Volume 12 Issue 3 | November 2025
VANTAGE POINT
Smart City Development
Why does it matter for Southeast Asia?
By Orlando Woods and Liyana Doneva
Endnotes
1. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “68% of the World Population Projected to Live in Urban Areas by 2050, says UN”, May 16, 2018, https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html, accessed August 2025.
2. ASEAN, “ASEAN Sustainable Urbanisation Report”, December 2022, https://asean.org/book/asean-sustainable-urbanisation-report/, accessed August 2025.
3. ASEAN, “ASEAN Smart Cities Framework”, July 2018, https://asean.org/our-communities/asean-smart-cities-network/, accessed August 2025.
4. McKinsey Global Institute, “Smart Cities in Southeast Asia”, McKinsey&Company, July 2018, https://www.usascp.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/McKinseySmartCities_SoutheastAsia.pdf, accessed August 2025.
5. Technological solutionism prioritises technological fixes over other approaches, tending to view problems through a technological lens and hence potentially overlooking other non-technological solutions or unintended consequences.
6. Prerona Das, Orlando Woods, and Lily Kong, “Right‐Sizing the Smart City in Southeast Asia”, Area, March 31, 2025, no. e70014, https://doi.org/10.1111/area.70014, accessed August 2025.
7. A three-wheeled motorised vehicle used as a taxi in Thailand.
8. Paolo Cardullo and Rob Kitchin, “Smart Urbanism and Smart Citizenship: The Neoliberal Logic of ‘Citizen-Focused’ Smart Cities in Europe”, Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, nos. 37, 5 (2019): pp. 813–830, https://doi.org/10.1177/0263774X18806508, accessed August 2025.
9. Shabana Begum, “Researchers Build ‘Digital Twin’ of Singapore to Assess Urban Heat, Find Ways to Cool City”, The Straits Times, June 2, 2024, https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/researchers-build-digital-twin-of-singapore-to-assess-urban-heat-find-ways-to-cool-city, accessed August 2025.
10. Prerona Das, Orlando Woods, and Lily Kong, “Human Sensors in the City of Super Apps: Mobilizing People as Infrastructure for Smart City Development in Jakarta, Indonesia”, City, nos. 28, 5–6 (2024): pp. 812–834, https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2024.2427954, accessed August 2025.
11. Ibid.
12. Ben Green, “The Smart Enough City: Lessons from the Past and a Framework for the Future”, in “The Smart Enough City”, The MIT Press, 2019, https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11555.003.0009, accessed August 2025.
13. Indonesian word for “village”.
14. Luhung Achmad Perguna et al., “Bridging Digital Divide and Rural E-Goverment (Smart Kampung): Evidence from Banyuwangi, Indonesia”, December 2021, Library Philosophy and Practice, no. 6561, https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=12709&context=libphilprac, accessed August 2025.
15. Luca Mora et al., “Confronting the Smart City Governance Challenge”, Nature Cities, nos. 2,2 (February 2025): pp. 110–113, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-024-00168-9, accessed August 2025.
INSIGHTS
Digital Platforms, Mobility, and Cities
The rise of the digital platform economy and urban mobility requires the reshaping of urban policy.
By Shauna Brail
References
1. Martin Kenney and John Zysman, “The Platform Economy: Restructuring the Space of Capitalist Accumulation”, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, nos.13, 1 (May 2020): 55–76, https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsaa001, accessed August 2025.
2. Shauna Brail, “World Cities of Ride-Hailing”, Urban Geography, nos. 43, 1 (2022): 12-33, https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2020.1775030, accessed August 2025.
3. Shauna Brail and Betsy Donald, "Urban Mobility: How the iPhone, COVID, and Climate Changed Everything", University of Toronto Press, 2024.
4. John Stehlin, Michael Hodson, and Andrew McMeekin, “Platform Mobilities and the Production of Urban Space: Toward a Typology of Platformization Trajectories”, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, nos. 52, 7 (October 2020): 1250–1268, https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19896801, accessed August 2025.
5. Shauna Brail and Betsy Donald, “From Ride Hailing to Food Hailing: Understanding -Demand Food Delivery through Platform Urbanism and Urban Policy in Canadian Cities”, Journal of Urban Affairs, November 26, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2024.2427643, accessed August 2025.
