Insights

With the economic outlook in Thailand less bright than in years past, we look at how the country can find a new way forward for future business success.

Global business is facing a wave of disruptive influences that look set to spark the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We explore how the way professionals work is evolving, the leadership skills that will be needed within the dynamic mid-market to thrive, and how organisations can stay competitive in the war for talent and customers in 2030.

In our Grant Thornton's global Women in Business campaign, Kamonwan Wipulakorn CEO of One Origin, a subsidiary of one of Thailand’s largest real estate developers Origin Property Pcl, explains Thailand’s progressive workplace culture.

The global economic cycle has peaked and businesses face a more downbeat outlook in 2019. With risks increasing, how can businesses continue to achieve growth and thrive in the year ahead? Among the 5,000 mid-market business leaders Grant Thornton interviewed as part of the IBR’s global economic outlook, global optimism sits at net 39%, a fall of 15 percentage points (pp) from net 54% in Q2 2018. This is the weakest optimism score seen since Q4 2016.

Welcome to our Champions for action homepage as part of our 2019 Women in business campaign. Our champions for action are global business figures leading the charge for gender diversity. Each Champion has shared a variety of challenges, success stories, advice and practical solutions for addressing gender parity at the senior management level.

Our 2019 Women in business report: building a blueprint for action shows that progress is being made towards gender parity at the senior management level. The last 12 months have seen increases in both the proportion of senior roles held by women and the proportion of businesses with at least one woman in senior management.

In 2019, our Women in business campaign will focus on the real world and seeking solutions to leadership diversity. What is holding back women in leadership? How can we put in place a blueprint for action? This year marks a shift in our reporting on gender diversity in senior management. Our 2019 Women in business report: building a blueprint for action explores how to find out how momentum is building and how we can all drive change.

APAC remains the most dynamic region in the world in 2018. Expected to grow by 5.5% this year, the region is set to account for almost two-thirds of global growth, with strong GDP projections of 5.6% continuing into 2019. Grant Thornton’s International Business Report (IBR) also signifies sustained business leader optimism in the region. Net optimism sits at net 55% in Q2 2018, up 27pp from Q2 2017. ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) is a particularly bright spot. At net 64%, business optimism in ASEAN has reached a record high against healthy projected growth of more than 5% each year between now and 2022.

There may be a storm brewing in some of the world’s largest economies as businesses come to terms with a skilled worker shortage. Are technology and mobility two options for businesses struggling to find talent?

Francesca Lagerberg, Grant Thornton International’s global leader – network capabilities, has been heading up our Women in business reports for 15 years. She reveals the progress she has seen, and what more needs to happen.

South East Asia is a bright spot in the global economy. The outlook for the region is sustained, healthy growth of more than 5% per year between now and 2022.(i) Against this backdrop, business sentiment has hit a new high. We explore what is driving this positivity and find that infrastructure emerges as a source of real opportunity for ASEAN firms in the coming years. At the same time, however, concerns over climate change loom large. Greater cooperation will be key to overcoming these environmental risks.

Given the slowing rate of economic growth, businesses across Asia Pacific (APAC) region have an appetite for automation. In this article we explore where that support is strongest, and why. We find that amid the rich opportunities, risks are present in the automation revolution. Businesses and policymakers should confront these challenges now, to avoid hampering future growth prospects.

Much has been made of the Thai government’s commitment to developing a modern industrial base. In large part, the praise from the business community has been deserved. Concerted efforts include a range of initiatives, from a detailed program of BOI incentives, to the fast-tracking of business permits across industries, to the ambitious upgrades in infrastructure and government support that are making the Eastern Economic Corridor a highly promising region for manufacturing.

The last year has seen global business take one step forward but one step back when it comes to gender diversity in leadership. The percentage of businesses around the world with at least one woman in senior management has increased significantly, rising from 66% in 2017 to 75% in 2018. However, at the same time the proportion of senior roles held by women has marginally declined.

Many businesses globally are missing out on opportunities because of a lack of diversity in senior leadership teams. This means that a business does not necessarily reflect the markets or communities in which they operate, and it could be holding them back.

The latest global survey findings from our International Business Report (IBR) shows that despite the rise of automation and record global business optimism (net 58%) businesses will turn to people in 2018 to meet swelling order books.