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NUS - AI for Healthcare Programme

The rise of the Asian activist investor - The Economist   

Not many companies whose profits have in essence flatlined over the past decade have seen their share price more than triple. By that measure Fujitec, a Japanese lift manufacturer, is a rare beast. The reason for its bull run is not past performance, but a growing expectation of change through investor activism, once anathema to Asian boardrooms. The company has faced a years-long campaign from activist investors, which led to the dismissal of three board members earlier this year. This was soon followed by the replacement of Fujitec’s chairman, the son of the firm’s founder.

Shaking up elderly, conservative and family-dominated firms in parts of Asia is getting easier. The number of companies subjected to activist demands across the region has risen markedly in recent years, from 102 in 2017 to 188 last year and 167 in only the first half of 2023, according to Diligent Market Intelligence, a research firm. That has raised Asia’s share of the global total from 10% to 23%, overtaking Europe (see chart 1). In the past decade a wave of shareholder-friendly rulemaking has swept the region, and a new class of Asian activist investors is emerging.

The opportunities are enormous. Stock valuations across the region are often low, particularly for middling companies outside the gaze of international investors. Management in hock to employees, related companies, founding families or government interests are found across Asia. Vast cash piles have been generated too. The non-financial companies in the Asia-Pacific region worth more than $10bn sit on $1.94trn in cash, over 50% more than they did five years ago. Cash-rich firms with entrenched management and low valuations are ripe for a shake-up.

Continued here


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NUS - AI for Healthcare Programme

How the loss of local newspapers fueled political divisions in the U.S. - PBS NewsHour   

Over the past few decades, more than 2,000 newspapers across the country have closed, leaving many communities without a reliable source of local information.

Researchers say this crisis in journalism driven by changes in technology is fueling the country's political divisions.

Judy Woodruff recently visited one community in North Texas as part of her ongoing series America at a Crossroads.

Continued here



Want to accelerate software development at your company? See how we can help.

NUS - AI for Healthcare Programme

How Leading Data Organizations Achieve Success: Prioritize People, Process, and Product - Medium   

Many data organizations have reached a stage where technology is not the biggest hurdle anymore. As data technology is maturing, challenges are shifting from scaling data processing to materializing a sustainable data platform. Our Data Maturity Test confirms this shift and indicates organizations today struggle more with the People, Process, and Product aspects.

To evolve into a top data organization, we recommend an approach that shifts away from a technology-heavy focus:

After building an initial data or AI product, many organizations struggle with building new ones. These initial products most likely have a negative return on investment (ROI) due to heavy investments in so-called “data foundations.” The pyramid below shows the relative effort that goes into the different levels of building data products. The bottom, or foundational, part takes the most effort, so reaching a positive ROI can take a while. No wonder Gartner predicted that 85% of AI projects would fail through 2022.

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NUS - Chief Technology Officer Programme


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