HOW ASIA WILL CHANGE THE WORLD

Jack Ma, Alibaba

WE ARE WITNESSING – IN OUR LIFETIME –

THE RISE OF ASIA.

THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS THE RISE

OF THE “ASIAN CENTURY”.

HOW MUCH MORE?

THE ONLY MODEL WE HAVE THAT PROVIDES,

BOTH, AN IDEA OF VALUE AS WELL AS REVEALS THE

SCOPE AND SCALE OF OUTCOMES, IS THE

“AMERICAN CENTURY”

The “American” Century changed the world - culturally

INSIGHT #1:THAT BRANDS

GO BEYOND BUSINESS & COMMERCE. THAT THEY CAN AND DO

ALSO REPRESENT IDEAS AND EVEN PEOPLE.

INSIGHT #2: THAT POWERFUL

BRANDS ARE CAPABLE OF

DEFINING PEOPLE

The “American” Century changed the world -culturally

IF “GREAT” BRANDS ARE PEOPLE

DEFINING, THEN ASIA IS AWASH WITH

MERELY “GOOD” BRANDS.*

*Japanese brands lie outside of the calculus

HOW DO THE MORE PROMISING

ASIAN BRANDS BREAK THE GLASS

CEILING AND TRANSITION TO

PEOPLE-DEFINING GREAT BRANDS?

QUESTION

ANSWER

VIA TRULY GREAT LEADERSHIP THAT WILL

REQUIRE 2 THINGS:

1. VISION, and2. UNCONVENTIONAL

THINKING

VISION

RECOGNIZE & UNDERSTAND THE SCOPE,

SCALE AND PACE OF GLOBAL CHANGE

1.

THE EFFECT OF HYPER-COMPETITION

TECHNOLOGY AND GLOBALIZATION HAVE

IMPROVED PRODUCTS TO THE POINT OF COMMODITIZING THEM AGAIN. AS A RESULT

PEOPLE NOW EXPECT MORETHAN JUST FUNCTIONAL

EXCELLENCE

a 3600

shift

VISION1.

UNCONVENTIONAL THINKING

2.

RECOGNIZE THAT CHANGE WILL MEAN NOT JUST DIFFERENT CUSTOMER

EXPECTATIONS, BUT ALSO DIFFERENT WAYS FOR THE

COMPANY TO DELIVER THESE

THERE WILL BE OUTLIER VISIONARY ASIAN

ENTREPRENEURS WHO WILL INITIALLY WALK ALONE.

THEY WILL BLAZE A TRAIL OTHERS WILL EVENTUALLY

FOLLOW.

THEY WILL WIN FOR

2 REASONS:

BRAND PURPOSE

CORPORATE CULTURE

2.1.

CUSTOMERS

INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS

WINNERS WILL RECOGNIZE THE NEW CONSUMER

LANDSCAPE REALITIES AND PRIORITIZE “PURPOSE” AS A

DRIVER OF BRAND DIFFERENTIATION

1.

INCREASINGLYPEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR

BRANDS THAT MATTER TO THEM IN A RELEVANT WAY.

WINNERS WILL RECOGNIZE THAT BRAND PURPOSE CAN INCLUDE

BUT WILL NOT NECESSARILY ALWAYS NEED TO BE ABOUT

SAVING THE WORLD.DIRECT RELEVANCE TO ME

CSR

THE NEW

OF BRAND PURPOSE

1.

THE ENGINE OF A COMPANY ARE ITS PEOPLE.

THE PROBLEM: RIGHT NOW TOO MANY ASIAN COMPANIES HAVE CULTURES THAT

REPRESS EMPLOYEE EXPRESSION, CONTRIBUTIONS, EXPERIMENTATION AND

INITIATIVE.

THE ABSENCE OF INCLUSIVE, ENABLING CULTURES UNDERMINES THE BRAND’S

ABILITY TO APPEAL TO CONSUMERS AND COMPROMISES THE COMPANY’S ABILITY TO

INNOVATE.

2.

