Asia Business Leaders Outline Post Pandemic Priorities For Growth And Resilience.

As Asia emerges from the impacts of COVID-19, FTI Consulting, Inc. (NYSE: FCN) has analysed data points from over 745 business leaders in the region to spotlight priorities they will focus on moving forward to generate growth and build resilience.

“Faced with a global crisis, the world has experienced a level of disruption and business risk that has been unprecedented in recent times. It is therefore no surprise that 89% of our Asia respondents believe that their business model needs to fundamentally change in order to maintain or restore competitiveness. Some companies have struggled, whilst other have adapted and innovated. The difference is resilience,” said Jon Rowell, Leader of Asia and Caribbean at FTI Consulting.

The FTI Consulting Asia Resilience Barometer report identifies the nature, severity and potential trajectory of these threats, which are forcing companies to embed resilience on more fronts:

• Resetting the Asian business model: The pandemic has affected large areas of the economy, with businesses struggling, and often failing, to maintain profitability and headcount at existing levels. Seventy-seven percent of respondents believe that COVID-19 has caused long-term damage to their industry, and 64% say this period has permanently disrupted their supply chains. Companies are seeing an average revenue decline of 17% and headcount decline of 16%.

• A new era of public scrutiny: Socio-economic fault lines exposed by COVID-19 are creating an unforgiving marketplace, with companies under scrutiny from governments and the public as to their business practices and behaviour. Almost a third of businesses expect to be investigated by regulatory or government agencies over Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) issues in the next 12 months.

• Growth through sustainability: Asia in particular is critical to international supply chains, and businesses are under pressure to provide transparency into issues such as human rights and migrant worker standards. Eighty-seven percent of respondents reported spending more resources on ESG.

• Embracing data and artificial intelligence: Making the best use of data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (“AI”) has become an imperative for businesses everywhere. It is no surprise that 85% of respondents use AI and analytics to monitor for risk scenarios.

• Safeguarding digital assets: If a business’s most important assets are digital, it becomes even more vital to protect them properly from potential risks. The pandemic has forced companies to accelerate their digital transformation, and as a result cybersecurity is a major concern, with 83% of respondents stating that their company had been negatively impacted by a cyber attack in the last 12 months.

• Getting ahead in a buoyant M&A market: Whilst private equity activity has been subdued in Asia over the last 18 months, dealmakers have built up reserves during this time and are eager to spend them. Nine out of 10 respondents in Asia are looking to conduct M&A in the next 12 months in order to achieve growth.

• Attack of the SPACs: While nearly all of the special-purpose acquisition company (“SPAC”) activity has taken place in the US market, it is clear that investors have been looking at prospects in Asia too – 29% of respondents in Asia say that that they have been the target of a SPAC over the last 12 months.

Methodology

The FTI Consulting Asia 2021 Resilience Barometer analyses data points from over 745 business leaders in Asia (senior management, board member or C-suite) from large companies in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea, across all industries. Large companies are defined as those with over 250 employees, or over USD$50 million in annual global revenue, or with a balance sheet of over USD$43 million.

The FTI Consulting Autumn 2021 Resilience Barometer survey incorporates the views of 2,869 decision-makers in large companies across all G-20 countries. In July 2021, FTI Consulting conducted a quantitative survey with C-suite and senior managers executives from privately owned and publicly listed companies. In total, participating companies employ 58 million people, with each company employing an average of 20,000 individuals.