WOW it has been a busy year with little time for blogging. Business in Asia continues at a fast pace with the fast growing and the slow falling behind.
As I traveled this year, I observed that the countries with more young people (aka tax payers) and fewer white haired people are growing their economies far faster (countries like Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Malaysia, Columbia, and South Africa) than the established markets of North America, Europe, and Japan. The developed countries are going through a demographic shift with fewer tax payers supporting more baby boomers collecting their promised and well earned benefits. These are the trends that were predicted 20-30 years ago as the Baby Boomers reached retirement age. Technology has made the emerging markets the new growth markets. I predict that as Asia continues to grow, expectations of speed and service will increase dramatically.
Check out the attached International Herald Tribune article for some really interesting predictions of what the world will look like in 2030. China and Asia will continue to grow, but will have to contend with its own 'boomers'. The U.S. should do pretty well because technology should allow it to become more energy independent and because it has plenty of water. China will have the world's biggest GDP. The one positive issue the article fails to mention is the U.S. still has a positive birth rate (more tax payers) and can manage immigration to let in more young people to help pay for the aging population. Unfortunately Europe and Japan has no such policies in place and negative birth rates.
One of the most interesting and optimistic predictions from the IHT article is the growth of a global middle class.
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