The Knowledge to Decide

Japanese women are increasingly pursuing professional aspirations but are being held back by rigid social norms that discourage mothers from working. However, as Japan realizes the important contribution that women can make to employment and innovation, social norms may be slowly changing. Is there a pathway to gender parity in Japan’s workplace? Leon Perera, Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting, shared his thoughts on Huffington Post, Japan – a globally acclaimed news portal. Only 10% of senior managerial positions are occupied by women, which is low when compared to comparable figures for the United States (42%) and France (38%). As in many other countries, women in Japan are often made to choose between their professional and personal lives in a way that men are not. Work-life balance is hard to sustain when they single-handedly take care of household responsibilities. Perera opined that Japan needs to overcome its societal norms about gender so as to b

The San Francisco Bay area has set the global benchmark as a successful tech innovation and start-up epicenter. Drawing inspiration from this, the Asia-Pacific region wants to foster its own tech hubs. Will it succeed? Spire Research and Consulting shared its insights, published on the US Consumer Electronics Association’s blog. The formula for success for San Francisco’s Bay area, more commonly known as ‘Silicon Valley’, includes strong backing from a pro-business government, a pool of highly talented and educated workers as well as ample access to venture capitalists – all in the context of a risk-taking culture. Other Asian countries are working towards developing a similar culture and business eco-system in order to clone this technology hub. Some of the up and coming innovation centers across the Asia Pacific region are Cyberport in Hong Kong, Daedeok Innopolis in Daejeon, Korea, Fusionopolis in Singapore, Macquarie Park in Sydney, Australia and Yokosuka Research Park in

The demand for digital technology is on the rise. How are industry players catering to changing technology needs? Jeffrey Bahar, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting, shared his insights in Kompas – Mega Bazaar – a leading newspaper in Indonesia. Digital technology enhances the way we work. In the digital realm, productivity takes precedence – especially in the corporate segment. Technology and features that accompany a device are always changing, encouraging innovations along the way. Bahar opined that IT spending worldwide is about 2-3% of the total revenue of all of the companies in the world. The banking and financial industry in Indonesia has a higher level of IT spending when compared to the average in other industries. This is where Lenovo – the number one PC manufacturer globally – seems to understand the changing demands from society. It constantly innovates – with its latest edition in the multimode devices under the business segment.