Business Leaders in Asia Remain Confident

SHANGHAI, CN November 16, 2015 — Despite the expected softening in China, Asia Pacific will remain the most vibrant business region in 2016, according to over 80 C-level executives who took part in Market Insight 2016, a global leadership summit here.

International Monetary Fund reports expect the GDP of developing Asia markets to grow at 6.4% collectively, compared to a world average of 3.6%. China’s downward trend still leaves it with growth forecast over 6% in 2015, supported by India with 7.5% at and Indonesia for 5.1%.

The conference is one of a series held for business leaders in  Asia by Cornerstone International Group, a leading executive search and leadership development organization with 65 offices worldwide. It has seven offices in China and Taiwan.

Conference delegates managing businesses in China expect rising costs, organization and talent related challenges and intensified competition in 2016. However, they feel the environment still justifies strong growth strategies.

“We conducted a spot survey during the conference, “said James Ng, President of Cornerstone CEO Connection (CCC). “And the consensus was for sales growth of over 16% in 2016. That’s a strong number.”

According to Ng, the figure reflects the rapid penetration of domestic firms, especially in service sectors, into deeper markets within China as well as export markets such as India and Indonesia. Growth expectations in the mature sectors such as industry, inhabited by established Multinationals, are in the low single digits.

The optimism among local enterprises appears to be supported by recent research from the Financial Times indicating that 56.7% of Chinese consumers expected to spend more in September compared with 54.9% in August.

Information
James Ng
James-ng@cornerstone-group.com