What the Hormuz crisis continues to cost Bangladesh
In May this magazine argued that the Hormuz crisis had not created Bangladesh’s vulnerability but revealed it, and asked what it would take to be less exposed. The strait has…
China Maxxing – Why Shein, Temu, and TikTok Stopped Hiding Their Chinese Roots
For a decade, Chinese brands chased global success by hiding where they came from. Now Shein’s reclusive founder is thanking his suppliers on a Chinese stage, Americans are flocking to…
Inside Cannes Lions 2026: Creativity, AI and the New Rules of Global Marketing — What Bangladesh Must Learn from the World’s Biggest Creative Stage
The World’s Creative Capital for One Extraordinary Week Every June, the French Riviera town of Cannes turns from a beach resort into the working capital of the global creative economy.…
Emerging Markets Are More Optimistic Than Developed Ones — and They May Be Right
The gap between economic sentiment in emerging and developed economies is widening in 2026 — and for once, the optimism in the developing world may be grounded in something more…
Beyond the Heatwave — How Rising Temperatures Became a Structural Business Risk
In a garment factory in Gazipur in the second week of May 2026, the fans stopped. Not because they broke down — because the power did. The factory, one of…
The World Cup Will Be Won Off the Pitch First
The 2026 World Cup kicks off on 11 June. The marketing tournament started months ago. Inside the build-up economy — the teasers, the jersey drops, the TikTok hype, and the…
Can AI Be Asia’s Next Growth Engine?
The Asia-Pacific artificial intelligence market is projected to surge from $102.59 billion in 2025 to $815.98 billion by 2032, representing a compound annual growth rate of 34.5% that dwarfs virtually…
Vodcast vs Short Ads: Which One Delivers Better ROI for Brands in 2026?
The marketing world has split into two camps, each armed with compelling data. On one side stand the advocates of vodcasts—video podcasts that combine the intimacy of audio storytelling with…
Micro-Markets: Why Global Brands Are Designing Products for a One-Kilometre Radius
For most of the modern branding era, scale was a virtue. The larger the audience, the broader the distribution, the more uniform the product portfolio, the more efficient the commercial…
BELÉM 2025: WHY COP30 MUST DELIVER REAL CHANGE
For nearly three decades, the annual United Nations Climate Change Conferences, better known as COPs, have been the world’s main decision-making arena for tackling global warming. When the first COP…
Marketing 6.0 and Human-Centric Leadership: Lessons from Global and Southeast Asian Organizations
Abstract This article explores the evolution of Marketing 6.0, emphasizing the integration of artificial intelligence with human-centric values, particularly empathy, as a strategic driver in marketing leadership and organizational growth.…
Your Holiday Starts Here: Let The Journey Change You
Winter arrives with its own quiet magic. The air cools, the days feel softer, and a familiar longing begins to form — a desire to pause, to step away, to…
More Than Exercise: Relational Meanings of Mobile Fitness App Use Among Married Men in Ghana and Its Implications for Digital Lifestyle Innovations
Abstract This study investigates how married men in Ghana engage with mobile fitness applications and the relational meanings that emerge from their use. Drawing on qualitative data from focus group…
BRI’s $124 Billion Comeback: The Economics Behind China’s Biggest Global Push Yet Domestic economic pain, geopolitical competition, and the race to build a parallel global order drive Beijing’s trillion-dollar gambit
The Belt and Road Initiative hit record investment levels in 2024–2025, not despite China's economic troubles but because of them. As domestic growth stagnates and Western decoupling accelerates, Beijing is…
THE GREAT GREEN WALL OF CHINA: CAN THE WORLD’S TOP EMITTER BECOME ITS CLEANEST POWER?
Speaking via video at the UN Climate Summit in New York, China's president Xi Jinping outlined his country's climate ambitions. Although the stated goals may not have been as ambitious…