The Knowledge to Decide

How can Singapore defend its electronics manufacturing hub position in the face of stiff regional and global competition? Leon Perera, CEO of Spire Research and Consulting shared his thoughts in The Business Times – Views from the Top section on 2 October 2017 on Singapore’s evolving role in the global electronics sector. To thrive in the global electronics supply chain, Singapore should focus on raising its game in terms of engineering, data science, cultural studies and professional services. Perera opined that Singapore needs constant innovation in terms of production and design, so as to meet the needs of producing complex electronics devices with short product life cycles. Today’s electronics products contain a large element of embedded services and software, which are prone to frequent upgrades. Singapore should work on creating a conducive environment for enterprises to recruit inter-disciplinary teams that can launch breakthrough electronics products. Such tea

On 4 May, Spire and Yamada Business Consulting (YBC) jointly held a breakfast seminar in Singapore to share ideas on how Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) can drive growth using smart market and industry research. Japnit Singh, Deputy Chief Executive Officer at Spire Research and Consulting, discussed how market research decisions impact different operating functions within a typical SME and what kinds of research techniques are commonly used, together with the pitfalls associated with each. Singh highlighted how market research can go beyond customer analysis at manageable cost if the business objective is clear, although the analysis of internal data and business intelligence can only provide limited information. To maintain the accuracy of market research data, a few pitfalls should be avoided. It is crucial to avoid asking the wrong questions, targeting the wrong respondents and over-emphasizing sample size, to name a few. https://www.spireresearch.com/ne

Economics students from the University of Malaya visited Spire Malaysia for an interactive business consulting session on 17 March. Yap Far Loon, Business Development Director, Telecommunications of Spire Research and Consulting conducted the session. Spire Malaysia had the pleasure of hosting a real-world business consulting session with Economics students from the University of Malaya. The interactive session gave students an insight on the importance of applying the right theories and tools in formulating business strategies. The session focused on the realm of market research and consulting practices. Far Loon discussed the theoretical models deployed by Spire in business consulting while also elaborating on the planning and sampling strategies used in market research. https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/events/spire-malaysia-hosts-students-from-university-of-malaya-for-business-consulting-session-once-more/

Economics students from the University of Malaya visited Spire Malaysia for an interactive business consulting session on 30 October. Yap Far Loon, Business Development Director, Telecommunications of Spire Research and Consulting conducted the session. Spire Malaysia had the pleasure to host keen Economic students from the University of Malaya for an interactive business consulting session, which gave them an inside look into the realm of market research and how it intersects with business planning. The session focused on market research and consulting practices. Far Loon discussed Spire’s research design and approach, including sampling strategy and quantitative tools. He also discussed Spire’s approach to forming business strategy recommendations. https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/events/spire-malaysia-hosts-students-from-university-of-malaya-for-business-consulting-session/

- Saurabh Sharma, Country Manager, Spire Research and Consulting   India can easily be considered as an Android country since 91% of its market share belongs to devices using Google’s mobile operating system. It is an open-source, Linux-based operating system designed specifically for smartphones and computer tablets. This facilitates easy accessibility for programmers to provide enhanced services as well as improve the core functionality of the device. According to statistics, the Android platform has breached 80% market share globally in the third quarter of 2013. With 40 million smartphones in the country, Indian users have an easy access to smartphones to stay connected online. With more consumers wanting to get their hands on smartphones and computer tablets, this has unsurprisingly pushed for the dominance of Androids across markets. Moreover, Androids is adopted by all major smartphone players in India – local players such as Karbonn and Micromax, as well a

Despite the uncertain global economic climate, the growth momentum for generic drug spending will continue says Catherine Tang, Biomedical industry practice leader for the Spire Research and Consulting. Its share of total drug spending is set to increase. Demand growth, primarily from emerging markets, is being accelerated by healthcare reforms in the major developed markets of USA and Europe; as well as impending patent cliffs, where some USD 75 billion worth of drugs go off patent between 2012 and 2015. This presents new potential for manufacturers of API and drug intermediates (active pharmaceutical ingredients and excipient components used in generic formulations) in India.  India is well-poised in the global API industry, but headwinds from higher export barriers and increased pharma co-vigilance are major threats that will inevitably raise production costs and erode margins. To retain its pole position in the competitive generic market and claim blue sky space, API manufa