger financial performance: 76% of executives characterised as digital leaders report strong revenue and profit growth, compared to 60% of all other Southeast Asian executives.

· Satisfied and engaged employees: effective digital leadership drives more than financial performance—it also creates healthier cultures. Nearly nine in 10 (87%) digital leaders have employees who are more satisfied, compared with just 51% for respondents in Southeast Asia. Three quarters of digital leaders also have employees who are more likely to stay in their jobs if given the chance to leave, as compared to 45% in the region.

· More mature talent strategies: digital leaders are more likely to invest in talent and have much more advanced strategies for talent recruitment, development and retention. For example, 56% of digital leaders mainly fill roles from within the company, as compared to just 33% for the rest of the region.

The study also found that Millennials are quickly occupying corporate leadership positions, as 22% of the executives in the Leaders 2020 study from Southeast Asia are classified as millennials, compared with 17% worldwide. Despite the higher percentage of young executives in the region, only 45% of Southeast Asian executives say leadership works with employees to develop their careers—an important step in cultivating Millennial talent. Young executives are more focused on diversity and its benefits, and they tend to come from companies that value diversity and take steps to build it.

“According to a PwC report. Millennials at Work: Reshaping the Workplace, Millennials will form 50% of the global workforce by 2020*. Listening to what young executives have to say may be a shortcut to digital leadership—as long as the experience of their older peers is not ignored in the process. Striking this balance requires generations to listen to each other. Generational diversity is as important as the other forms of workplace diversity. The Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers and Millennials all bring varying perspectives to the table, which is crucial in sustaining a dynamic organisation. Our belief in working closely with the Millennial generation has resulted in having five unique generations, all working together at SAP to help our customers Run Simple,” Russell added.

“The pace of change in today’s digital economy shows no sign of slowing down, and organisations that do not continually update their approach to digital leadership risk falling behind. Technology continues to remain the key enabler to drive growth, promote innovation, enable transformation and level the playing field for companies of all sizes.”

Despite having a promising digital business landscape, leaders at these companies cannot rest on their laurels—survey results from the Leaders 2020 study indicate that these companies in the region are not devoting enough resources to developing future leadership, employee skills or employee engagement. The research identifies several areas where companies can improve their leadership skills—and their business performance:

· Communicate a company-wide digital vision – sharing a digital direction company-wide is demonstrative of a good leader.

· Continuously update executive and employee skill sets – a necessity to adopt new digital skills in the digital economy.

· Flatten the organisation – reduce bureaucratic bottlenecks.

· Emphasise diversity – cultivating a diverse workforce drives success in a global economy.

· Listen to young executives – as they form the key workforce of the future, their advice is essential for digital transformation.

Interested?

Learn more about the study and the prerequisites for digital leadership

November is great for e-commerce in Southeast Asia

Source: Criteo infographic. Mobile plays a significant part in the purchase journey.

Criteo, the performance marketing technology company, has revealed that Southeast Asian consumers are shopping more on Singles Day, which falls annually on 11 November, and browsing up to two days earlier.

Based on an analysis of 21 million online transactions made in Southeast Asia last year (25 October to 30 November 2015), Singles Day saw an upsurge in average visitors on key Southeast Asian retailers’ websites.

“Singles Day is becoming more popular across this region. Most Southeast Asian countries are also ‘mobile-first’, so it’s unsurprising that mobile has become the preferred device for online shopping during this season. To drive increased sales, retailers must respond and leverage technologies like dynamic retargeting and exact matching to deliver personalised and seamless consumer engagement across multiple platforms,” said Alban Villani, Commercial Director, Criteo, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Other findings include:

Traffic to key retailers’ websites started rising from 9 November onwards
Between 9 and 12 November, there was a rise of 44% in average online traffic on key retail companies’ websites and an increase of 167% in overall sales, with traffic and sales both spiking on 11 November.

Multiple devices are used
For six in 10 users (64%), the final purchase was made on a different device than the one they initially browsed with.

