Author: Kim Jung
US-Iran-Israel conflict reshaping global energy: Brent at $85-115, LNG spot prices spiking, insurance tripled. Five actions business leaders must take now.
China Plus One has moved from hedging strategy to defining principle of global supply chain design. With US tariffs hitting Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia, companies face a more comprehensive challenge — building resilience across many geographies.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and other Gulf states are deploying trillions in the most ambitious economic diversification programmes ever attempted. The Middle East has moved from peripheral market to strategically important one.
Africa’s working-age population will exceed China’s by 2030. The continent’s technology adoption, growing middle class, and untapped markets make it one of the most consequential business opportunities of the coming decades.
Tesla’s EV dominance is over. China’s BYD, European premium brands, and US incumbents now compete seriously on global scale, supply chain integration, and software. The next phase will reshape the entire automotive industry.
Logistics is a $5 trillion industry that operated for decades without much spotlight. E-commerce, reshoring, and AI have changed that. The companies that have built sophisticated logistics capability now hold strategic advantages competitors can’t easily match.
Sanctions have moved from the periphery of international business to the centre. For any company with global operations, compliance is no longer back-office — it’s a board-level strategic concern.
Trade disruption, pandemic-era supply failures, and geopolitical fragmentation have made local-for-local manufacturing a strategic priority. Understanding what sovereignty investment actually costs — and delivers — is now essential.
The Taiwan Strait carries 90% of the world’s advanced semiconductor production past a credible military threat. Every manufacturer has exposure to what happens there — most don’t yet manage it explicitly.
India is being positioned as the world’s next manufacturing hub. The headline narrative is bullish. The granular reality — on infrastructure, skills, and regulation — is more complicated. A hard look.