Challenge: On July 30, 2014, 11 months after trumpeting its plan to invest $25 million in Myanmar's Asian Wings Airways, All Nippon Airways walked away. From the start, local media had reported Asian Wings' alleged ties with Tay Za, a connection the airline denied. Japan’s All Nippon didn't mention those ties when it canceled the deal, citing instead the small Myanmar market and, as MGO highlighted two months earlier, rising competition.
Success in the global economy requires a shift in strategic vision of the Asia-Pacific region's role in supply chains. While it is no secret that an end to low-cost production in Asia is in sight, smart companies are studying the complexity of APAC region and gaining insight into the roles each country plays in the quickly evolving economic horizon. But visibility into where APAC is today isn't enough; forecasting where it will be next year, five years from now, and further into the future are key to positioning supply chains now for ongoing optimization.
The International Air Transport Association released full-year air cargo data for 2014 showing 4.5 percent demand growth compared to 2013 measured by freight tonne kilometers, a significant acceleration from the 1.4 percent recorded in 2013 over 2012.
With 2015 off to a good start, IHS Automotive forecasts global automotive sales for 2015 to reach 88.6 million, an increase of 2.4 percent over 2014, continuing an unbroken five-year run of sales recovery and growth from the low point set in the depth of the Great Recession in 2009. However, a slowdown is being signaled with just two of the high-potential BRIC markets likely to see increased sales this year.
Attacks against small tankers off South East Asia's coasts caused a rise in global ship hijackings, up to 21 in 2014 from 12 in 2013, despite piracy at sea falling to its lowest level in eight years, the International Chamber of Commerce International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has revealed. Pirates took 442 crew members hostage, compared with 304 in 2013.
