Odgers Berndtson: Future of “Factory Asia”

China has long been the location for companies to base their production due to the cost advantage. But rising costs in China’s manufacturing centers are pushing the “Factory Asia” further away from China into its Southeast neighbors. Odgers Berndtson finds that in some cases companies are ‘on-shoring’—moving production out of Asia altogether and back home.

However, ASEAN is still a key area for many companies. As a McKinsey report put it, “ASEAN is already the world’s fourth-largest exporting region. By 2025, more than half of the world’s consuming class will live within a five-hour flight of Myanmar.” Viewing Asia as the most important growth region for a business, and not simply as a place to outsource work cheaply, will require a major paradigm shift for many multinational corporations.

The full report is published on Odgers Berndtson’s website. Read the full report.