CORPORATE CULTURE IS A LOW HANGING FRUIT

WHY?

1. THE EXISTENCE OF HISTORICAL SOCIO-CULTURAL MARKERS THAT TRANSLATE INTO BEHAVIOURAL NORMS – BOTH OUTSIDE AS

WELL AS INSIDE THE COMPANY: PEOPLE ARE CONDITIONED TO “KNOW THEIR PLACE”.

2. A COMMON CEO MANAGEMENT MIND-SET THAT REINFORCES THAT CONDITIONING.

REGARDLESS OF CULTURAL SPECIFITY (FROM CONFUCIAN TO ISLAMIC) MANAGEMENT

STYLES ARE PATRIARCHAL AND HIERARCHICAL FAVORING COMMAND-

CONTROL MODELS

TWO REASONS:2.

THIS IS HOW WINNERS WILL SOLVE IT:

THEY WILL RECOGNIZE THE ROLE OF CULTUREAS THE ENGINES OF THEIR COMPANIES. THEY

WILL SHUT OUT EXTERNAL SOCIETAL CULTURAL MARKERS AND CREATE INTERNAL

“SAFE ZONES” THAT WILL ENCOURAGE EXPERIMENTAL THINKING AND

COLABORATIVE AND COOPERATIVE TEAMWORK.

THEY WILL DO THIS CONFIDENTLY IN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE

DRIVEN TO WANTING “MORE” BY KEY BODY CHEMICALS.

2.

GLOBAL

TRENDS

BRAND

PURPOSE

DYNAMIC

INTERNAL

CORPORATE

CULTURES

GREAT

ASIAN

BRANDS

DEFINE PEOPLE ALL

OVER THE WORLD

TURBO-

CHARGE

ASIAN

ECONOMIES

THE ASIAN ENTREPRENEURIAL

CEO: INVOLVED, INSPIRING AND

ENABLINGRISE OF THE

ASIAN CENTURY

2

1FUNDAMENTAL BUT CRITICAL PILLARS THAT WILL SUPPORT ALL BRANDS ON THEIR JOURNEY TO GREATNESS

2THE ROADMAP

“We (therefore) need to focus on our own people.

Develop their brains which will deliver innovation.”

“Our core competence is culture. We have 20,000 people

(working at Alibaba) and we focus on the values and the

mission… making sure that we build a culture that is about

working to help others instead of just making money.

Unlike Wall Street we believe customers No 1, employees

No 2 and shareholders No 3…this is my religion… it’s the

employees that drive innovation .. during crisis time they

(shareholders) ran away, my customers stayed, my people

stayed.”

Jack Ma, Chairman of Alibaba

On employees: “Continuous improvement…life

long learning and purpose…happy staff, happy

customers”

Ron Sim, Chairman & CEO of OSIM

On brand: “our people drive the brand and the

brand motivates people…”

“How you build can also destroy the environment, and how you

integrate yourself with the community can also destroy the social

cultural environment…With that great sense of responsibility, we

wanted to do good and as we did that, we began to realize

consumers like to link their purchasing power with their values.

More importantly, our associates like to be identified with a

company that reflects their values.”

Ho Kwon Ping, Executive Chairman, Banyan Tree Holdings

THE OUTLIERS ARE ALREADY MAKING A

MARK.

THE CATALYSTS WILL BE NEW GENERATION ASIAN CEO

ENTREPRENEURS. GIVEN THE BACKDROP OF THE WORLD THEY ARE INHERITING,

THIS NEW BREED OF LEADERS MAY END UP DOING MORE THAN CREATE GREAT

BRANDS WE BUY AND USE. THEY MAY WELL HELP SAVE

THE WORLD.

THE ASIAN CENTURYWILL ONLY MATERIALIZE IF ASIAN BRANDS GREAT

ENOUGH TO DEFINE PEOPLE RISE AND SHAPE THE FABRIC OF GLOBAL CULTURE.

brandASiANb u s i n e s s & b r a n d i n g

In Singapore

brandasian@brandasian.com

www.BrandTalkAsia.com

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