6. Sarah Barns, "Platform Urbanism: Negotiating Platform Ecosystems in Connected Cities", Palgrave Macmillan Singapore, 2020.
7. Federico Caprotti, I.-Chun Catherine Chang, and Simon Joss, “Beyond the Smart City: A Typology of Platform Urbanism”, Urban Transformations, no. 4 (2022): 4, https://doi.org/10.1186/s42854-022-00033-9, accessed August 2025.
8. Rachel G. McKane and David Hess, “The Impact of Ridesourcing on Equity and Sustainability in North American Cities: A Systematic Review of the Literature”, Cities, no. 133 (February 2023): 104122, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2022.104122, accessed August 2025.
9. Los Angeles Department of Transportation, "LADOT Year One Snapshot: A Review of the 2019-2020 Dockless Vehicle Pilot Program July 2020", https://ladot.lacity.gov/projects/transportation-services/shared-mobility/micromobility, accessed August 2025.
10. Julianne Cuba, “One Year Later, Delivery Workers Still Waiting for Their Charging Hubs", Streetsblog NYC, November 21, 2023, https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2023/11/21/one-year-later-delivery-workers-are-still-waiting-for-their-charging-hubs, accessed August 2025.
11. Run Ge, Susan F. Lu, and Wenzheng Mao, “The Impact of Heat Hazard on Gig Economy Workers: Evidence from an On-Demand Food Delivery Platform”, SSRN, October 20, 2024, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4993644, accessed August 2025.
12. Isabelle Leliart and Suvasish Sharma, “How Asia’s booming gig economy is reshaping the future of work”, World Economic Forum, June 26, 2025, https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/06/what-will-it-take-to-make-the-gig-economy-in-asia-fair-and-sustainable/, accessed August 2025.
13. Karoline Kan, “China's Blistering Heat Leaves Workers Exposed as Gig Economy Booms”, Bloomberg July 8, 2025, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-09/extreme-heat-and-no-benefits-the-hidden-cost-of-china-s-booming-gig-economy, accessed August 2025.
14. Author’s calculations based on Uber financial reports, 2019-2024.
INSIGHTS
Sustainability and Climate-Related Regulations and Due Diligence
Why does it matter?
By Adolf Peter
Endnotes
1. Fabio Teixeira, Luciana Novaes Magalhaes, and Lisandra Paraguassu, “Exclusive: Chinese Workers in BYD Brazil Factory Signed Contracts with Abusive Clauses, Investigators Say”, Reuters, January 31, 2025, https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/chinese-workers-byd-brazil-factory-signed-contracts-with-abusive-clauses-2025-01-31/, accessed September 2025.
2. Annabelle Liang, “Brazil Shuts BYD Factory Site over ‘Slavery” Conditions”, BBC, December 24, 2024, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8xj9jp57r2o, accessed September 2025.
3. BYD, “Statement from BYD”, December 28, 2024, https://en.byd.com/news/statement-from-byd/, accessed September 2025.
4. Adam Hancock, “Brazil Sues China Carmaker BYD over ‘Slave-Like’ Conditions”, BBC, May 28, 2025, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3v5n7w55kpo, accessed September 2025.
5. Borealis, “About the Kallo Case”, January 23, 2023, https://www.borealisgroup.com/news/about-the-kallo-case, accessed September 2025.
6. OLG Hamm, “5 U 15/17”, May 28, 2025, https://nrwe.justiz.nrw.de/olgs/hamm/j2025/5_U_15_17_Urteil_20250528.html, accessed September 2025.
7. Ruth Knox, Matthew Ivor-Jones and Raphaël Saint George, “RWE Case Establishes Legal Precedent for Corporate Climate Accountability Worldwide”, Paul Hastings, August 21, 2025, https://www.paulhastings.com/insights/phast-track-legal-insights-on-environment-energy-and-infrastructure/rwe-case-establishes-legal-precedent-for-corporate-climate-accountability-worldwide, accessed September 2025.
