Jpmorgan Asian Investment Share Discussion Threads

[loganair] 13/4/2020 22:43

After a bit of fluffing around I have set up a new thread under the ticker JAGI if other posters would like to also change over.

[ali47fish] 13/4/2020 14:26

hasn't this inv trust changed its ticker to JAGI- although citwire does list ti as JAI

[loganair] 12/12/2019 15:01

Stefano Amato, head of multi asset solutions, Santander Asset Management UK
Emerging Market equities

Our favourite investment theme at the moment are Emerging Markets equities, as they stand to benefit from long-term trends which are already in progress and virtually inexorable.

Asia (where EM equity indices are concentrated) today already hosts 60% of humans, and – given population trends – is likely going to forever be home to more people than the rest of the world combined. This size advantage should create favourable conditions for local companies towards economies of scale and technological leadership that can then be leveraged worldwide.

Additionally, 90% of millennials – the largest generational cohort, entering their peak spending years just now – reside in Emerging Markets, contributing to the global rise of the middle class from 3.2 billion people in 2020 to 4.9 billion in 2030, and accounting for a projected ~$30 trillion growth in middle-class consumption.

Finally, thanks to late-mover advantage, many EM countries are already leapfrogging over obsolete technologies in key areas like Energy, Fintech and e-commerce – creating unprecedented opportunities for growth.

[loganair] 27/2/2019 11:05

What I've been hearing is Emerging Markets and Commodities are a good place to invest until September when the Fed may signal a return to raising interest rates. By this time will be too late and behind the curve.

[loganair] 02/1/2019 20:43

Avoid US stocks: Emerging markets is where to put your money in 2019, says Morgan Stanley:


Stocks in emerging markets have had a rough year but are tipped for a turnaround, according to Morgan Stanley, which predicts stable growth in those economies in 2019.

The investment bank has upgraded emerging market stocks from “underweight” to “overweight221; for the new year, while US equities were downgraded to “underweight.”

“We think the bear market is mostly complete for EM (emerging markets),” the bank said in its Global Strategy Outlook report for 2019, adding: “We are taking larger relative positions and adding to EM.”

Many investors withdrew from emerging markets throughout 2018 and bought more assets in the US due to a spike in bond yields. That will change, says Morgan Stanley, explaining that emerging markets will outperform developed markets.

Within the emerging markets space, Morgan Stanley’s key “overweight221; countries are Brazil, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Peru and Poland. The bank classes Mexico, the Philippines, Colombia, Greece and the United Arab Emirates as “underweight.”

Growth across EM has been forecast to slow slightly from 4.8 percent to 4.7 percent in 2019, before inching back up to 4.8 percent in 2020. US growth will moderate from the 2.9 percent estimates to 2.3 percent in 2019 and 1.9 percent in 2020, Morgan Stanley said.

“A major challenge for US assets next year is that they’re ‘boxed in’ – better-than-expected growth will simply mean more Fed tightening, while weaker-than-expected growth will raise slowdown risks, with limited scope for policy support,” its strategists wrote. “In a major change from the last 10 years, both good news and bad news creates problems for US markets.”

[loganair] 25/4/2018 23:37

Indonesian stocks racked up some of the heftiest losses, falling more than 2 percent to a four month low as the country’s markets were hit by a combination of softer global stock markets and a slumping rupiah currency, which has already weakened 2.5 percent against the dollar year-to-date.

Southeast Asia’s largest economy is especially vulnerable to sudden capital flight from its sovereign bond market, which could weaken the rupiah further.

[loganair] 09/4/2018 23:32

Hermes - China a deep rich market,a great place to be long term over the next 20 years.

Chinese government most probably the most solvent government in the world and Chinese banks are all deposit backed.

Russia, Brazil and Peru good to be in at the moment because of where we are in the commodity cycle. These markets will go up and down more than the average market because they are more emotional markets.

Sberbank is growing and adding value and wealth.

India - got some good companies, however has serious structural problems and bureaucracy.

[loganair] 24/3/2018 11:53

Great expectations by Marina Gerner:

So what is the outlook for the BRICS? Stammers says that, ultimately, China and India are looking to become leading global providers of goods and services, so they make things. In contrast, Russia and Brazil are expected to become the global giants in commodities, so they provide the basic raw materials needed to make those things.

