The Knowledge to Decide

Spire discusses e-commerce strategies suited to the Indonesia market Spire was honoured to participate at the GATES Indonesia ICT Reseller Channel Summit 2018. The Summit was held on 1-3 May, 2018 in Bali. Jeffrey Bahar, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Spire Research and Consulting group and Indah Muliana, Senior Manager, shared insights on the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry in Indonesia, focusing on market trends and challenges. Bahar and Muliana discussed the growth of the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) market, its rapid expansion and the challenges faced by e-commerce businesses in Indonesia. Due to the rise in internet penetration with more online transactions, Indonesia’s ICT spending is expected to reach USD28.4 billion by 2020 whereas end-user device spending is set to increase 18% by 2020. As Indonesia’s internet user population reaches 143.26 million in 2017, 90% are using smartphones and close to 65% peop

Spire Research and Consulting group’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Bahar was honoured to be a guest speaker at the International Franchise Conference 2018. The conference was held on 21 April 2018 in Kuala Lumpur, organized by the Malaysian Franchise Association. Jeffrey Bahar shared insights on the growth of the regional retail industry, focusing on key trends and the attractiveness of various emerging markets across Asia. With global retail sales set to rise from USD25 trillion in 2018 to USD28 trillion in 2020, the Asia Pacific is expected to record USD10 trillion in retail sales by the end of 2018. Bahar highlighted that Asian players were also among the top 250 global retailers in 2016, with China’s e-commerce player JD.com and Japan’s retailer Seven & I Holdings at the 28th and 20th rankings respectively. With technology development, urbanization and the rise in working women, customers are demanding more innovative services, and retailers are responding. For e

Spire returns as the Official Research partner for GATES Indonesia ICT Reseller Channel Summit 2018 once more! The summit will be held between 1-3 May at the Grand Mirage Resorts & Thalasso, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia. As one of the research partners, Spire will address the growing impact of online businesses on traditional retail channels in Indonesia. With such crucial information, vendors can prepare for opportunities and challenges head on. The channel industry in Indonesia still continues to face difficulties handling growth, industry consolidation, changing user expectations as well as technological landscape transformations. Join us to get insights directly from channel partners of well known vendors like Intel, Red Hat, Cisco and so much more! Register today! https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/events/gates-indonesia-ict-reseller-channel-summit-2018-returns/

Spire Research and Consulting was invited to join the ‘Meet The Beneficiaries’ event organized by Yayasan myNADI with Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Abdul Razak as the guest of honor. The presentation was held on 24 March 2018 at Putrajaya with over 600 guests – mostly beneficiaries. Datuk Dr Jeyaindran Tan Sri Sinnadurai, Chairman of Yayasan myNADI discussed the impact study of DiverseCity International Kuala Lumpur Festival (KLIAF) 2017 jointly conducted by Spire Research and Consulting and the Nottingham University Business School. Jeffrey Bahar (Regional Advisory, Deputy Chief Executive Officer), Yap Far Loon (Lead Consultant), Haries Salim (Assistant Manager) and Nathalia Setiawan (Senior Consultant) joined the beneficiary event as supporters of KLIAF. Datin Sunita Rajkumar, the festival director of KLIAF, briefed and handed a copy of KLIAF’s Post Event report to Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib. https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/events/sp

O n 15 March, Spire and Yamada Consulting Group (YCG) jointly organized a breakfast seminar in Singapore for Japanese speakers, to share insights on Mergers & Acquisition (M&A) deals in Vietnam and investment trends for market entry. An English language seminar on the same theme was held the next day. The speakers were Leon Perera, Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting, Eiji Asano, incoming Director for YCG Vietnam and Hafidz Omar, Senior Manager at Spire Research and Consulting. The speakers discussed the impact of growing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as well as the keen interest in Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) in Vietnam. Vietnam’s economy racked up a USD15 billion positive trade balance from 2015 with manufacturing, metals and textiles as the top export industries. Most of Vietnam’s FDI came from Asian countries like the Republic of Korea, China and Singapore. The speakers discussed pull factors for investors, like competitive

