Berkeley Asia Business Conference. February 20, 2010.

I am going to be on a panel at the upcoming Berkeley Asia Business Conference 2010, taking place on February 20, at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, 2220 Piedmont Avenue, Berkeley CA.

The theme of this years conference is "Asia: Shifting the Global Center of Gravity," and the discussion will center around "whether major business and commercial activities are increasingly centered on the Asian region." The conference will address these issues from 4 perspectives:

* Macroeconomic trends occurring in Asia's ascent and its broader implications on capital flows and labor
* Rise of Asia as a region of business and technology innovation as well as entrepreneurship
* Challenges of leadership, organizational alignment and people management amidst relentless growth in Asia
* Implications for personal development and career growth to take advantage of Asia's rapid growth

The following will be the keynote speakers:
Arun Sarin
Senior Advisor, KKR
and former CEO of Vodafone

Lim Siong Guan
Group President
Government of Singapore Investment Corporation

Scott Matlock
Chairman M&A
Morgan Stanley Asia

Joi Ito
CEO of Creative Commons
and General Partner of Neoteny Labs

There will be "in-depth industry break-out panels" on the following:

* Cleantech, Consumer Brands, Finance, Global Operations, India, and Technology

These will feature "representatives" from Citigroup, Deloitte, Hina Group, Khosla Ventures, Matthews Asia Fund, The Gap, ZS Associates, Harris & Moure, and more!

I am going to be on the Consumer Panel with the following:

-- Jose R. Davila, Vice President of Field Human Resources, Gap North America

-- Dave Sessions, Vice President of Global eCommerce, Walmart International

-- Rand Han, Strategy Director, Bloodyamazing

Paul Tiffany, Senior Lecturer, Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, will be the moderator and our panel will be focusing on the following:

The phenomenon of globalization, through a leveraging of marketing communications, technology and consumer psychology, created a commonality of consumer behavioral patterns across nations and regions. How well can this be achieved for large cross-border firms to compete in emerging Asian market? When facing intense competition from low-cost local players, consumers with disparate incomes and behavior, fragmented distribution channels and multiple layers of barriers in compliance, politics and language, are the international consumer enterprises ready for this momentous shift? The panel will explore the following questions:

1. What are the primary challenges in branding in the Asian emerging markets?
2. What are some critical ingredients to the brand success of locals when confronting the major external firms?
3. How would the international companies blaze the way to the next growth phase in Asian emerging market?

Who's going?