8. Sharon Kits Kimathi, “Sustainable Switch Climate Focus: Swiss Village Destroyed by Glacier
Collapse”, Reuters, June 2, 2025, https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/sustainable-switch-climate-focus-swiss-village-destroyed-by-glacier-collapse-2025-06-02/, accessed September 2025.
9. Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions are three categories used to classify GHG emissions. Scope 1 covers direct emissions from a company’s own or controlled sources, Scope 2 accounts for indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy, and Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions that occur in the company’s value chain, both upstream and downstream.
10. Evan Tylenda et al., “GS Sustain: Measuring the Global Scope of CSRD and CSDDD”, Goldman Sachs, June 23, 2003, https://www.eticanews.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/GS-SUSTAIN_-Measuring-the-global-scope-of-CSRD-and-CSDDD.pdf, accessed September 2025.
11. The CSRD entered into force on 5 January 2023 and mandates new sustainability-related reporting requirements for covered entities.
11a. European Parliament, "Sustainability reporting and due diligence: Simpler rules for fewer companies", October 13, 2025, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20251009IPR30836/sustainability-reporting-and-due-diligence-simpler-rules-for-fewer-companies.
12. European Commission, “Joint Statement on a United States-European Union Framework on an Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair and Balanced Trade”, August 21, 2025, https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/news/joint-statement-united-states-european-union-framework-agreement-reciprocal-fair-and-balanced-trade-2025-08-21_en, accessed September 2025.
13. US Congress, “S.985 – PROTECT USA Act of 2025”, March 12, 2025, https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/985/text, accessed September 2025.
14. Collin Eaton, “Trump Goes to Bat for Big Oil on Climate Rules in EU Trade Talks”, The Wall Street Journal, June 26, 2025, https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/trump-goes-to-bat-for-big-oil-on-climate-rules-in-eu-trade-talks-e38b35ec, accessed September 2025.
15. Victor Steenbergen and Abhishek Saurav, “The Effect of Multinational Enterprises on Climate Change”, World Bank Group, May 23, 2023, https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/6f95644d-92cc-4e75-87c7-43f866355833, accessed September 2025.
16. In particular, the EU Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) aims to ensure the EU’s access to a secure and sustainable supply of net-zero technologies, while the Climate, Energy and Environmental Aid Guidelines (CEEAG) targets specific net-zero technologies for achieving emission reductions.
17. This information was directly provided to the author by CATL and is not publicly available.
INSIGHTS
Unlocking Private Equity Investing
Myths and market shifts to take note of.
By Yin Wang and Steve Balaban
Endnotes
1. Preqin, “Global Alternatives Markets On Course to Exceed $30tn by 2030 — Preqin Forecasts”, September 18, 2024, https://www.preqin.com/about/press-release/global-alternatives-markets-on-course-to-exceed-usd30tn-by-2030-preqin-forecasts, accessed September 2025.
2. Companies created or registered before January 1, 2024 have until January 13, 2025 to file beneficial ownership information reports with FinCEN. Holland & Knight, “Corporate Transparency Act Back in Effect, but with Extended Deadlines”, December 24, 2024, https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2024/12/corporate-transparency-act-back-in-effect-but-with-extended-deadlines, accessed October 2025.
3. Pamela Espinosa, “The Secondary Market”, Moonfare, May 26, 2025, https://www.moonfare.com/pe-masterclass/pe-secondary-market, accessed September 2025.
4. Jefferies, “Global Secondary Market Review”, January 2025, https://www.jefferies.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2025/02/Jefferies-Global-Secondary-Market-Review-January-2025.pdf, accessed September 2025.
5. Morgan Stanley, "Understanding and Investing in Private Equity Secondaries", November 3, 2022, https://www.morganstanley.com/ideas/private-equity-secondaries-volatile-markets, accessed September 2025.
6. Lazard, “Lazard 2024 Secondary Market Report”, January 23, 2025, https://www.lazard.com/research-insights/lazard-2024-secondary-market-report/, accessed September 2025.
7. BlackRock, “Private Market Secondaries: FY2024 Market Recap & Outlook”, n.d., https://www.blackrock.com/institutions/en-us/insights/market-update-h1-2025, accessed October 2025.