Spire Research and Consulting group’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Bahar was honored to be appointed as moderator at the Internet Retailing EXPO Indonesia 2018, organized by Clarion Events. The summit was held on 26 October 2017 in Jakarta. It discussed growth opportunities for Indonesia’s online grocery sector. Jeffrey Bahar, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Spire Research and Consulting group, moderated the discussion panel on measuring the growth of e-commerce for Food & Beverage brands in Indonesia. The growth of online grocery sales in Indonesia and comparison to Southeast Asia markets were discussed, with retail giants such as PepsiCo, Nestlé Indonesia and Mondelēz International sharing their insights. https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/events/spire-moderates-session-on-indonesias-online-grocery-at-the-internet-retailing-expo-indonesia-2018/

Spire was honored to participate in the second webinar series organized by Global Supply Chain Council (GSCC) as a guest speaker. The webinar was held on 20 December, 2017 in Hong Kong. Jeffrey Bahar, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Spire Research and Consulting group shared his insights on cross-border e-commerce challenges and trends for payment and logistics transactions across Southeast Asia. In his presentation, Bahar shared his insights on potential of cross-border e-commerce transactions in South-East Asia, with a focus on challenges involving payment and logistics issues. Bahar mentioned that the e-commerce market represents potential for growth due to the rise in internet users across ASEAN-6 countries (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines) as of 2016. Product purchases (in millions) were highest for Vietnam (33.26), the Philippines (30.34) and Indonesia (24.74) with clothing, accessories as well as footwear amongst the top 5 p

Spire Singapore hosted its second Client Entertainment Night of the year. Our business associates and partners joined us for a dinner reception followed by the movie screening of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” – the eight episode of the Star Wars saga. The event was held at Cathay Cineleisure Orchard. It was an opportunity for everyone to let their hair down and take a break from the office. In the movie, Daisy Ridley (Rey) develops her newly discovered abilities with Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) trying to establish contact with the Jedi legend – unsettled by the strength of Daisy’s powers. Meanwhile, the Resistance – led by Carrie Fisher (Leia) – prepares for battle with the First Order. The highly anticipated blockbuster, the good food and even better company made for a great evening enjoyed by all. https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/events/spire-client-entertainment-night-december-2017/

Spire Research and Consulting sponsored the Global Brand Protection Innovation Programme’s (GBPIP) Intellectual Property Summit Asia 2017 held in Bangkok, Thailand from 14 to 15 December 2017. The Spire team shared our track record in brand protection performance management and consulting with event participants. The GBPIP summit aimed to study the global challenges manufacturers face from counterfeiters and look-alike products, discussing current and emerging best practices used to protect brands from unsafe imitations. Leon Perera, CEO of Spire Research and Consulting and Japnit Singh, Deputy CEO at Spire Research and Consulting attended the event to engage with event participants. They shared Spire’s extensive experience in the brand protection space, which includes counterfeit share measurement, brand protection program ROI measurement and anti-counterfeit consulting. https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/events/spire-sponsors-gbpips-intellectual-property-summit-as

Spire Singapore collaborated with the Singapore Children’s Society (SCS) for the seventh consecutive year, in support of AmCham Singapore’s Corporate Community Day (CCD) 2017. This marks a decade of Spire’s continuous participation in the CCD program, which aims to advocate corporate volunteerism. Spire Singapore took beneficiaries of the Singapore Children’s Society to an indoor theme park at KidZania in Sentosa which provided children with the chance to role-play real world jobs and earn play money via activities such as Sticky Candy, MV Filming and Kiss 92 radio station. A short dance performance followed by a ‘Draw my ambition’ exercise gave Spire team members an opportunity to interact with the children via confidence-building activities. Spire is immensely proud to support the noble and vital work of the Singapore Children’s Society, our CCD partner. https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/events/spire-joins-amcham-corporate-community-day-for-tenth-consecutive-

Spire Research and Consulting’s Director Yap Far Loon was honored to be appointed as moderator at the 4th South-East Asia Port Expansion Summit 2017 organized by the Noppen Group. The summit was held on 26 October 2017 in Kuala Lumpur. It discussed challenges and opportunities in obtaining sustainable project financing. Yap Far Loon, Business Development Director, Public Sector, Financial Services and ICT for Spire Research and Consulting, moderated the discussion panel on financing for port expansion projects. He focused the discussion on challenges and innovative business models for Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). For successful PPPs, the roles and responsibilities need to be defined clearly to all stakeholders. Local partners should also be given concessionaire flexibility to add intangible business value. Yap also shared his insights on practical business models for PPPs and how exit-based PPP models can dilute private sector investment through the listing of PP

