For years, US, European and Japanese companies have been building up blue-collar and back-office operations and representative offices in places like mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore. Now top-level executives are joining them, increasing the amount of quality time they spend in those areas.
Surveys conducted by the Economist Corporate Network show just how rapidly the trend toward more Asia-based management has accelerated in recent years.
Not so long ago, said Ross O’Brien, director of the Economist Corporate Network’s Hong Kong office, the trend was about moving manufacturing to where the growth was. Now, “it’s about globalising your brand and your thinking,” O’Brien said.
“It’s hard to make a decision to invest when you are based in a region where belt-tightening is the order of the day,” he added, so being in Asia helps focus a company’s thinking on the region’s potential.
Hong Kong is not the only beneficiary of the trend.
Singapore, too, has attracted an expanding flock of top-level managers and divisional headquarters as companies seek to capitalise on the city-state’s highly educated work force. And while Hong Kong is seen as the gateway to mainland China, Singapore is an ideal stepping stone for Southeast Asia and India.(HOMING IN ON ASIA)
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At the other end of the spectrum, many top executives, rather than making Asia their home, are simply travelling to the region more frequently.
And in March, Goldman Sachs, in a nod to India’s growing importance, held a board meeting in New Delhi for the first time.
© 2012 The New York Times News Service