8. Jefferies, “Global Secondary Market Review”, January 2024, https://www.jefferies.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/01/Jefferies-Global-Secondary-Market-Review-January-2024_1cb2e6.pdf, accessed October 2025.
9. Gillian Tan and Janet Lorin, “Harvard in Talks to Sell $1 Billion of Private Equity Stakes”, Bloomberg, April 25, 2025, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-24/harvard-in-talks-to-sell-1-billion-of-private-equity-stakes, accessed October 2025.
10. Kanishka Singh, “Yale University Explores Sale of Private Equity Fund Interests”, Reuters, April 23, 2025, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/yale-university-explores-sale-private-equity-fund-interests-2025-04-22/, accessed October 2025.
11. Yolanda Wang, “Yale Considers Selling Part of Private Equity Portfolio”, Yale Daily News, April 22, 2025, https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2025/04/22/yale-considers-selling-part-of-private-equity-portfolio/, accessed October 2025.
12. Meg Short and Janet Lorin, “Brown and Northwestern Endowments Turn to Secondary Markets”, Bloomberg, October 1, 2025, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-01/brown-and-northwestern-endowments-turn-to-secondary-markets, accessed October 2025.
13. YaleNews, “Yale Endowment Earns 40.2% Investment Return in Fiscal 2021,” Yale University, October 14, 2021, https://news.yale.edu/2021/10/14/yale-endowment-earns-402-investment-return-fiscal-2021, accessed September 2025.
14. Evercore Private Capital Advisory, “FY 2024 Secondary Market Review”, February 2025, https://www.evercore.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Evercore-Full-Year-2024-Secondary-Market-Survey-Results.pdf, accessed September 2025.
INSIGHTS
From Hands-On to Tech-On
The digital future of warehouses.
By Toh Wei Kwan, Lim Bing Qian, and Johnson Choo
References
1. Frasers Property Limited, “Why Warehouses in Asia are on the Rise in 2022”, March 8, 2022, https://industrial.frasersproperty.co.th/en/new-media/blog/why-warehouses-in-asia-are-on-the-rise-in-2022, accessed August 2025.
2. EU Global and Olivier Gergele, “Why Manufacturers Must Rethink Their Supply Chains in Southeast Asia”, EY, February 21, 2022, https://www.ey.com/en_sg/insights/supply-chain/why-manufacturers-must-rethink-their-supply-chains-in-southeast-asia, accessed August 2025.
3. Gabriel Lip, “Offshoring”, CFI Education Inc, n.d., https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/management/offshoring/, accessed August 2025.
4. Rose Hung, “Asia’s Growth amid Global Decoupling: Geopolitics, Supply Chains, and a Rewired World Order”, ULI Asia Pacific, June 27, 2025, https://asia.uli.org/asias-growth-amid-global-decoupling-geopolitics-supply-chains-and-a-rewired-world-order/, accessed August 2025.
5. Fox Chu et al., “Diversifying Global Supply Chains: Opportunities in Southeast Asia”, McKinsey & Company, September 5, 2024, https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/logistics/our-insights/diversifying-global-supply-chains-opportunities-in-southeast-asia, accessed August 2025.
6. Angeline Tan, “Driving Factors of China Plus One”, Institute of Strategic & International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia, May 22, 2025, https://www.isis.org.my/2025/05/22/driving-factors-of-china-plus-one/, accessed August 2025.
7. United States Census Bureau, “Aging Asia: Trends and Transitions in the World's Most Populous Continent”, October 4, 2023, https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2023/demo/aging-asia.html, accessed August 2025.
8. Ping Wang, Henry W. Kinnucan, and Patricia A. Duffy, “The Effects of Rising Labour Costs on Global Supply Chains: The Case of China’s Cotton Yarn Industry”, Applied Economics, nos. 51, 33 (2019): 3608-3623, https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2019.1584372, accessed August 2025.
9. Dimitris A. Mourtzis et al., “Cyber- Physical Systems and Education 4.0 –The Teaching Factory 4.0 Concept”, Procedia Manufacturing, Vol. 23 (2018): 129-134, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2018.04.005, accessed August 2025.
