Don’t be left behind by the emerging ‘Power Shift’ marking the rise of regionalisation in East Asia.

The Australian government has commissioned a White Paper on Australia in the Asian Century. The work on the White Paper will be led by Dr Ken Henry AC and will be completed by mid-2012. The White Paper will involve a comprehensive review of economic and strategic change in Asia and its implications and opportunities for Australia.

Social Alchemy identifies three important trends affecting business: Opportunity Asia, the Ripple Effect, and Our Collective Future.

1. Opportunity Asia:The Asian Century is the greatest opportunity available to Australian business for the coming decade. How businesses of all sizes choose to position and respond to this opportunity will have a significant impact on their future growth.
2. Ripple Effect: Most investment and two-way trade with Asian businesses and governments occurs at a high-level of large international business involving multi-billion dollar deals. Barriers to entry into these deals is difficult at best for most companies, except those which are highly capitalised or offer a distinct advantage in terms of intermediary through professional services. It is more realistic that an entry level for SME can be found through the ripple effect of flow on products and services from these large scale investments include the provision of local infrastructure, water, energy and a broader range of community needs including schooling, travel and health.
3. Our Collective Future: The reality is that Australia’s trading future will increasingly look distinct to its past. US will remain a strong influence in both foreign policy, security and trade, however the influence of UK and Europe will be shifted with the growing dominance of Asian trends and markets- a trend which is already clearly pronounced. The big question for business is how will we take advantage of this opportunity defining “our collective future”.

Power Shift in East Asia: Seven Drivers of Change
Seven Drivers of Change now must be understood by anyone who wants to engage with Asia as an entry-level requirement. How well does this reflect your understanding? See this link for reflections from Matt on this issue. Contact Matt to receive a presentation on this information.

Our Collective Future.
Our Collective Future is an engaging conference conducted in Sydney during early August 2012 to provide key intermediary for maximising investment between Australia and Asia. It is intentionally timed to occur shortly after the release of the Henry White Paper. A key focus is moving Australia from a trade orientated relationship to an investment orientated relationship, examining opportunities to increase the economic and other net benefits to Australia from the global economic and strategic shift to Asia in the short, medium and long term.

The conference will consider:

• The domestic economic and social opportunities and challenges of the Asian Century for Australia.
• Opportunities for a significant deepening of our engagement with Asia across the board, including in the economy, science and technology collaboration, clean energy, education, business-to-business and people-to-people links and culture.
• Secondary and tertiary opportunities open to a responsive Small to Medium Enterprise Sector taking advantage of the ‘Ripple Effect’ from the high level investment with Asian businesses and governments involving multi-billion dollar deals.
• A decade into the Asian Century, it is timely for the question to be asked: Is Australia ready to take advantage of the great opportunities this transformative event will bring? Is Australia prepared for the changes – here at home and in our external relations – that will also come? What do we need to do to better prepare Australia?
• The role of effective economic and political regional and global cooperation.

This shift has been underway for some time but has never been more rapid or more profound for Australia’s interests. We have entered a period which might be best described as “beyond business as usual”. The big question for business is how will we take advantage of this opportunity defining “our collective future”.