On 5 September, Yamada Business Consulting (YBC) organized a seminar in Tokyo, attended by close to 300 Japan-based executives, to discuss the potential and pitfalls of cross-border Mergers & Acquistions (M&A). Leon Perera, Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting, joined the concluding panel together with Patrick Becker, MD of Shanghai-based M&A advisory firm Bexuco and Yukuo Takenaka, head of US-based consultancy Takenaka Partners. Leon and the other panelists discussed the experience of cross-border M&A transactions by Japanese firms. The panel shared their views on the effectiveness of Japanese corporations in identifying and executing M&A deals as well as running effective post-merger integration (PMI). The speakers gave insights on key factors to consider when going ahead with a deal. These included paying sufficient attention to human factors, not “over-researching” the target company and navigating the challenges of some M&A

Spire Research and Consulting was honored to be appointed as the Official Research Partner for DiverseCity’s Kuala Lumpur (KL) International Arts Festival (KLIAF) 2017 – an ambitious program of performing and visual arts to showcase the diverse, complex, yet rich nuances of the country and its people. The event organizer, DiverseCity, along with Spire and the University of Nottingham, conducted a survey to draw out participant feedback and generate fact-based insights to improve the development of the arts landscape in Malaysia. Jeffrey Bahar (Regional Advisory, Deputy Chief Executive Officer), Yap Far Loon (Lead Consultant), Iqmal Roslin (Project Manager) and John Yam (Country Manager for Spire Malaysia) worked on the project. The KL International Arts Festival encompassed a range of concerts, performances, showcases and workshops from global artists in five genres: music, dance, theatre, literature and the visual arts, across 20 venues in Kuala Lumpur. To genera

On 15 June, Spire and Yamada Business Consulting (YBC) jointly held a seminar at The Japanese Association in Singapore to give insights on emerging trends for India’s economy. The seminar aimed to raise understanding of market opportunities in light of events such as the roll-out of GST in India and President Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S elections. Yasuyuki (Luke) Kita, General Manager at Yamada Business Consulting Singapore, addressed the session to discuss current business trends in India in light of developments such as Trump’s victory in the U.S. election. Kita-san highlighted the impact on India’s economy of the recent Rupee demonetization of high-value currency notes, the introduction of a single Goods and Services Tax (GST) along with the Make In India initiative launched by the government to attract more investors. He also highlighted the Digital India Program, which aims to transform the nation into a digitally empowered society, nurturing startups and c

As more users explore e-shopping and e-payment options, retailers are transforming the online e-shopping experience in Indonesia. Jeffrey Bahar, Group Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Spire Research and Consulting group, was honored to be a guest speaker at GATES Indonesia ICT Reseller Channel Summit 2017 on e-commerce opportunities in Indonesia. In his presentation, Bahar shared his insights on the growth of modern retail turnover in Indonesia, focusing on consumer trends and the e-payment eco-system. Bahar mentioned that the growth of modern retail for 2017 was 10%, contributing 5.4% to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). With 88.1 million internet users in 2016 (34% of Indonesia’s population), the number of Indonesian online shoppers grew from 7.4 million in 2015 to 8.7 million in 2016. Methods used to pay for on-demand services in 2016 were cash (69%), e-money via applications (28%) and credit cards (12.46%). Bahar’s presentation deck on “E-commerce in Ind

Spire Singapore hosted its first Client Entertainment Night of the year. Our business associates and partners joined us for a dinner reception followed by the movie screening of “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” – Disney’s fifth instalment in the Pirates franchise. The event was held at Cathay Add to dictionary Orchard. It was an opportunity for everyone to let their hair down and take a break from the office. In the movie, Johnny Depp returned to the big screen as the iconic anti-hero Jack Sparrow. Captain Jack is down on his luck when deadly ghost sailors escape – led by the terrifying Captain Salazar – determined to kill every pirate at sea. His only hope lies in the Trident of Poseidon. The highly anticipated adventure flick, the good food and even better company made for a great evening enjoyed by all. https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/events/spire-client-entertainment-night-may-2017-2/