In what would be a nightmare scenario for American Democrats, large majorities of East Asian business leaders surveyed by the Nikkei expect President Trump to get re-elected this year. It is unclear how much these viewpoints reflect the perceptions of political leaders in these major Asian countries, but it begs the question of how this impression influences the geopolitical approach toward Washington. Nearly half the Chinese respondents expect the trade war to get worse if Trump is reelected, versus 41 percent of the Japanese polled and just 30 percent of the South Koreans. This difference may reflect the fact that Japan and South Korea have largely completed re-negotiation of trade terms whereas China and the U.S. must still comple...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.
Key Market Insights The broad market is locked in on this week’s Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, but this is no longer just a trade summit. Increasingly, the meeting is becoming tied directly to Iran, energy security, and the growing global economic fallout from disruptions through the Strai...