08/03/2016 Asia Business Report


08/03/2016

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Water cannon Asian businesses do to get more women in positions of

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power? We debate the issue now on International Women's Day -- can.

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Tie when his efforts to encourage young people to drink tea the

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traditional way -- Taiwan's. Good morning, Asia,

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hello world. Glad you can join us. Japan's latest growth numbers are

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out. They reveal the economy shrinking at an annualised 1.1% over

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the last three months of 2015. Let's look at the comparisons. That is

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better than the reading of negative 1.4%. One way Japan's government is

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trying to spur growth is encouraging women to join the workforce. Today

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is International Women's Day. We are looking at how they are faring. More

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Japanese women are entering the workforce all the time. Only a tiny

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fraction of them hold senior positions. While it is great news

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and progress to see women working in Japan, we still have many females in

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decision-making leadership positions, the government, directors

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on private company wards at -- we still do not have many. The Prime

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Minister had said he wanted to fill 30% of senior jobs with women by

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2020. He has now/ that target with latest research showing Japanese

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women hold just 8% of roles in companies compared with a global

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average of 22% -- slashed. Many struggle to balance their careers

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with motherhood. TRANSLATION: I agree with the government's approach

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that those who take maternity leave me to return to work. But there is a

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lack of discussion about how to apply this to real working

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situations. Last week, there was much fanfare as Japanese girls were

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celebrated on Girls' Day. The challenge now is to create an

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environment where young people can grow up to fulfil their hopes and

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dreams, whatever they may be. So, what is the situation in the rest of

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Asia compared with Japan? I spoke with an advisory company. And with a

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senior partner and champion of diversity. The world economic forum

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statistics says it will take 117 years to achieve gender parity. That

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is a long way to go. Here in Asia, in Singapore, we are woefully short

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of where we need to be. If we look at the level of female participation

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of boards it is 9.5%. That is the average for the whole of ASEAN.

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Across Asia in total there is only Malaysia, Australia and New

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Zealand... (CROSSTALK). Those single digit numbers are disappointing. Why

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aren't we seeing enough women in top positions in the region? S I think

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what happens is women start in great numbers at the junior levels and

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then they taper off dramatically -- I think. You already have a talent

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pool which is limited. By the time it gets to this senior roles, it is

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clear. Are they only looking for positions in certain industries, and

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not willing to go into a profit and loss, revenues, other types of

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businesses? I can share my experience in wealth management

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across countries. Women start looking at support functions. The

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first preference would be human resources, accounting or

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compliance. That is because I think they feel that education and

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qualifications will match and they will deliver excellence. In profit

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and loss or revenue lines, it is a grey area. Why are women in Asia

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only looking for jobs in structured positions, why not something more

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unstructured? If you look at the way people have been working over the

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last few decades, it has been about structured operations, and females

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have maybe struggled with managing work-life balance. I think as we

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move forward, we have to look at new ways of working to increase female

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participation and give males more flexibility in the workforce. If

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males have more flexibility in the workforce, that allows females to

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have more flexibility. You are saying that men should play a big

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role in terms of promoting women empowerment? Gender diversity and

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parity is a male issue as much as it is a female issue. As we move

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forward, business leaders, the 90%, have a huge role to play. The

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thinking of many people is that you have to work from nine to five, you

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have to work overtime, to be able to get the job done. But with what

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Jonathan has said, technology plays a major role for women to get into

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leading positions. They should embrace technology. The stage is

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set. They can do this out of home and out of the workplace. There is

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no 95 role, I am afraid, in wealth management. It is very much nine to

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12 or longer -- 95 role. You need to change the mindset. -- nine to five

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role. Technology is very much an enabler right now. Could commodity

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prices be turning around? Oil prices have surged higher, pushing Brent

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above $40 per barrel. Saudi Arabia, Russia and Qatar agreed to freeze

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output at January levels last month if other producers followed suit.

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Iron ore prices are staging a turnaround, with a near record 19%,

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and investors have hopes with Chinese positives. For disk you will

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have a stake in the company from Brazil with a Mac in the quality of

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iron ore produced by the rival Rio Tinto, which is seen as a benchmark

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in mainland China. The memoranda of understanding could see Vale

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purchase 15% of the rivals' shares -- with a jump in the quality. If

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you are watching us, maybe you are drinking a cup of tea. Did you know

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that it is worth $4.5 billion to the economy of Taiwan? It was once one

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of the island's best-known and most consumed products. These days coffee

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and sugary drinks are more popular. Some businesses are trying to revive

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appreciation for once was once an integral part of society. These

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hills used to be covered with tea farms. When tea was a prized

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commodity, an essential part of life in Taiwan. Now, only small plots

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remain, and mostly middle-aged and elderly farmers tend the field. That

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is because there are fewer people drinking tea. This is how most

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Taiwanese people drank tea. It is carefully brewed and one sit at a

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time from tiny cups. But nowadays it is hard to find young people

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drinking tea the traditional way. In fact, they call this all people's

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tea. This is what is popular to date, especially among young people,

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cold drinks that include Taiwan's world-famous bubble tea. They can be

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found everywhere and make up two thirds of earnings in the tea

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industry. They contain very little tea and sugar is almost always

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added. Bottled tea meanwhile rakes in 20%, and tea leaves and amount to

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only 13% of total revenue. But some tea lovers are trying to reverse

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this trend. This cafe doesn't serve coffee, only tea. The aim is to

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entice young people to not only by the cans of leaves to take home but

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stay here to enjoy Taiwan's famous oolong and other blends.

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TRANSLATION: In Europe I noticed Europeans really enjoy drinking tea

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but when I came back to Taiwan I found young people think drinking

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tea is old-fashioned. I want to make tea trendy again and make Taiwanese

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tea known around the world. Third generation farmers like this man are

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also trying to repackage tea to make it more appealing. His soft soil ice

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cream, made from green tea, and his tea latte, are very popular.

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TRANSLATION: At selling side products made from TI meet 50% more

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revenue but I still focus on tea as a business. It is part of culture

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and we want to preserve this culture for our children and grandchildren

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-- tea. Tea farms are turned also into tourist attractions to boost

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earnings for the industry and raise interest. Brightening the horizon

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for the island's homegrown brew. In the markets, as you can see, the

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market boards are lacklustre, after over the last couple of days, with

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dips in US stocks as momentum fades after a four-day winning streak. You

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have the stronger yen pushing exporter stocks down 1.2%. Thank you

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so much for investing your time with

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