Criteo predicts that mobile commerce (m-commerce) will dominate e-commerce in driving sales this year - 34% of online transactions at major retail companies was generated by mobile phones, and a further 33% via mobile applications, in November.

While technological enhancements have facilitated shopping on mobile, marketers are challenged with targeting consumers across every environment along the path to purchase. Brands can no longer ignore mobile platforms as a primary means to drive e-commerce sales. To boost revenue, retailers must combine a strong mobile web and app presence with personalised mobile targeting strategies to engage with shoppers wherever and whenever they browse and purchase.

Interested?

View the infographic of Criteo’s analysis of shopping behaviour during Singles Day

YouGov maps haze fallout

Many Southeast Asian countries experienced significant haze – caused primarily by forest fires burning in the region - this year. According to a YouGov survey*, there was high awareness of the haze issue in Southeast Asia within the region.

Almost eight in 10 (78%) Asian people say they are aware of the haze caused by Indonesian landscape fires. Awareness was lowest in Hong Kong (at 48%) and Mainland China (at 44%), but in the three countries most affected by the haze (Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore), only 2% of respondents in each location claim not to know about the haze.

Mask-makers did well during this period. Two-thirds (65%) of those in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore wore a mask when the haze was present. Among those who chose not to wear a mask during the haze, 39% say that they don’t find it necessary, 38% think it’s uncomfortable to wear masks, and 18% think that the mask cannot protect them from the pollution anyway.

Among those who are aware of the haze, 58% of them think palm oil companies setting their plantations on fire are a cause of the fires in Indonesia. Some 48% think the fires are caused by farmers setting their plantations on fire. And 44% think that dry weather causes the Indonesian fires.

When asked who they think is responsible for the resulting haze from the fires, with multiple answers possible, 63% of respondents said the palm oil plantation companies. An almost equal number, 62%, think it is the Indonesian Government. A smaller number, 18%, think it is the brands which use palm oil in their products that are responsible for the haze.

Two in every three people in Asia (67%) think the Indonesian government has not done enough to solve theproblem of the haze, believing the government can do more to reinforce the law regarding the use of fire to clear land for oil plantations. Within Indonesia itself, responses on this aspect are quite diverse: 45% believe the Indonesian government can do more to solve the haze problem, but 44% think their goverment has done enough by enacting legislation that prohibits illegal forest fires to clear land for farming.

YouGov also asked Asian respondents if any other regional country governments (or other parties) can do more to help solve the haze problem. Two thirds (65%) of Asian respondents think governments in other countries can do more in terms of investment in monitoring and enforcing existing bans on the use of fire as a method for land preparation. About half (51%) agree that companies using palm oil in their products should be able to verify that the palm oil used does not contribute to deforestation. 42% agree that consumers should also let manufacturers know that they want to know if the palm oil used in their products is grown on plantations free from deforestation.

Source: YouGov infographic.

One-in-five people (20%) in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore suffered health problems due to the haze. More than half (57%) of Indonesian, Malaysian, and Singaporean respondents said they stay at home more when there is haze. Only 13% said the haze had not affected their lifestyle in any way.

For 69% of people in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, outdoor activities became less attractive. Four in 10 (41%) of them also said they spend less on travel and holidays because of the haze.

While 43% of respondents in the three countries most affected by haze haven’t had any visible health impact as a result of the haze, about one in three (32%) have suffered some haze-related health problems that they addressed themselves, while one in five (20%) suffered haze-related health problems for which they had to see a doctor.

When asked “If haze did not affect your country, how concerned would you be regarding this issue?”, more than half (52%) of respondents in these countries says that they would still care. Only 5% claim they would not care at all.

Upon hearing that the haze would continue on until early next year, 66% of respondents are disappointed, 54% are angry and 53% say they want to do something to help. Some 22% say in this situation, they will be resigned to fate.

Regarding the Pollutants Standard Index (PSI) readings or equivalent produced by the national environment authorities, 57% of respondents in Asia sees the readings as ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ trustworthy. A quarter do not trust the readings and the remainder do not look at the PSI readings at all.

