Emerging Asian economies race to build metros amid choking congestion
1. Please share your impression on this week's cover story.
2. What has made the traffic condition in Southeast Asian megacities such as Manila and Jakarta so desperate?
3. According to the article, Ho Chi Minh City seems to try to benefit from the latecomer advantage. Please explain more in detail about latecomer advantage.
4. Which countries or which international bodies have been in the forefront of leading infrastructure investments in Southeast Asia?
Coffee's rise has tea companies scrambling to rebrand the region's favorite drink
1. Please share your impression on this week's cover story.
2. Please name out the world's top two tea producers. In addition, which countries are world's three biggest tea drinkers in absolute terms?
3. What makes Pantjoran Tea House in Jakarta's Chinatown differentiate itself from coffee shops in the city's malls?
4. What are the key factors lying behind top tea companies' recent efforts to rebrand Asia's favorite drink?
The online generation ventures off the beaten path
1. Please share your impression on the hashtag travelers in this week's article.
2. What are the key factors lying behind the booming of individual tourists in the Asian tourism filed?
3. Which Asian places or cities come to your mind first when it comes to destinations for free individual tours?
4. What Korean tourism industry confronting the new era of travel should learn from the Asian millennials?
New Starts are bursting into Asia's music market – and the world is listening
1. Please share your impression on the new stars appeared in this week's article.
2. What are the key factors lying behind the emergence of new stars in the Asia's music industry?
3. Which Asian stars come to your mind breaking national or regional barriers other than those in the entertainment field?
4. What Korean companies tapping into the Asian market should learn from Asian music sensations?
Regional MBA programs shine as demand for education soars
1. What are the key factors lying behind the booming of Asian business schools?
2. Please name out major characteristics of Asian business schools. How are they different from those of Western business schools?
3. Neither South Korean nor Japanese business schools are listed in top 50 of FT's global MBA rankings. Please let us know your opinion especially in the aspect of the economic clout of the two countries.
4. How do you see the future of Asian business schools? What would be your recommendation for MBA programs in the region?
Introduction of Indonesian Cafes
Cafes in Jakarta, center of the nation's politics and economy, and cafes in Surabaya and Bandung, respectively 2nd and 3rd biggest city of Indonesia are included. Cafes in Bali, world-famous holiday island, and in Tokyo, Japan are touched upon as well.
'Walking around Cafes in Indonesia' is based upon the coffee lover's honest passion for Indonesia. Sincerely hope my book could turn out handy to guide potential readers to the new world of Indonesian coffee.
Introduction of Indonesian Cafes
Whenever available, I tried to walk around cafes with decent reputation here and there in the nation. Indonesian friends were generous enough to advise me places to navigate. Bookstores were right spots where I managed to collect useful information especially on weekend.
In doing so, I’ve introduced 20 impressive cafes in Indonesia to COFFEE SPACE. 10 most memorable places out of the 20 were finally came on my e-book, 'Walking around Cafes in Indonesia'.
Introduction of Indonesian Cafes
Though somewhat unfamiliar to most Korean people, Indonesia is the 3rd largest producer of coffee globally after Brazil and Vietnam. My desire to truly explore the local coffee culture becomes stronger as my experience on Indonesia gets richer in both quantity and quality.
That finally led to my frequent visits to cafes in the country. By that time, I also started working as an Indonesian correspondent for COFFEE SPACE, a monthly coffee magazine issued in Korea.
Introduction of Indonesian Cafes
It was back in 2013 when I first tapped into Indonesia. Since then, I sometimes stayed in the country over several months, sometimes purchased round trip flight tickets between Seoul and Jakarta twice a month.
It all has severed me a precious opportunity to come closer with the 'Country of Equator'. As my horizon on Indonesia got broadened, the country came to me with diverse attractions. Coffee, called 'kopi' in the local language is one of the charming characteristics.
Startup fever in Southeast Asia and its implication for India to improve indispensable public services
This result clearly demonstrates the homework lying in the bottom of the Indian society. Startups armed with progressive social awareness can play significant roles in dissolving the messy fundamental public services especially those in education and health for the future of their country.
This is none other than a right time for startups in India should open their eyes to Southeast Asia and try to learn the best lessons from their neighbors.
Startup fever in Southeast Asia and its implication for India to improve indispensable public services
According to this year's release of UNDP (United Nations Development Plan) on GII (Gender inequality Index), India was ranked 127th among the 189 surveyed nations in the world. All 10 members in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) received higher scores than India in terms of women's social status.
Overall assessments on criteria encompassing maternal mortality ratio, share of seats in parliament and labor force participation ratio of India turned out alarmingly low.
Startup fever in Southeast Asia and its implication for India to improve indispensable public services
For instance, Halodoc, an Indonesian health tech startup, has been providing tele-consultations with doctors, pharmacy delivery, and at-home lab services through its mobile application with reasonable price options to remedy the underprivileged public access to the medical service.
Truly, more and more startups in Southeast Asia are joining to unravel rampant shortages and inefficiencies of basic public services including primary education and health on the spot.
Startup fever in Southeast Asia and its implication for India to improve indispensable public services
In spite of the snowballing increase in the number of Indian startups, not many young CEOs seem fascinated in jumping into the public sector. Most local startups have been allegedly involved in the apparently growing and thus lucrative business fields such as e-commerce, accommodation and transportation industries.
Of course, this is no exception to their peers in Southeast Asia. However, continuous efforts to tackle long distorted public services have been reported from Southeast Asia.
Startup fever in Southeast Asia and its implication for India to improve indispensable public services
Presence of as many as 22,000 startups in operation across the country has been partly attributed the government program backed by the latest strong economic growth.
In fact, Bengaluru in the Southern part of India, often termed as the Indian Silicon Valley, has even claimed the second place in the list of best locations for launching tech startups globally. Now the thing is not in quantity but in quality in India.
Startup fever in Southeast Asia and its implication for India to improve indispensable public services
Additionally, as widely known, some CEOs of top-tier multinational technology companies like Google, Microsoft and Nokia have been supplied from the vast pool of Indian IT talents.
Under this circumstance, the Indian government has also come up with a new initiative, 'Startup India', to foster startup ecosystems in the country since 2015. The purpose of Startup India is to generate startup-friendly environments for young entrepreneurs to unfold their unfettered business spirit in the ever-changing digital period.
