INTHEBLACK April 2025 - Magazine - Page 42
P O D C AS T
WITH INTEREST PODCAST
SUBSCRIBE
The With Interest podcast features economic updates and developments
for the business world. Here are some highlights from a recent episode.
to the podcast
WHAT’S FUELING GROWTH IN ASIA?
Asia is a dynamic and rapidly growing market for businesses,
but it also presents unique challenges. Rob Law, GAICD and
director of advisory & insights at Asialink Business, discusses
the findings of Asialink’s Adapting to Uncertainty: Business
Trends in the Year of the Snake report, and explores business
conditions, emerging trends and opportunities across the region.
TRENDS DRIVING GROWTH
“On the opportunity side, the digital economy
was 55 per cent and rising consumer demand
was 54 per cent in terms of respondents
who thought that was an opportunity.”
“The third-ranked growth driver was
supply-chain diversification at 38 per cent.”
“I was a little surprised to see artificial
intelligence in fourth place at only 26 per cent.
Maybe that is a little bit to do with businesses
and their perceptions not yet catching up with
the hype of artificial intelligence.”
“Another one that was surprising was
we had a very low response for ESG and
sustainability at around 18 per cent.
[Businesses are] indicating that they don’t
see that as a big driver of opportunity in Asia
in 2025.”
BIGGEST CHALLENGES
“50 per cent of respondents indicated that
geopolitical risks would be the top challenge
in 2025. For anyone who’s been following
the news over the last few months or year,
nothing greatly surprising there.”
“The next one after geopolitical risks,
at 49 per cent, is competition from local
and international businesses. I think this
42 INTHEBLACK April 2025
ROB LAW, ASIALINK BUSINESS
is one that probably doesn’t get a lot of
attention in the media and in commentary,
but is certainly something that I hear time
and again from businesses as they are looking
to compete and grow in Asia. It is an intensely
competitive space. Business innovation and
speed-to-market is really fast and businesses
need to be quite agile to compete.”
MANAGING REGULATORY RISK
“Market intelligence is absolutely vital.
Much market intelligence you can gather
from doing research or having someone
do research on your behalf. But in some
of these markets, there are limits to how
much you can find out that way, and you
need to be on the ground in the market
and go out and engage people to understand
the complexities. Because sometimes the
way a regulation is written isn’t the way it
works in practice.”
“If you have a good local partner, then they
can really help you understand the nuances
around regulation and how to navigate it.
The last thing I’d say is the Australian
government, and the state governments as
well, can often help businesses understand
regulations and the complexities there.”
LISTEN
to the full
podcast episode
