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Another Asia Savvy conference, another successful gathering! That was the sentiment conveyed to the
100-strong audience by Project Manager Jennifer Tate when she opened the 5th annual student-led, NZAI-
sponsored forum on 29 August 2015. Echoing the enthusiasm and confidence of the Organising Committee,
Professor Natasha Hamilton-Hart, Director of NZAI’s Southeast Asia Studies Centre, applauded in her welcome
remarks the event’s future-looking energy, learning-centred approach and interactive settings for participation
and connecting. These features, she noted, enabled the forum to grow from strength to strength and become a
significant component of NZAI’s effort to help promote public understanding of Asia in New Zealand.
Professor Siah Hwee Ang from the School of Marketing and International
Business at Victoria University of Wellington delivered the keynote address.
He taught and served as the Associate Dean Postgraduate and International
in Auckland Business School for ten years before his current appointment in
2013 as the inaugural BNZ Chair in Business in Asia at Victoria.
Professor Ang began with a brief overview of his role responsibilities as the
BNZ Chair, pointing out that the position, the result of a partnership between
Victoria University, the Bank of New Zealand and three key government
agencies, signified a nationwide, cross-sector keenness for more and
informed engagement with Asia. Drawing on his extensive involvement in
domestic and international executive programmes and consulting projects,
he emphasised that for New Zealanders seeking business or other substantive
interactions with Asia, knowing how to use chopsticks, whether to eat the last
piece on a serving plate, or who should sit towards the door, would not suffice
for being “savvy” about the region. They should have at least some grasp of
the economy, politics, geography, development, history and socio-political
issues of the countries they would want to do business with.
Professor Ang took note of recent research data showing that Kiwi businesses
commonly expectedAsia to be themost influential factor, positive or otherwise,
in theNewZealand economy in the foreseeable future. Yet while seeing Asia as
holding the key to growth, many local businesses felt ill-equipped in terms of
resources to tackle the bigmarket of four billion people, particularly countries
like China and India. Professor Ang acknowledged that in copingwith the
challenge of asymmetrical size, some Kiwi companies fixed their gaze on smaller
cities in the twoAsian giants, and others joined the appeal for NewZealand
to shiftmore attention toASEANas an alternative trade option toChina. He
cautioned, however, that ASEAN’s own economic integrationwithChinawas
already quite advanced. Thismeant that Southeast Asian countrieswould
acutely feel the impact of and readily react to changes inChina’s economy. A
case in point was that whenChina devalued its yuan after the “BlackMonday”
crash of its stockmarket inAugust this year, all emergingmarkets, including
those inASEAN, followed suit and lowered their currencies to stay competitive.
An important lesson herewas that to dowell inAsia, NewZealandbusinesses
would need to be “savvy” in a broader sense rather than simply having a
rudimentary cultural, protocol anddemographic awareness of the region.
The speakers in the following panels substantiated Professor Ang’s
argument through their personal work and life experiences in Asia and New
Zealand. Jay Waters, Senior Advisor to the Korean Embassy in Wellington,
recalled the importance and usefulness of maintaining a constant sense of
appreciation of Korea’s 5,000-year history in his daily decisions and social
interactions when living in that country. Speaking on the long-standing and
multifaceted relationship between New Zealand and Korea since the Korean
War, he maintained that Kiwis should engage more with Korea as they might
find it an easier country to do business with than other giant economies
in Asia. Jay encouraged interested members in the audience to take
advantage of many available opportunities presented through scholarships,
English teaching jobs and commercial internships as pathways to Korea.
Summary of presentations
Get Asia-ready – your pathway to success
Jay Waters, Senior Advisor, Embassy of the Republic of Korea