Paul McNamara, an investment director and lead manager on emerging market bond, currency and hedge fund strategies at GAM, says: ‘China and India matter a lot; the other two are secondary.’ All the BRICS countries face different obstacles. ‘Russia is crippled by dysfunctional institutions and corruption, but Brazil is slightly better off,’ comments McNamara. Redwood says Russia has ‘suffered a setback from the lower oil price, which has hit its export earnings and tax revenues, and from Western actions, which have made some trade and transactions more difficult’.

Redwood observes that Brazil has been through a bad political and economic crisis, with recession, high inflation and difficult corruption problems forcing changes of government. He says: ‘There is now some hope of recovery, but there remain deep-seated economic and political problems to resolve fully.’ South Africa too has been suffering from political instability and failing economic policies. ‘Future sustained progress in both Brazil and South Africa will need stable reform-oriented governments that can shake off the problems of the past,’ he adds.

India has become the poster child for reform-led recovery in emerging markets, argues James Penny, senior investment manager at TAM Asset Management. ‘With the appointment of prime minster Modi, the country has been put on a path of steep and deep economic and government reform to bring its economy and vast middle-class population to the forefront in the modern market.’

‘India has scope to become one of the world’s largest economies, but it still has a lot further to go to increase incomes per head.’ Moreover, South Africa, Russia and to some extent Brazil rely on mining and the production of oil and commodities, whereas China and India are more dependent on imports of raw materials.

Dominant China:

However, Penny says the biggest and, on the global stage, the loudest of the BRICS nations remains China. The country continues to make headlines speculating about whether its economy could suffer a ‘hard landing’ in the face of its highly leveraged corporate sector and a fall in GDP to 6 per cent. But he is keen to put these figures in context: ‘Let’s be clear here,’ he says. ‘The US is struggling to find 4 per cent GDP growth, the UK is looking at 1.5 per cent, and the world is worrying about a Chinese slowdown to 6 per cent GDP growth?’

-China, not India, will dominate future Asian growth:

The growth rates of the BRICS economies, with the possible exception of India’s, over the next 10 years is likely to be about half that of the previous decade, according to Smith. India’s and China’s shares of global GDP growth will probably be smaller, but the countries will remain dominant.

‘China will remain the largest [BRICS] economy and should continue to command investors’ attention,’ he says. ‘But if India opens up and reforms, investors should begin to devote more of their attention to the subcontinent.’ That said, he points out that, given the relative size of the two economies today, it would still take more than 30 years for India’s GDP to exceed China’s, even if India achieves all its reform goals and China achieves few of its aims.

Ultimately, the strength of the BRICS as an investment proposition is their very diversity, argues Ballard. ‘They are so different that they provide an element of diversification beneficial for any long term investor.’

[loganair] 15/3/2018 09:28

Goldman Sachs - Vietnam has ‘some really interesting opportunities’:

"The add-on or the knock-on activity that comes from places like China is a real opportunity. As manufacturing has gotten more expensive in China, we’ve seen some really interesting opportunities in places like Vietnam. I don’t think maybe 10 years ago anybody would say Vietnam’s an opportunity because they’re a supplier to the Chinese consumer. Probably people would have thought that was crazy and today I think it’s a key investing theme."

[loganair] 05/3/2018 21:27

I have just been listening to the head of strategy at UBS and he says his favourite markets for 2018 are Russia, Brazil, South Korea and Indonesia.

[loganair] 26/12/2017 22:42

The improved performance of the emerging world will be sustained:

At 3.9%, emerging -market growth in 2016 was the weakest since the Great Recession. Since then, the external environment for these economies has improved. In particular, growth in the developed world has picked up considerably and commodity prices have risen by more than 60% since the beginning of 2016. As a result, emerging -market growth rebounded to 4.8% in 2017. IHS Markit predicts this growth rate will be sustained in 2018.

While the global environment will continue to be growth -supportive, and while some countries will see stronger growth in 2018, other countries and regions will face challenges, and growing debt burdens could become a risk for many of these economies.

In Asia, India will recover from its twin policy shocks of demonetization and the imposition of the goods and services tax. At the same time Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam will sustain 5.0‒6.5% growth. Most of the economies in Latin America will also see also better growth in 2018.

A wildcard in the 2018 outlook is whether the Chinese government will go to the stimulus well once again when growth slows. Thanks to stable labor market conditions, it appears that financial crisis prevention outweighs a moderate growth slowdown, in the Xi government’s current calculus. A moderate weakening in China’s growth momentum in 2018 thus appears to be in the cards. IHS Markit predicts that China’s growth rate will diminish from 6.8% in 2017 to 6.5% in 2018.