The haze has changed the travel behaviour of people in Asia Pacific. 68% say they would only visit cities/countries that remain unaffected by the haze. Only 7% of respondents would still visit the affected cities/countries and think the haze is not a problem. Another 18% would still visit the affected cities/countries due to business travel, family visits, or because they already paid for the trip.

In fact, regardless of the haze, Singapore is among the top five countries in the Asia Pacific region where respondents would want to visit the most:

1. Japan (50%),
2. Australia (43%),
3. New Zealand (38%),
4. Singapore (33%), and
5. Thailand (25%).

However, the above ranking doesn’t stay the same in some countries. In Mainland China, half of the respondents (50%) want to visit Singapore most, while over 50% of Malaysians want to travel to Australia most.

Interested?

View the full infographic

*YouGov polled 7,536 respondents online across Asia Pacific from 17 to 23 November 2015. All data was collected from YouGov panellists and weighted to be representative of the online population. 

Didi Kuaidi, GrabTaxi, Lyft and Ola users can use their apps in other countries now

Roaming was once only available for phone services. Then it came to cash withdrawals through the ATM. And now private transport-booking goes global with a Star Alliance-like partnership between booking apps that were previously region-bound.

Didi Kuaidi, GrabTaxi, Lyft and Ola have announced additional strategic partnerships that expand the global rideshare agreement that Lyft and Didi Kuaidi formed in September. Together, these companies now cover nearly all of Southeast Asia, India, China and the US, reaching nearly 50% of the world’s population. Joint partner products will start rolling out in Q116.

Through this global partnership, the companies will collaborate and leverage each other’s technology, local market knowledge and business resources so that international travellers can seamlessly access local on-demand rides by using the same application they use at home. Each company will handle mapping, routing and payments through a secure API, providing a global experience for their customers.

As the local leaders, Didi Kuaidi, GrabTaxi and Ola will provide Lyft passengers traveling to Asia with ease, convenience, and reliability. Each company saw rapid growth in 2015:

 Didi Kuaidi is the world’s largest one-stop mobile-based transportation platform, providing 7 million rides per day across 360 Chinese cities. Didi Kuaidi holds an 83% market share in private car-hailing and a dominant position in all other verticals including taxi-hailing, bus and corporate services.

 GrabTaxi is the leading ride-hailing platform in Southeast Asia with 95% market share in third-party taxi-hailing and more than 50% market share in private cars. With up to 1.5 million daily bookings across six countries, GrabTaxi offers a wide range of options in one mobile app, including taxis, motorcycle taxis, private cars, carpooling and deliveries. (Editor's note: It has also recently received some positive reviews from friends.)

 Lyft is the fastest-growing rideshare service in the US, completing 7 million rides per month in more than 190 cities. In October, Lyft reached an annual gross run rate of US$1 billion and reached over 40% percent market share in San Francisco, California and Austin, Texas.

 Ola is India’s preferred mobile platform for personal transportation, available in 102 cities across the country. With more than 350,000 vehicles registered on its platform, Ola receives over a million booking requests a day.

“As Didi consolidates market leadership across all main verticals, we are now focused on applying more refined big-data tools to further develop product innovation and enhance the user experience,” said Cheng Wei, CEO of Didi Kuaidi. “The partnership with Lyft, GrabTaxi and Ola allows Chinese users unprecedented ease of international travel, and helps each of us improve our own services, leveraging our collective technology and expertise. This is a win for the diversity and vitality of the global rideshare industry.”

“We are pleased to help Didi, Lyft and Ola offer transportation services in Southeast Asia where the significant diversity of language, culture and social practices across the region can be challenging for foreign companies to navigate,” said Anthony Tan, CEO of GrabTaxi. “We admire all three companies and have similar goals to improve the lives of drivers and passengers, while also helping to solve major transportation challenges for the long term. Under this umbrella, we see many opportunities to share ideas and best practices – from product innovations to driver support, technology developments and approaches for managing local operations in a rapidly-scaling organisation.”