10. Ericsson, “5G Private Networks Enhance Industry Productivity”, https://www.ericsson.com/en/reports-and-papers/mobility-report/articles/5g-private-networks-enhance-industry-productivity, accessed August 2025.
11. Sakthivel P., and R. Kandavel R., “A Study on Warehouse Management Automation Technologies”, International Journal of Progressive Research in Engineering Management and Science (IJPREMS), nos. 5,4 (April 2025): 2216-2221, https://www.ijprems.com/uploadedfiles/paper//issue_4_april_2025/39982/final/fin_ijprems1745422374.pdf, accessed August 2025.
12. Roberto Michel, “What Can Warehouse Execution Systems Do for Your Distribution Center Operations?”, Supply Chain 24/7, November 5, 2014, https://www.supplychain247.com/article/what_can_warehouse_execution_systems_do_for_your_distribution_center/forte_industries, accessed August 2025.
13. Brian Reinhart, “Warehouse Execution Systems: A New Label for an Established Solution”, Bastian Solutions, June 3, 2015, https://www.bastiansolutions.com/blog/warehouse-execution-systems-a-new-label-for-an-established-solution/, accessed August 2025.
14. Sinan Apak, H. Tozan, and Özalp Vayvay, “A New Systematic Approach for Warehouse Management System Evaluation”, October 2016, Tehnicki vjesnik - Technical Gazette, nos. 23, 5: 1439-1446, http://dx.doi.org/10.17559/TV-20141029094700, accessed August 2025.
15. Keyan Cao et al., “An Overview on Edge Computing Research”, IEEE Access, no. 8 (2020): 85714-85728, http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2991734, accessed August 2025.
16. Ben Dennis and Husam Rajab, “Utilizing Edge Computing in Cloud Environments for Warehouse Efficiency”, International Journal of Advanced Computing Research, nos. 12, 3: 145-162, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385495675_Utilizing_Edge_Computing_in_Cloud_Environments_for_Warehouse_Efficiency, accessed August 2025.
17. Sharath Muddaiah, “Security and Insight with Smart Labels”, Business Reporter, March 28, 2025, https://www.business-reporter.co.uk/digital-transformation/security-and-insight-with-smart-labels, accessed August 2025.
18. Eric Cariou, “Battery-Free BLE Smart Labels are Finally Scaling – Here’s Why”, iot Insider, July 3, 2025, https://www.iotinsider.com/iot-insights/technical-insights/battery-free-ble-smart-labels-are-finally-scaling-heres-why/, accessed August 2025.
19. Hiroshi Yoshitake and Pieter Abbeel, “The Impact of Overall Optimization on Warehouse Automation”, arXiv, August 11, 2023, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2308.06036, accessed August 2025.
20. Lihle N. Tikwayo and Tebello N. D. Mathaba, “Applications of Industry 4.0 Technologies in Warehouse Management: A Systematic Literature Review”, Logistics, nos. 7, 2(2023): 24, https://doi.org/10.3390/logistics7020024, accessed August 2025.
21. Parthiban Mohanasundaram, “Warehouse Automation: Transforming Supply Chains for the Digital Era”, International Journal of Information Technology and Management Information Systems (IJITMIS), nos. 16, 2 (March-April 2025): 1077-1093, https://doi.org/10.34218/IJITMIS_16_02_068, accessed August 2025.
22. Johannes Hangl, Viktoria Joy Behrens, and Simon Krause, “Barriers, Drivers, and Social Considerations for AI Adoption in Supply Chain Management: A Tertiary Study”, Logistics, nos. 6, 3(2022): 63, https://doi.org/10.3390/logistics6030063, accessed August 2025.
23. Miguel Rodríguez García and Erez Agmoni, “The Warehouse of the Future: Toward Highly Automated, Interconnected, Sustainable Warehouses”, MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, March 25, 2024, https://ctl.mit.edu/pub/report/warehouse-future, accessed August 2025.
24. Antoine Bradley, “Southeast Asian Countries are Cushioning Tariff Impact with Targeted Stimulus”, FrontierView, July 7, 2025, https://frontierview.com/insights/southeast-asia-tariff-impact/, accessed August 2025.