On the other hand, Emerging Europe will see slower growth, due to overheating and labor shortages. In the Middle East, the recovery from the oil slump will be slow and in Sub-Saharan Africa the big economies (Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa) will struggle to expand more 1%.

[loganair] 06/12/2017 13:13

Wondering where Mark Mobius would invest $100,000 right now?

“I would put one-third of the amount in commodities, most notably platinum and palladium. Palladium has gone up a bit too high, but it is used as a catalytic converter in gasoline engines, and despite electric cars coming in, gasoline engines are the biggest thing in China. One-third into African stock markets particularly places like Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa. The last one-third would be in Vietnam,” Mark Mobius, Executive Chairman, Templeton Emerging Markets Group told Bloomberg in an interview.

Palladium, which has rallied 45 per cent this year, and platinum are the “most notable” commodities and are attractive given that they’re used in catalytic converters in automobile engines, said Mobius, the executive chairman of Franklin Templeton’s emerging markets group.

In Africa, Mobius said he was keen on stocks from South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Zimbabwe. It’s a “great opportunity” to invest in Zimbabwe right now as he expects the market to be opened up and foreign-exchange reserves to rise after the toppling of former president Robert Mugabe.

Sharing reasons for his investments into Zimbabwe, the expert said that he expects a stock market correction in the country, which provides a great opportunity. “The reason I said Zimbabwe is that I expect the markets to come down. As you know, it’s all traded in US dollars. The reason it will come down is Zimbabwe is looking to open the markets, they will have some additional foreign reserves, that will allow investors to get out. This will mean that it will be necessary for local investors to be investing in that market, now that they have a tangible asset, so the market will come down, and that will be a great opportunity,” Mark Mobius told the channel.

Mobius described Vietnam, where the benchmark VN Index has climbed 41 per cent this year, as “one of the most dynamic” Asian markets. “It’s a small market, a frontier market, but it’s exciting,” he said in a separate interview at the conference.

Giving the investors a glimpse into the future of stock markets across the world, Mark Mobius says that emerging markets may be redefined to be called high-growth countries in the next ten years as they are slated to see a lot of demand for consumer durables due to the burgeoning population. Writing specifically about India and China, Mark Mobius explained, “Well, look five or 10 years from now, you’re going to see these consumer markets become bigger than what you see in Europe, in the US. Because look, China and India each have a billion people and their incomes are rising.”

[loganair] 10/11/2017 09:44

Can emerging markets maintain their momentum? By Graham Smith:

When markets surprise, they have a habit of doing so in a big way. This wasn’t supposed to be a great year for emerging markets but, so far, it has been. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index went up by almost a third in US dollar terms over the ten months to the end of October¹.

Rising interest rates in the US have the potential to apply a substantial headwind to emerging markets. They make it relatively more attractive for global investors to plant their money in US assets and avoid the additional risks associated with smaller, developing countries. At the same time, higher US rates make it more expensive for nations dependent on foreign loans to service their existing debts and borrow more.

As always though, we find ourselves somewhere between two big pulls. On the other end of the rope this time is economic growth. In a developed world where growth of 2% to 3% is considered strong enough to withstand rises in interest rates, the International Monetary Fund’s expectation that emerging markets will continue to grow at a rate of about 5% per annum looks impressive².

So where is the growth coming from? For a start, China seems on course to expand by about 7% this year. While that’s a big step down from the 10% growth rate we saw earlier this decade, it’s still enough to belie some extraordinary progress. Online sales of physical goods were 29% higher in the nine months to September compared with the same period in 2016.³

That’s good news for the host of nearby countries that send exports to China. Malaysia, for instance, which sells components used in the latest generation Apple and Samsung smartphones, said last week that exports to China were up 27% year-on-year in September⁴.

Then there’s Brazil, in a much weaker position, but with prospects improving. Following a damaging two-year-long recession, a rebound in consumer spending stabilised the economy in the first half of this year ⁵.

India, almost the world’s fastest growing large economy in fiscal 2016-17, has slowed as the country absorbs the combined impacts of last year’s cancellation of high value bank notes and the introduction this year of a national goods and services tax. However, these effects are only expected to be transitory, turning positive for the economy longer run according to the World Bank⁶.