“We’re excited to join with Didi, Grab and Ola to make global travel simpler for passengers. Together they will allow Lyft to offer the world’s best coverage, while building upon our shared vision of reconnecting communities through better transportation,” said Lyft co-founder and President John Zimmer. “This isn’t solely a partnership of four companies, but also an opportunity to have a greater impact on the future of our cities worldwide.”

“We are excited to partner with Lyft, Didi Kuaidi and GrabTaxi, allowing seamless mobility access across hundreds of cities globally for our combined user base that runs into hundreds of millions,” said Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and CEO of Ola. “This will also allow all four companies to learn from each other’s local innovations and successes that can help us in our shared mission to build better mobility solutions in our respective markets.”

ASEAN Economic Community could be a bonanza for B2C businesses

Market research company Euromonitor International has released a white paper providing a strategic approach on marketing to the ASEAN consumer.

The creation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in December 2015 will unite the ten members of the ASEAN into a single market and production base. This will thrust Southeast Asia into the spotlight, attracting greater attention from multinationals which have so far been drawn mainly to China and India. Poised to become a global economic powerhouse thanks to its expected strong future economic performance, the AEC also has real potential of becoming a vast market with predominantly young, dynamic and increasingly affluent consumers, in contrast to ageing China and Japan, the company said.

“If the ASEAN was a single economy, it would be the 7th largest in the world with total GDP of US$2.5 trillion in 2014, and Euromonitor International forecasts that by 2030 it could become the third largest economy behind only the USA and China,”observed An Hodgson, Income and Expenditure Manager at Euromonitor International. 

“Currently, the ASEAN market holds more than 622 million consumers and a total consumer expenditure of US$ 1.5 trillion in 2014, which offers unique opportunities across the region and by country.”

The ASEAN consumer market is expected to expand rapidly, with total consumer expenditure forecast to grow by 105% in real terms between 2015 and 2030 – equivalent to an average annual real growth of 4.9% in real terms. By 2030, the ASEAN will be a market worth US$3.1 trillion in constant 2014 prices.

In 2014, an average Singaporean household spent US$72,421, compared to only US$3,398 in Myanmar. However, those ASEAN countries with lower average household spending such as Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia are expected to record some of the strongest growth in total consumer expenditure through to 2030 due to rapid economic growth, increasing trade and investment and rising disposable incomes, Euromonitor believes.

“The ASEAN has excited consumer goods businesses not only with its exceptionally fast pace of economic development over the past decades, but also and more importantly because of its long-term potential as a collectively youthful and dynamic consumer market,” concludes Hodgson. “Southeast Asia is entering a new era and the commencement of the AEC at the end of 2015 will be the start of an exciting journey ahead.”

Interested?

Download the white paper

EU-ASEAN Business Council welcomes Joint Communication on EU-ASEAN partnership

The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the European Commission have adopted the Joint Communication The EU and ASEAN: a partnership with a strategic purpose. The Joint Communication aims to boost EU-ASEAN relations, providing a clear framework for sectoral cooperation.

Key proposals and commitments in the Joint Communication include:

· Taking trade relations with ASEAN to a different level and working towards an ambitious region-to-region free trade agreement (FTA) building on bilateral agreements between the EU and ASEAN member states;

· Stepping up cooperation on connectivity by exchanging lessons learned and by mobilising the financial means and expertise to support ASEAN efforts, including on the single market and through negotiating a civil aviation agreement;

· Strengthening collaboration on climate change and initiating a new, dedicated EU-ASEAN policy dialogue on environment and sustainable development;

· More than doubling EU financial support for ASEAN integration (to 170 million Euros) which comes on top of the 2 billion Euros for ASEAN member states;

· Implementing an extensive package of new initiatives in the area of non-traditional security (maritime security, disaster management and crisis response, transnational crime, training courses on preventive diplomacy, crisis management, mediation, the rule of law and election observation).

