Pacific Perspective
Pacific Perspective
In just a few months, we'll mark the fifth anniversary of the onset of the Asian financial crisis. The years since 1997 have been difficult for the Asia Pacific region. First it had to cope with the exit of $100 billion in foreign capital, then countries had to begin the long, difficult road to reform of their industrial structures and corporate governance mechanisms. Asian governments, long used to facilitating the catch-up with Western economies via what the World Bank called "market oriented" interventions, had to reassess the role they played in advancing their economies. Entrepreneurs are alive
and well in AsiaAsia's road to recovery has been complicated by the bursting in the West of the internet and telecommunications bubbles in 2000, the onset of the U.S. recession in 2001, and the post-9/11 slump that slowed the entire world economy. While the nascent American recovery has lifted hopes that Asia's fortunes will begin to improve more quickly, there's still a sense in the global financial community that, with a few exceptions, Asia's leading economies and its prominent companies are a step or two behind their competitors in North America and Europe.
That conventional wisdom may be ripe for revision, if the outcome of a recent "best of breed" business plan competition held here in Hawaii is any guide. The results suggest the next generation of entrepreneurs in Asia are every bit as creative and savvy as their Western counterparts.
The event, the Asia Moot Corp competition, was hosted March 13-15 by the University of Hawaii College of Business Administration under the leadership of our Pacific Asian Management Institute and our Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship and E-Business. Teams from business schools at such well known Asian universities as Waseda in Japan, Fudan in China, Chulalongkorn in Thailand, Yonsei in Korea, the Indian Institute of Management from Bangalore, and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore came together to present their new business ideas and their plans for turning them into commercial reality.
In all 13 teams (including one from the University of Hawaii) vied for the right to represent Asia in the Moot Corp finals, which take place each year in Austin, Texas with $100,000 as the first prize. Four teams, two from China, one from Taiwan, and one from Thailand, reached the finals in Honolulu, which were won by the team from Zhongshan University in China.
The business plans presented ranged from biotech plays, to wireless technology investments, to consumer products concepts with an Asian twist that would make a Starbucks proud (and may give it fits a few years down the road). Student presentations were indistinguishable, in terms of content and use of technology, from those found at leading Western business schools.
In a way, this is no surprise; the prominence of Indian and Chinese entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley is well known. What the Asia Moot Corp competition shows, however, is the depth of entrepreneurial talent present "at home" in Asia. The spirit of creativity and entrepreneurship is clearly alive and well on the western edge of the Pacific. This augers well for Asia's continuing economic recovery, and for Hawaii's role as convener for, and as a participant in, the global entrepreneurial movement.
David McClain is dean and First Hawaiian Bank Distinguished Professor of Leadership and Management at the University of Hawaii College of Business Administration.