Forbes Asia

forbes asia

CEO William Adamopoulos Senior Vice President Tina Wee Executive Directors Eugene Wong, Aarin Chan, Janelle Kuah, James Sundram Director, Circulation Eunice Soo Sales Directors Michelle Ong, Lindsay Williams, Janice Ang Deputy Director, Marketing & Research Joan Low Deputy Director, Circulation Pavan Kumar Deputy Director, Events & Communications Audra Ruyters Deputy Director, Conferences Jolynn Chua Senior Manager, Events & Communications Melissa Ng Senior Manager, Ad Services – Digital Keiko Wong Senior Manager, Marketing & Research Chow Sin Yee Office Manager/Assistant to the CEO Jennifer Chung Ad Services Manager Fiona Carvalho Conference Managers Clarabelle Chaw, Cherie Wong Assistant Manager, Marketing & Research Gwynneth Chan Assistant Manager, Conferences Peh Ying Si Office Manager – Hong Kong Megan Cheung Advertising Executive Sharon Joseph Advertising Coordinator Hazel Liu Circulation Services Taynmoli Karuppiah Sannassy, Jennifer Yim Editor Justin Doebele Executive Editor Wayne Arnold Asia Wealth Editor & India Editor Naazneen Karmali Senior Editors Jonathan Burgos, Robert Olsen Senior Editor-Special Projects Rana…

people power

Forbes has long focused on people, and the power of individuals in building companies, creating wealth and powering economies. The two lists in this issue amply demonstrate this approach. The first is the rebooted Asia’s Power Businesswomen list, with a new group of 25 women from around Asia. The second is the list of the Philippines’ 50 richest people. Both lists show how individuals can make a difference in the business community. The 25 women listed provide inspiration to all of us. The list was composed to include those on the rise as well as firmly established. All of them will help shape the future of business in Asia. Thanks go to Rana Wehbe, Senior Editor-Special Projects, for editing this list. Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao is a fitting example of the…

a matchless man: malcolm forbes

MY FATHER, BORN 100 YEARS AGO last August, would have been right at home in this era of social media, a time when what we call “branding” is more important than ever. The internet relentlessly commoditizes everything, and unless you have a distinct product or service, your company will wither. MSF would have thrived! Pop’s ballooning, motorcycling, boating, collecting and entertaining, as well as his creating and orchestrating memorable events, all had the goal of making Forbes synonymous with entrepreneurial success and the good life. It worked. When he took over the company after his older brother Bruce’s untimely death from cancer, Forbes was barely known outside the U.S. business world. By the time Pop died in 1990, the Forbes name had achieved a powerfully positive image worldwide that companies many…

a rare breed

The late Steve Jobs had an explanation for the decline of once-great tech companies. He told biographer Walter Isaacson: “The company does a great job, innovates and becomes a monopoly or close to it in some field, and then the quality of the product becomes less important. The company starts valuing the great sales-men, because they’re the ones who can move the needle on revenues, not the product engineers and designers. So, the salespeople end up running the company.” That was Microsoft under former CEO Steve Ballmer, who helmed the company from 2000 to 2014. Though Microsoft grew under Ballmer, its power weakened as Ballmer dismissed breakthrough innovations. In 2014, Satya Nadella replaced Ballmer, who has steered Microsoft to the cloud and AI. Microsoft is again the world’s most valuable company.…

dangerous addiction

The first step in rehabilitating an alcoholic is to get them to admit that they are an alcoholic. The same is true for curing the addiction to cheap money in an economy. Today, Europe, Japan and the U.S. are dangerously addicted to cheap money. Not only is there no admission of the addiction, these economies’ central banks are set to indefinitely maintain low or zero interest rates. As a consequence, about one-quarter of sovereign and corporate bonds worldwide, Bloomberg data shows, are trading with an implied yield below zero. The U.S. Federal Reserve’s failure to normalize rates illustrates this addiction. The Fed started raising interest rates in December 2015, after keeping its benchmark Fed Funds Rate at 0.25% (effectively zero) for seven years. By December 2018, it had climbed to 2.5%,…

steward leadership

Capitalism and business innovations have been the major driving forces behind economic and social progress. But concurrently, they have contributed to environmental risks, widening social, economic and knowledge disparity. Increasingly, businesses are expected by society and their own stakeholders to practise a more responsible form of capitalism—profit as the only priority is no longer viable. The Value of Steward Leadership Businesses of today and tomorrow must demonstrate they possess the moral and social license to operate to be successful over generations. Steward leadership refers to the leadership will to build such an organization—translating vision into action—to impact community and society positively for a better future for all. Steward leaders lead with impact, safeguard the future and drive social good by focusing on people and relationships. By putting human purpose at the center of…