The Communication dovetails closely with EU-ASEAN Business Council’s policy priorities. EU-ASEAN Business Council Executive Director Chris Humphrey said: "This is testament to the importance of the ASEAN region as a key driver of the global economy. ASEAN and Europe are natural partners and are undertaking their own processes of economic integration. Europe is the largest investor into ASEAN, and is the region's second largest trading partner. This new commitment will build on the already strong trade and investment relationship. The EU-ABC looks forward to working closely with the European Commission to make the commitments in the Joint Communication a reality".

DBS named one of the world's top 25 companies for leaders by Aon Hewitt

DBS Bank has been recognised as one of the world’s top 25 companies for leaders by Aon Hewitt. Ranked 18th in The 2014 Aon Hewitt Global Top Companies for Leaders, the bank is the top ranking Singapore-based organisation that was named to the list. DBS is also named a winner of The 2014 Aon Hewitt Top Companies for Leaders in South East Asia.

Said Lee Yan Hong, Managing Director of DBS Group Human Resource: “As a bank born and bred in Asia, DBS believes in building a strong pipeline of leaders who will help shape the future of banking. We have a comprehensive programme in place that helps identify and groom the next few generations of leaders across the bank. We are pleased to be recognised as one of the top companies for leaders globally. To be the highest-ranked Singapore-based company on the list is a further testament of our talent development strategy.”

Winners of The 2014 Aon Hewitt Global Top Companies for Leaders were selected and ranked based on a number of criteria, including strength of leadership practices and culture, examples of leader development on a global scale, alignment of business and leadership strategy, company reputation, business and financial performance.

DBS’ talent development strategy is centred around grooming talents to meet current and future business needs, including succession planning for key leadership positions. The bank has a programme in place to identify and engage talents at different levels across the bank. Its talent pool comprises young talents to senior professionals who are offered a differentiated development experience and training roadmaps based on needs and career aspirations at each stage.

Through the bank’s internal mobility programme, talents are mobilised to work on key projects or rotated into roles in DBS’ six key markets, enabling them to gain greater exposure, knowledge and experience. Every year, one third of talents leverage these mobility opportunities to gain a broader perspective and in-depth knowledge of the bank.

To ensure a holistic development experience, these future leaders also participate in talent conferences, external programmes, mentoring or coaching. Through these development opportunities, they are able to build a strong network with their peers.

In order to continually innovate and position itself as the Asian bank of choice, it is also important for the bank to achieve corporate diversity among its talent pool. In addition to hiring talents from non-banking background, the bank also hires more than 200 new graduates from a range of backgrounds and disciplines through its six talent programmes for recent graduates.

With technology rapidly changing the way people interact with banks, the diversity in its leadership talent pool helps DBS identify and act on opportunities to shape the future of banking. To help leaders make a mindset shift, the bank organises innovative learning experiences such as hackathons that encourage them to adopt an outside-in perspective. These mindset changes led to the development of banking services such as DBS PayLah!, an mobile wallet application for peer-to-peer payments in Singapore.

Lee added: “As the digital banking evolution continues to unfold, it is important to ensure that our leaders are well-equipped with the knowledge and skill sets to identify and act on opportunities and threats. By bringing talents with different expertise together, we are able to create even greater value to our customers.”

“In today’s complex and unpredictable business landscape, Top Companies for Leaders are passionate about cultivating resilient and engaging leaders who take the time to know and develop their talent and understand what experiences they need to rise above the rest,” said Pete Sanborn, Aon Hewitt Global Talent practice leader. 

Conducted six times since 2001, The Aon Hewitt Global Top Companies for Leaders study is a comprehensive analysis of talent management and leadership practices of organisations around the world. This year, nearly 180 companies from North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America participated in the study.

Final adidas Originals = PHARRELL WILLIAMS delivery for 2014 coming 28 November

The final adidas Originals = PHARRELL WILLIAMS product delivery for 2014 – with additional drops to follow in 2015 – finds Pharrell toying with the classic polka dot: a bold, fun print motif that signals both energy and joy. 