Since corporate earnings have broadly grown in step with stock market gains this year, emerging markets continue to look attractively valued on a relative basis. At the end of last month, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index traded on 16 times the earnings of the companies it represents, and at a 23% discount to world markets generally.

That valuation gap is more or less maintained when using forecast earnings – 13 times for emerging markets versus 17 times for the world⁷.

You could, perhaps, explain away these mismatches by the risks that remain. Capital has continued to flow into emerging markets, even as US interest rates have gone up. As in the period 2003 to 2006, emerging markets are enduring rising rates, partly because those rises have coincided with healthy global growth⁸.

However, that could still be undone by any factor that sees the US dollar returning to favour, particularly if that factor involves a rise in geopolitical stress or unexpected deterioration in the world growth outlook.

That would place renewed pressure particularly on countries with US dollar currency pegs and large debts. Malaysia would be one – its banks are highly dependent on dollar funding⁹.

As usual, investors seeking to add growth from emerging markets to their portfolios might do well to spread their risks. Fortunately, emerging markets are a heterogeneous mix, with commodity producers like Russia, Indonesia and South Africa included alongside the increasingly consumer oriented markets of China and India.

[loganair] 01/10/2017 19:45

31st August 2017 - Portfolio analysis by JP Morgan:

The portfolio outperformed the benchmark during the month on the back of positive stock selection. Country allocation was marginally positive, with the positive impact from the overweight in Thailand and the underweight in India being partially offset by the negative impact from our overweight exposure to Indonesia and Korea. China was the strongest contributor, with AAC Technologies benefiting from strong results and growth in the new area of optics, Shenzhou rising on strong first-half results and Ping An continuing to outperform as the government intensified scrutiny on the Tier 2 players. In Taiwan, Eclat Textile re-rated despite posting disappointing results and Himax Technologies (display driver IC) and Largan Precision rose as key beneficiaries from the optical upcycle in both imaging and 3D depth-sensing cameras.

Geographical Breakdown:

China.......34.9%
Korea.......18.7%
Hong Kong...12.1%
Taiwan......10.0%
India........8.7%
Indonesia....5.2%
Thailand.....3.9%
Singapore....2.7%
Vietnam......1.9%
Malaysia.....1.1%

[pjw956] 18/9/2017 22:05

I have a small holding in this trust and watch fairly closely - trend has been reasonable this year on the whole - dipped over the last month - but over the long term should go in the right direction ...I do share some concerns over china holdings

[loganair] 29/7/2017 19:59

30th June 2017 - Portfolio analysis by JP Morgan:

The Company's net asset value outperformed the benchmark, while the share price performed in line. Stock selection and country allocation contributed positively overall. Stock selection in China was the biggest detractor. AAC Technologies resumed trading on 7 June after being suspended in May, and shares recovered to an extent after the company issued a detailed statement refuting the short seller's allegations. Alibaba continued to outperform on the back of earnings upgrades. Not owning China Mobile and Baidu also contributed positively. Elsewhere, our financial holdings in Hong Kong (AIA Group) and Thailand (K-Bank) added to returns. At the stock level, the top contributor was Eclat Textile in Taiwan, which benefited from positive monthly sales and expectations for a new supply contract with a large e-commerce company. The worst-performing stock was IMAX China. Although the company is delivering on new installations, short-term financial performance is being dictated by the hit/miss of box office titles. Other notable detractors include KEPCO. Following an order to shut down old coal fire plants in May, it was announced in June that the construction of two nuclear plants would be halted.



I have written several times to JP Morgan asking for the percentage of the Asian trust held in China to be reduced. Currently 56.6% of this trust is held in Greater China while I would like to see this reduced towards the 40% level while I would like a percentage held in other Indian Sub-Continent and Indo-China Countries and Ex-CIS States.

[loganair] 10/7/2017 21:47

Euromonitor International’s Vietnam Economy, Finance and Trade Country Briefing, focuses on one of Southeast Asia’s most dynamic and fastest growing emerging markets. Low labour costs when compared to regional peers such as China and Thailand have supported the growth of Vietnam as a manufacturing base and a major electronics exporter in the region. Furthermore, Vietnam has a young population with a bourgeoning middle class and a populace of 93.4 million, which undoubtedly indicates an essential market for consumer goods. Vietnam has continued to maintain its position as one of the star performers in terms of economic growth boosted by strong growth in private consumption, continued rise in foreign investment and growth in exports. However, shortage of skilled labour, low productivity, corruption and rising wages are major challenges faced by businesses and the manufacturing sector, which the government needs to tackle to maintain Vietnam’s overall competitiveness and cement its position as Asia’s next manufacturing hub.