INSIGHTS
Mind The Gap: Fixing India’s Truck Demand-Supply Mismatch
Adopting advanced technology and a big-picture approach can deliver operational and financial gains.
By Debjit Roy, Anupam Agrawal, and Shubham
References
1. Press Information Bureau India, “Revolutionizing Mobility The Make in India Auto Story”, March 25, 2025, https://www.pib.gov.in/PressNoteDetails.aspx?NoteId=154025&ModuleId=3, accessed August 6, 2025.
2. Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, “Product Trends”, https://www.siam.in/statistics.aspx?mpgid=8&pgidtrail=13, accessed August 6, 2025.
3. TheGlobalEconomy.com, “Commercial Vehicle Sales - Country Rankings”, https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/commercial_vehicle_sales/, accessed August 6, 2025.
4. Federation of Automobile Dealers Association, “FADA Releases March’24 & FY’24 Vehicle Retail Data”, April 8, 2024, https://fada.in/images/press-release/16613636250c94FADA%20releases%20March%202024%20and%20FY%202024%20Vehicle%20Retail%20Data.pdf, accessed August 6, 2025.
5. ETAuto, “Market Share of Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicle Trucks across India in Financial Year 2023, by Manufacturer”, Statista, May 5, 2023, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1094573/india-hdv-market-share-by-manufacturer/, accessed August 6, 2025.
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8. Ibid
9. Anand Kumar et al., “Integrated Fleet Mix and Routing Decision for Hazmat Transportation: A Developing Country Perspective”, European Journal of Operational Research, 264(1): 225-238, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2017.06.012, accessed July 2025.
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11. NITI Aayog, RMI India and RMI, “Fast Tracking Freight in India: A Roadmap for Clean and Cost-Effective Goods Transport”, June 2021, https://www.niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2021-06/FreightReportNationalLevel.pdf, accessed August 6, 2025.
12. Ashok Leyland, “Ahead of the Curve: Annual Report 2021-22”, Hinduja Group, https://www.ashokleyland.com/backend/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Annual-Report-FY-2021-22.pdf, accessed July 2025.
13. N Madhavan, “Can Daimler Go the Distance in India?”, mint, March 2, 2023, https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/can-daimler-go-the-distance-in-india-11677687114854.html, accessed July 2025.
14. Manufacturing Today, “Transforming India’s Construction: SANY India’s Journey and Innovations”, June 24, 2024, https://www.manufacturingtodayindia.com/transforming-indias-construction-sany-indias-journey-and-innovations, accessed August 6, 2025.
15. Transparency Market Research, “Truck-as-a-Service Market”, January 2024, https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/truck-as-a-service-market.html, accessed July 2025.
16. Anupam Agrawal, Luk N. Van Wassenhove and Arnoud De Meyer, “Managing Value in Supply Chains: Case Studies on the Sourcing Hub Concept”, California Management Review, 56(2), Winter 2014, https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1888756, accessed July 2025.
17. ET Auto, “Tata Motors Launches Welfare Program for Truck Drivers”, April 8, 2019, https://auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/commercial-vehicle/mhcv/tata-motors-launches-welfare-program-for-truck-drivers/68773978, accessed August 6, 2025.pervised-decisions, accessed May 2025.
CASE IN POINT
Blue Bird: Building the Right Path
How Indonesia's top mobility provider pursued twin transformations involving sustainable growth and digitalisation.
By Yuanto Kusnadi and Wee-Kiat Lim
Endnotes
1. ‘Pak’ is short for ‘Bapak’. Interpreted as Mister, Sir, or even Father, it is an honorific in Indonesia for addressing men.
2. Fransiska Nangoy, Gayatri Suroyo, and Bernadette Christina, “Like Musk, Nickel-Rich Indonesia Has High Electric Vehicle Ambitions”, Reuters, February 6, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/like-musk-nickel-rich-indonesia-has-high-electric-vehicle-ambitions-2023-02-06/, accessed May 2023.
3. ‘Bu’ is short for ‘Ibu’, meaning Miss, Madam, or Mother.
4. Adapted from Bluebird, “Message from the Founder”, https://www.bluebirdgroup.com/about/message-from-the-late?lang=en, accessed March 2023.