Source: adidas Originals. The Polka Dot Pack includes Stan Smith sneakers.

The Polka Dot Pack launches across Southeast Asia on November 28, and includes Stan Smith sneakers in leather. The Polka Dot Pack aims to express the most profound joy of all: love. With its youthful, uplifting spirit, offering imagery and styling that are approachable and “real”, the Polka Dot Pack strives to communicate the key tenet of the continued collaboration.

“Equality is love visualised. It is a symbol and action of affection. Equality is everything from a greeting to a declaration of true love. In all its forms – it is acceptance, it is love, it is strength,” says Pharrell Williams. 

The collection will arrive in a palette of yellow, blue and fresh white with small-scale red dots, with the sneakers priced at S$169. The sneakers will be available at the adidas Originals Stores in Singapore at Pacific Plaza, Bugis+, 313 Somerset, JEM as well as Limited Edition at 313 Somerset and Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. 

Hashtag: #adidas, #adidasOriginals, #Pharrell

Imperial Hotel, Japan eyes Southeast Asian arrivals

Source: Imperial Hotel website.

Japan's venerable Imperial Hotel has opened of its first full-service sales office in Southeast Asian to reinforce marketing efforts for the ASEAN region. Imperial Hotel, Ltd. operates the world famous Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, founded in 1890, the new riverside Imperial Hotel, Osaka, as well as several smaller second tier brand hotels and a 75-room mountain resort in the Japan Alps. 

Acknowledging that visa requirements for Japan have been relaxed in many countries in Southeast Asia, the Imperial's Singapore office, headed by Tokyo's former Asian Market General Manager Shohei Sekido, will focus on affluent individual travelers and a broad corporate market, including sales around conferences, seminars, regional government assemblies and incentive travel to Japan. 

Foreign arrivals have increased from North America and Asia and make up 40% of the flagship Imperial's market against the backdrop of a continuously depreciating yen. With accommodations for visitors from Asia now on the rise, The Imperial Hotel in the capital and The Imperial Hotel in Osaka are jointly targeting an increase of 40% in such revenue by 2020, compared with 2013.

Imperial Hotel also has sales offices in New York and a general sales agent in Taiwan. Sales aimed at mainland China, South Korea and Taiwan are directed from Tokyo headquarters. 

NetNames opens online brand protection services to companies in SE Asia, Australia

NetNames is offering Southeast Asian and Australian corporations more direct access to its online brand protection services through the acquisitions of Adicio, its long-time partner in Singapore, and WebIP, a corporate domain name management firm in Australia. 

According to NetNames, online brand protection services are used by global brands to prevent counterfeit sales and other forms of online brand infringement.  

Chan Loy Lye, Founder and Managing Director of Adicio, who will continue to lead the business under the NetNames brand, said: "Our partnership with Netnames enabled customers to register domains across every territory worldwide. Extending this to encompass brand protection services comes just at a time when customers are aware of the threats of online piracy leading to the need to safeguard their intellectual property." 
Gary McIlraith, CEO of NetNames said: "We are seeing growth in the number, scale and global reach of brands domiciled in the Southeast Asia region and we believe that there will be an increasing demand from corporates in the region for the comprehensive and integrated set of online brand protection services that NetNames provides to many large companies in Europe and the US." 

In addition, companies in Singapore and Australia will also have access to NetNames' global domain name registration platform, enabling them to work with a single partner to register and manage domain names with direct accreditation in virtually every domain registry worldwide.

Innovators under 35 Singapore seeking Southeast Asian, ANZ applicants

EmTech Singapore is seeking ten innovators under the age of 35 from Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand who exemplify the spirit of innovation in business and technology to highlight as part of the Innovators Under 35 Singapore competition. Those associated with breakthroughs, innovations, and significant impact on their target audiences are the people whom Innovators Under 35 Singapore want to see.

Innovators Under 35 has been organised by MIT Technology Review since 1999, and honoured some of the world’s most brilliant minds such as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, JB Straubel of Tesla, Silicon Valley veteran investor Marc Andreessen and Nobel laureate Konstantin Novoselov.