Vietnam offers a low cost manufacturing alternative to its regional peers where labour costs are rising:

The agricultural, manufacturing and services sectors are all major contributors to the economy. With companies like Samsung and Intel investing significantly in the country, Vietnam has emerged as a key location for high-technology manufacturing in the region;

To prevent the hoarding of foreign currency, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) cut rates for dollar deposits in 2015 from 0.75% to 0.0%. In the short run, this will help stabilise the foreign exchange and monetary markets. However, in the long run, if not increased, it might cause capital flight and lack of foreign currency;

As the US dollar strengthened and the Chinese yuan devalued, the SBV in 2015 devalued the Vietnamese dong four times to increase the country’s export competitiveness. The dollar/dong trading band was also widened twice in August 2015 from 1.0% to 3.0%. Furthermore, in January 2016, in an effort to adopt a more market-based exchange rate regime by setting a daily reference rate versus the dollar, the SBV further devalued the dong. The dong exchange rate has continued to decline against the US dollar;

The Vietnamese economy is expected to benefit the most from the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) that was signed in February 2016. Vietnam’s garments and shoes industries will highly benefit from reduced import duties in the member countries, especially the USA and Japan. The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) that became official on 31st December 2015 will generate better opportunities for Vietnam to export goods and services to the ASEAN market while the free flow of labour among the ASEAN economies should help ease skilled labour shortage in the country;

Vietnam’s relatively low labour costs, a strategic location; and a large manufacturing sector have helped the country emerge as a major electronics exporter in the region. According to trade sources, as of 2015, 50.0% of Samsung’s mobile phones were manufactured in Vietnam. The country also exports large amounts of textiles, oil and agricultural products. According to trade sources, in 2015, Vietnam was one of the world’s largest exporters of rice and the second-largest exporter of coffee.

Government continues to enhance business environment:

Despite rapidly rising wages, Vietnam’s minimum wage per month remained the third lowest among ASEAN economies in 2015, below that of Thailand and Indonesia. Hence, over the years, Vietnam has experienced an increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows especially in its labour intensive industries. Businesses with manufacturing hubs in China and Thailand are relocating to Vietnam. In 2015, LG Electronics moved its television production base from Thailand to Vietnam. Furthermore, the government has been taking numerous initiatives in enhancing Vietnam’s overall competitiveness; these include a gradual cut in corporate tax rates and reforming the state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Although the government failed to reach its ambitious target of equitizing 500 SOEs by 2015, it succeeded in privatising 94 SOEs between January and September 2015. The corporation tax rate was slashed from 28.0% in 2008 to 20.0% in 2016, which now stands lower than China and on par with Thailand and Cambodia. If the government continues to thrive in enhancing Vietnam’s business environment and help boost economic activity, the
country has great potential in developing into Asia’s new manufacturing hub.

[loganair] 28/4/2017 09:00

Asian economies deliver 60pc of global growth:

Growth is picking up in two-thirds of economies in Asia, supported by higher external demand, rebounding global commodity prices and domestic reforms, making the region the largest single contributor to global growth at 60 percent.

A new Asian Development Bank (ADB) report forecast on Monday gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Asia and the Pacific to reach 5.7% in 2017 and 2018, a slight deceleration from the 5.8% registered in 2016.

Asian Development Outlook (ADO) says: “Developing Asia continues to drive the global economy even as the region adjusts to a more consumption-driven economy in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and looming global risks.”

Yasuyuki Sawada, ADB’s chief economist, said: “While uncertain policy changes in advanced economies do pose a risk to the outlook, we feel that most economies are well positioned to weather potential short-term shocks.”

The US, euro area and Japan are expected to collectively grow by 1.9% in 2017 and 2018. Rising consumer and business confidence and a declining unemployment rate have fueled US growth, but uncertainty over future economic policies may test confidence.

The euro area continues to strengthen, but its outlook is somewhat clouded by uncertainties such as Brexit. Meanwhile, Japan remains dependent on its ability to maintain export growth to continue its expansion, according to the report.

It added the PRC’s growth continues to moderate as the government implements measures to transition the economy to a more consumption-driven model. Overall output is expected to slow to 6.5% in 2017 and 6.2% in 2018, down from 2016’s 6.7%.

