The Knowledge to Decide

The ASEAN nations collectively – if considered a nation – would be the seventh largest economy in the world. Their combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is about USD2.4 trillion (as of 2015). ASEAN has a consumer base of more than 600 million, an expanding labor force and a rising Ecommerce industry. There is a growing need to streamline industrial inventories and develop an efficient logistics industry to aid increasingly complex supply chains. Will ASEAN’s logistics industry rise to the challenge? The growing wealth of ASEAN economies With rising costs in China, creeping political turbulence around the world and slower global growth, ASEAN is being seen as a haven of tranquillity by investors. ASEAN’s business sphere is not mature, dominated as it is by small and medium-sized enterprises. But the abundance of natural resources and cost-effective skilled labor has lured many companies to carry out manufacturing processes in this region. For instance, Thailand and Indon

Traffic congestion in densely population Asian cities is nothing new. To address this growing menace, emerging Asian economies continue to invest heavily in new transport infrastructure in cities like Jakarta, Manila and Ho Chi Minh City. For instance, Manila suffered annual economic losses of USD18 million due to road congestion. According to a recent study, Southeast Asian emerging states under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – excluding Laos, Brunei and Singapore – need an investment of USD147 billion each year in infrastructure through 2020 to maintain growth momentum. Will new infrastructure and traffic management technology address traffic congestion in emerging Asian economies? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/new-transport-systems-in-asian-cities-to-curb-traffic-congestion/

Can you imagine a life minus the hassle of chopping vegetables for cooking? A new concept of vegetable butchers in supermarkets in the U.S. is gaining popularity, providing shoppers’ quick alternatives for fresh produces that include deli, bakery, meat and seafood as well as produce sections. The compound annual growth rates, from 2011 to 2015 for value-added vegetables was 15%. These include vegetable trays, snacking vegetables, side dish vegetables as well as meal-prep vegetables. Will the concept of vegetable butchers pick up pace globally? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/future-of-fresh-in-supermarkets/

The African hair care industry has been among the fastest growing across the content over the past few years. The market is expected to grow in value to USD761 million by the end of 2017. Various factors are responsible for this steady growth, such as the global trend towards chemical-free hair products as well as growing acceptance of the natural texture and colour of African hair. However, the pricing model is a challenge. Natural hair products are generally made with higher quality ingredients, unlike cheaper petro-chemical based ones. The battle to persuade consumers to pay higher prices has not yet been concluded. Can Africa turbo-charge the global hair care industry? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/african-haircare-industry-surges-ahead/

Internet access among Cuba’s 11.2 million people is growing. Between 2013 and 2015, the share of the Cuban population using the internet jumped from about a quarter to more than 35%. This growing market has drawn the attention of internet giants, such as Airbnb, Netflix and Google. This trend has also fuelled activity among local entrepreneurs, who have launched domestic versions of sites such as the crowd-sourced business directory Yelp. Will Cuba’s internet revolution unleash economic growth? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/the-advent-of-the-internet-in-cuba-kick-starts-online-start-ups/

The U.S. has seen a massive growth in sales of “off-the-shelf” software to trace an individual’s every move based on the microwaves emitted by their mobile phones. This opens the door to privacy and personal data security issues. The fear of being watched has been expressed by 80% of Americans. The growth in consumer spyware looks set to continue over the next year and it is unclear how it can be controlled. A bill has been introduced in the US Congress requiring a warrant to track mobiles phones. Should a global legal framework be introduced to track consumer spyware? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/spyware-tracking-under-the-radar/

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

With the global e-learning market expected to reach revenues of USD107 billion by 2015, education over the internet has become easily accessible. Demand for e-learning is growing rapidly, as a function of changes in the skills mix needed for cutting edge industries. Is the internet bound to change the way we learn? What is e-learning? Electronic learning or e-learning refers to computer-enhanced learning. The concept of e-learning evolved from the idea of computer-assisted instruction. A prominent example of computer-assisted instruction is the PLATO system – developed at the Urbana Campus at The University of Illinois since 1960. This system was further enhanced, leading to the emergence of content-based learning through software. The popularity of online education continues to soar due to population growth, the availability of e-learning platforms as well as increased global internet penetration. The number of internet users increased tenfold from 1999 to 2013. In the Asian