Much has been written about the megatrends in all aspects of management that have taken place over the last decade or so, but rarely, if ever, do they include Asian examples, and certainly not Asia-based solutions. Yet one of the greatest of these major megatrends is the movement in the global economic centre of gravity towards the East.
Asian Management Insights represents a bold, but necessary step on the part of Singapore Management University. Published by the Centre for Management Practice, it aims to develop a body of knowledge and a narrative of innovation and creativity for trends in Asian management. It brings together some of the best and the brightest of Asia’s thought leaders and their solutions to address current Asian challenges, and is focused squarely on Asia and the 60 percent plus of the world’s population that resides within a six-hour flight from Singapore.
For most of the contemporary world, these are uncertain, if not turbulent, times. But in Emerging Asia, which has grown from 14 percent of the world’s economy to more than 39 percent in a little over 50 years, these are also times of extraordinary opportunity and potential. While the economic clout of China and the established reputation of countries in East and North Asia are acknowledged, they frequently overshadow developments happening in, say, India, which has a median age of only 25—just ten years younger than China—and economies such as Indonesia, Vietnam, and soon Myanmar, which are among the world’s most exciting opportunities for growth. Policies throughout the region are also proving particularly adept at attracting FDI, despite the intrusion from time to time of the spectre of financial or political turbulence.
However, Asia’s economies have grown faster than its talent has developed, and human capital needs to be enhanced if key gaps in the region’s managerial expertise, knowledge and innovation are to be filled.
The first edition of Asian Management Insights provides insights and thought leadership from academics and practitioners on topics as diverse as unleashing creativity in a cross cultural environment to data analytics, in an effort to align the importance of Asia with the advancement of management science. Moreover, with great wealth comes even greater responsibility in the form of ethical and social considerations, a point noted by Ratan Tata.
Asia is a region with tremendous cultural, language, political, demographic, and financial diversity. Scholars, practitioners, and policy makers that ply their trade here are never surprised when another layer of the onion is peeled back—only to reveal yet another opportunity for local adaptation, as well as regional theories and findings that can be taken westward, rather than constantly trying to apply the dominant western theories in a Procrustean manner.
And while regulators, business practitioners and policy makers are challenged to create solutions, those of us in academia face another [perennial] challenge: the inspiration and skilling up of future generations of those regulators, policy makers and practitioners.
Asian Management Insights is quick to acknowledge the challenge and seeks to fill this critical knowledge gap by inviting colleagues and management professionals in the region and elsewhere to share their fresh new academic research, insights and experiences by submitting their articles for review and publication. In our upcoming issues, we encourage submissions from authors about the unique challenges and practices of Asia. Our next issue focuses on managing and practising in the volatile and turbulent environment that is often a feature of this region. Turbulence challenges regulators and policy makers to innovate novel prescriptions in strategy and its implementation. In Asia, the rigorous testing of the status quo has helped the region reinvent itself several times over during the last 50 years; and there are often great riches to be had for those who are able to thrive during turbulence.
As Editor-in-Chief, I would like to thank all our contributors and editorial team, as well as the administration at Singapore Management University, for the hard work that always goes into publication of a journal, especially the very first edition. And on behalf of the team, I take pleasure in welcoming you to our world of shared knowledge and actionable ideas.