“South Asia remains the fastest growing of all sub-regions, with growth reaching 7% in 2017 and 7.2% in 2018. In India, the sub-region’s largest economy, growth is expected to pick up to 7.4% in fiscal year (FY) 2017 and 7.6% in FY2018, following the 7.1% registered last FY.

“The impact of the demonetization of high-value banknotes is dissipating as the replacement banknotes enter circulation. Stronger consumption and fiscal reforms are also expected to improve business confidence and investment prospects in the country.”

The Southeast Asia region will grow 4.8% in 2017 and 5% in 2018, from the 4.7% recorded last year. Commodity producers such as Malaysia, Viet Nam and Indonesia will be boosted by the recovery of global food and fuel prices.

Growth in Central Asia is expected to reach 3.1% in 2017 and 3.5% in 2018, on the back of rising commodity prices and increased exports, albeit with large heterogeneity among countries in the region.

Countries in the Pacific will reach 2.9% and 3.3% growth over the next 2 years as the region’s largest economy, Papua New Guinea, stabilises following a fiscal crunch and Fiji and Vanuatu recover from natural disasters.

Regional consumer price inflation is projected to accelerate to 3% in 2017 and 3.2% in 2018 from the 2.5% in 2016 on the back of stronger consumer demand and increasingly rising global commodity prices. Inflation projections for the next two years, however, are well below the 10-year regional average of 3.9%.

Risks to the outlook include higher US interest rates, which will accelerate capital outflows, although this risk is mitigated to some degree by abundant liquidity throughout the region.

On the domestic front, increasing household debt in some Asian economies is a rising risk. The risk can be countered through prudent macro prudential policies, such as requiring tighter debt-to-income ratios for loans.

[loganair] 23/3/2017 11:15

Uncovering hidden dragons: The emerging markets of South East Asia By Kosuke Sogo:


When news first broke of our move into Cambodia, people I spoke to were curious as to why we entered a market that was often overlooked by international ad tech vendors and agencies.

We started the company wanting to enable marketers, advertisers and publishers in Asia to leverage on modern tools and increase their returns. Our move into Cambodia and similarly Hanoi, is part of that push.

May 2017 will be the 20th anniversary of internet connectivity in Cambodia. However, widespread connectivity and usage started to grow only as recent as 2013, coinciding with the rise in popularity of smart mobile devices.

This is a population that jumped from dial-up internet to smartphones on broadband, due to lower setup costs and Khmer script capabilities on smart devices. In fact, the recent We Are Social report showed that the number of active social media users in Cambodia stands at almost one-third the total population, an increase of 44% from the previous year. That same report placed internet users at half the population and a similar rate of increment at 43% from the previous year.

The country’s ecosystem represents a major opportunity for marketers to engage with their audiences on mobile and social media, including influencer marketing. At the other end of the spectrum, most digital media owners are still finding the best means to monetize their assets, whilst retaining user experience.

Ultimately, it is up to foreign companies to take the learnings from Asia in the past to enhance the digital sphere in these emerging markets. This includes solutions already developed to address transparency and viewability issues, along with having the expertise to aid adoption on both sides of the equation.

Tale of two cities:

Cambodia is one such fast-emerging market in this diverse region, with many similar pockets across Asia.

Even cities have differing levels of digital maturity.

Take Hanoi as an example. The city predominantly houses local businesses and government organizations. In contrast, Ho Chih Minh City is where the big marketing budgets are, as international businesses dominate the landscape.

Likewise, international tech vendors and agencies are concentrated in Ho Chih Minh City, and there is a noticeable level of difference in the standard of digital marketing and online assets compared to Hanoi.

Oftentimes, marketers in Hanoi run campaigns with a short-term view, focusing on clicks and impressions. The true value in a company’s digital efforts though, is to have a long-term digital strategy for customer acquisition.

Unlocking the region:

Southeast Asia should not be approached on a macro-level, and it is important to understand the media ecosystem of each country and even city. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for this region.

For example, countries like Indonesia and Myanmar use social media as their search tool of choice, rather than the more prominent search engines. At the same time, mobile is hands-down their preferred device, opening up endless possibilities for mobile advertising.

Compare this to Singapore and Vietnam, where users are almost equally on desktop and mobile devices.

Essentially, it’s important to know how each market functions by having feet on the ground. That will pave the way for solutions and strategies needed to unearth the region’s potential.