5. Edward Speirs, “Bluebird Goes Green: Electric Taxis Take to Bali’s Roads”, NOW! Bali, May 6, 2022, https://www.nowbali.co.id/bluebird-goes-green-electric-taxis-take-to-balis-roads/, accessed May 2023.
A WALK THROUGH ASIA
The Changing Face of Asian Cities
Careful urban planning is needed to enable governments to move beyond the top-heavy approach of building big cities.
By Shoeb Kagda
Endnotes
1. World Population Review, “Largest Metropolitan Areas in the World”, 2025, https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-city-rankings/largest-metro-areas-in-the-world, accessed September 2025.
2. UN-Habitat, “Asia and the Pacific Region”, https://unhabitat.org/asia-and-the-pacific-region, accessed September 2025.
3. Centre for Liveable Cities, “Delivering Sustainable Urbanisation in ASEAN CITIES”, March 1, 2025, https://knowledgehub.clc.gov.sg/publications-library/delivering-sustainable-urbanisation-in-asean-cities,
accessed September 2025.
4. A metro region is defined as one that must have functional connectivity within several regions and continuous urban areas.
5. Antara, “Efforts to Integrate Public Transportation in Jakarta”, October 9, 2023, https://en.antaranews.com/news/295617/efforts-to-integrate-public-transportation-in-jakarta, accessed September 2025.
6. Market Research Indonesia, “Big Changes ahead Indonesia Infrastructure Development”, March 27, 2025, https://marketresearchindonesia.com/insights/articles/indonesia-infrastructure-development-changes#:~:text=The%20Indonesian%20government%20has%20allocated,substantial%20commitment%20to%20national%20development, accessed September 2025.
7. World Bank Group, “Overview - Vietnam’s Urbanization at a Crossroads: Embarking on an Efficient, Inclusive, and Resilient Pathway”, 2020, https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/249961604688402439/pdf/Overview.pdf, accessed September 2025.
8. Ibid.
9. World Bank, “Urban Population (% of Total Population) – Thailand”, 2024, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS?locations=TH, accessed September 2025.
10. United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, “Thailand Makes Strides in Urban Resilience with the ‘Making Cities Resilient 2030’ Initiative”, June 16, 2023, https://www.undrr.org/news/thailand-makes-strides-urban-resilience-making-cities-resilient-2030-initiative, accessed September 2025.
11. Market Research Thailand, “Thailand Urban Renewal Projects: Breathing New Life into Cities”, February 8, 2025, https://marketresearchthailand.com/insights/articles/thailand-urban-renewal-projects-new-life-into-cities#:~:text=Thailand%20is%20shifting%20from%20a,urban%20area%20in%20East%20Asia, accessed September 2025.
12. Ryan Woo, Liangping Gao, and Ellen Zhang, “China Vows Sustainable Urbanisation after Decades of Breakneck Growth”, Reuters, July 15, 2025, https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/china-promote-renewal-urban-villages-dilapidated-houses-2025-07-15/, accessed September 2025.
13. Fahad Shah, “Urbanization is Intensifying India’s Summer Heat and Rain Climate”, TIME, July 7, 2025, https://time.com/7300435/india-urbanization-climate-impacts-heat-monsoons/, accessed September 2025.
14. Debolina Kundu et al., “The Urban Century: Trends and Patterns of Urbanisation in Asia and Africa”, Centre for Sustainable, Healthy and Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods, February 13, 2023, https://centreforsustainablecities.ac.uk/research/the-urban-century-trends-and-patterns-of-urbanisation-in-asia-and-africa/, accessed September 2025.
PARTING SHOT
Hard Lessons, Stronger Banks
The enduring wisdom of the Savings and Loan crisis veterans.
By Gloria Yang Yu
Endnotes
1. This information was originally published by the author in the following paper: “Do Bank CEOs Learn from Crisis Experience?”, Journal of Financial Economics, nos. 166, 104009, April 2025, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2025.104009.
2. For details on the 1980s S&L crisis, please refer to the FDIC summary available at https://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/history/vol1.html.
3. In finance, ‘animal spirits’ refers to the psychological and emotional factors affecting financial decisions during periods of economic uncertainty.
