AFG Venture Group Dispatches
Corporate advisory and consultancy in Australia, South East Asia and India.
Peter Church profiled in Company Director magazine
AFG Venture Group Chairman Peter Church was profiled in this month’s Australian Institute of Company Directors Company Director magazine. The profile is available to view here.
Myanmar, the darling of the commentators: Can the change be maintained?
There has been an increasing amount of column inches devoted to the changes which have occurred in Myanmar, and as one who has had a commercial contact with the country since 1994 when we opened our first office in Yangon, and in 1998 when we first produced the Myanmar Business Guide, the changes which have [...]
Glen Robinson interviewed on ABC Radio regarding Myanmar
Glen Robinson was recently interviewed on Australia’s ABC Radio about the re-emergence of Myanmar after decades of isolation, and the opportunities available to international businesses. Glen’s interview is available here: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/asia-pacific/business-hopes-to-help-burma-open-up/847498 AFG Venture Group has been involved in the Myanmar market for many years, and issued guide to doing business in Myanmar in 1998. We believe there are [...]
March 2012: Trends and Issues for this Year and Beyond
“To bang on about the ‘cautious consumer’ implies the retailers’…. problem is cyclical (it will go away as soon as consumers cheer up) rather than structural (it will last until the businesses involved do something to solve it).” – Ross Gittins, Economics Editor, Sydney Morning Herald, March 10, 2012 This Edition looks into some of [...]
Business and Economic Outlook – Australia 2012 – Andrew Bald, Associate Director, Agribusiness, AFG Venture Group
1. Precis Australia is experiencing what has been referred to as a mining boom. This boom is reshaping our economy via structural changes, both between sectors and within each sector. The implications are not all positive and many of the negative impacts are being felt non-mining sectors including manufacturing, retail and [...]
The Importance of Cultural Intelligence in Effective Engagement – Lindley Edwards
Introduction Australia is well positioned geographically to increase its trade with its neighbours in the region. In fact China and Japan continue to be the dominant trade partners for Australia. According to most pundits and forecasters the economic outlook for the region (both Asean and the various countries that are classified as Asia) is positive. [...]
Head for Higher Ground – John Sheridan, CEO, Digital Business insights
All the symptoms are there to see. Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt, Global Financial Crisis, customers with Locked Wallets and Purses, no Budgets and that’s just the obvious stuff. Inside of businesses and organisations of all kinds, CEOs and senior managers are being asked to do more with less. Decision makers are only making the easy decisions, [...]
Surprises for 2012 – Graham Boyd, Policy Strategist & Fund Manager, Gemini Group
Two thousand and eleven was the year big name investors were constantly wrong footed. Many saw their personal wealth as well as that of their clients dented as markets blindsided them. Many sought refuge in gold, but just as gold appeared to be a peerless safe haven, its value tumbled. When budget deficits seemed set [...]
2012 – A Time to Prepare for the Long Haul – John West, Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Globalization
The world’s leading economic forecasters have been marking down their growth estimates for 2012 due to the ongoing euro crisis and the prospects of a recession in euro-land this year. Business, government and citizens are thus preparing for tougher times in the immediate period ahead. But the world economy will face a long haul on [...]
A New World Order – Investing in Technology in 2012 and Beyond – Ian Maxwell, CEO, BT Imaging
2001 wasn’t the best year. Having just founded my first start-up, a photonics (fiber optics) components effort, I was shocked to see a whole market just disappear overnight. The market didn’t disappear for good, just for the next five years or so, due to a massive over-investment in Telco infrastructure. This bubble was fuelled by [...]