Innovators Under 35 Singapore is the regional segment of the global competition. The aim is to recognise young researchers and entrepreneurs who are using technology to come up with creative and inspirational projects to provide solutions to real problems. 

Ten honourees will be chosen by a panel of judges and the editors of Technology Review, and automatically enter the global competition.
 
The scope covered is very wide; the organisers say anyone who has developed a project based on technological innovation and applied research in any field of research will be considered. Categories include biomedicine, computing, communications, energy, materials, web and Internet, as well as transportation.
Anyone who is a citizen or current resident of a Southeast Asian country, Australia or New Zealand and who is also under the age of 35 as of 1 October 2015 is eligible to join. Nominations close on 22 August, and self-nominations are accepted. More information can be found here.

Talented Southeast Asia unique in focusing on talent management in Southeast Asia

PageUp People, a multinational talent management solutions provider, has launched Talented Southeast Asia, the only publication solely focused on talent management in Southeast Asia. The book addresses key challenges and the future outlook for employers, consolidated from over 100 interviews conducted over a 12 month period with business and human resource (HR) leaders. 

“Southeast Asia is a unique region with distinct characteristics, and each market is different in the way these multinationals manage, motivate and engage their talent. It has been a remarkable journey over the last 12 months, and we are thankful to our contributors for sharing their rich experience so openly and unreservedly with us,” says Sylvia Vorhauser-Smith, PageUp People’s Senior Vice President of Global Research and co-author of the book. 

“By 2050, Asia will house 52% of the global workforce. The core purpose of Talented Southeast Asia is to provide ideas to large organisations that will further accelerate their goal of achieving business success through talent management excellence.”

Talented Southeast Asia is a thought leadership initiative of PageUp People Global Research and explores the experiences and lessons of 50 top multinationals with existing operations in the region. Through in-depth interviews with contributors, Talented Southeast Asia identifies the top ten priorities in talent management. 

Vorhauser-Smith, left. and Carriss, right.

The need to attract, develop and retain organisational talent accounts for 75% of these top priorities for business and HR leaders in Southeast Asia. Other priorities include leadership, succession planning and business transformation. In addition, the five regional themes that emerged are:

1. Balancing global consistency with regional autonomy – 63% of contributors felt having regional autonomy for talent management decisions and processes was critical 

2. Embracing the complexities of the region – HR executives need to understand the unique labour market nuances of each country, adding to the complexity of their roles 

3. Respecting eastern values and cultures – 89% felt the ability to understand and work within the local culture was key 

4. Leaders need ‘agile heads, hearts and hands’ – the complexities of Southeast Asia demand business leaders with a distinct set of leadership capabilities 

5. Changing mindsets change the workforce – the mindset of the Southeast Asian digital natives are already evolving away from traditional ways of working 

In order to address this young and highly connected workforce, Talented Southeast Asia also reveals the changing practices being adopted in talent attraction, engagement and retention. "Fresh Practices" outlined in the book include the increased use of innovative models such as learning management systems powered by social networks, gamified learning, mobile interfaces for task management, and real-time performance evaluation and feedback. 

“Southeast Asia has a youthful population, ranging on average, between 23 and 35 years. This is the new generation of always-on employees and HR executives are transforming their systems to keep up with this trend. Technology innovation plays a critical role in this transformation and billions of dollars are being invested to this end globally,” said Karen Cariss, co-author of the book and CEO of PageUp People. 

Over 50 companies including Bosch, BHP Billiton, Deloitte, Dentsu Aegis Networks, DHL, Mastercard, Hilton Worldwide, Pandora, and Sony participated in the interview process, across six countries: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Participating firms are global corporations with a significant presence in two or more of these ASEAN 6 countries.  

The authors will be available for meet-and-greets at:

HR Technology Conference & Exposition 
October 7 - 10, 2014 
Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, USA 

To order the book, click the "buy now" button here or visit the Amazon page here.  

*Images from PageUp People.