Stanford Alumni & S&P Global present great insights at Asia Forum
“The Asian Consumer in a Changing Economic Environment” was a virtual Forum held last Thursday (January 20, 2022). It was organised by the Stanford Alumni Hong Kong Chapter and co-hosted with S&P Global. InnovationHongKong® was fortunate to be invited to this impactful event full of meaningful insights which was presented with an age and gender based lens.
The Forum was an afternoon only session – well suited to the busy C-suite and senior executives attending. There were three specific themes with the first session kicking off with “The Economy and Consumer” – market insights provided by Vishrut Rana and Joshua Mintz from S&P Global. These relevant insights included implications of the shifting consumer dynamics and implications for Asia and the global economy; M&A Private and deal activity in the health and wellness vertical with financial outlooks on the consumer & healthcare industries.
A very interesting panel discussion moderated by Angela Hu, from Barclays followed with guest speakers Nick Halla- Impossible Foods, Ray Zhang -Airdoc Tech and, Stanford alumni Victor Koo – Heyi Holdings & Founder Youku(China) sharing their insights and opinions on future development.
The second session theme was “ESG and the Consumer”. It was introduced by Rong Yu, Head of ESG Greater China at S&P Global, who covered ESG trends in Asia and, those corporates and investors driving corporate behavioural change; and looked at how Asian companies were faring in this space compared to their Western peers; then some of the challenges being faced by corporates in terms of reporting and managing climate change and ESG, with some solutions to enhance ESG capabilities.
The great introduction set the background for the panel session following which was moderated by Pascal Martin, – OC & C Strategy Consultants. Guest panellists Eddy Wu – HCP Packaging, Edouard Roche- Scandale éco-lingerie, Jeremy Ji-ATRenew and Suzanne Cheung, Swire Coca Cola HK formed an important discussion which included the regulatory disclosure requirements; the growing demand for sustainable products and, how Asian demand for products was being affected by climate change and considered investor strategy. It was good to understand more from panel speakers selected who had great knowledge and expertise.
The final session of the day focused on “Technology and the Consumer” with Roger Perry, S&P Global providing information on data protection regulations around the world with evolving customer expectations and, considerations for tech on the customer experience. Moderated by Kiki Yang, Bain & Company, this following panel session comprised Frank Hurst Lin- DCM China providing some important insights on the China market with Steven Lu from Baidu and, was complemented by Santitarn Sathirathai providing apt Asia insights. This panel session included discussion on China’s changing regulation on data and privacy and the impact for companies operating in that market; the evolving consumer behaviour during the past two years of the challenging pandemic in China and South East Asia and, opportunities for tech growth beyond the traditional avenues such as on-line, search and e-commerce. A great conversation to end the afternoon Forum.
Edan Lee, Olympus Capital and a Stanford Alumni was the MC of the event and Alice Chow, President of the Standford GSB Chapter Hong Kong finished a great afternoon with her closing remarks.
A most informative afternoon for those lucky enough to attend.