Globally the future of work is changing. Millennial workers are entering the office, with widely differing expectations than the previous generations, more automated systems are cannibalizing jobs, and the shear nature of work spaces are changing with the proliferation of co-working and a far greater focus on collaboration. At Collective, our most recent Beyond Business As Usual Forum focus…
While the rest of the world debates the impact of carbon emissions and the need to create binding agreements, China’s battle with air pollution has grown tangible enough to effectively catalyze stakeholders into action. With only six of China’s cities meeting the second tier of the National Environmental Air Quality Standards (NEAQS) in 2015, air pollution has become one of the biggest challenges…
With China’s desire to shift from “made in China” to “created in China”, the movement away from labor-intensive industries towards new, innovative, and highly efficient manufacturing has begun. Additionally, the existing Chinese workforce is more expectant and empowered than ever, demanding increasingly higher wages – wages that are some of the highest in the Asian region. As many consider the…
China’s elderly population, as discussed in our previous blog post, has far-reaching social, economic, and political implications that have and will continue to shape key areas of Chinese society. The phenomenon of population aging is not unique to China. Economic development is commonly linked to a drop in fertility rates and rise in working age. But the pace at which it aging has occurred in Chi…
Last week, the ILO released an ASEAN-wide report into the future of labor. At Collective Responsibility, we are proud to have been a significant contributor to the report series, specifically the focused research on the textile and electronics sectors in China and ASEAN. The future of labor is assessed throughout the report series, with major focus placed on the impact of automation on the…
With China’s desire to shift from “made in China” to “created in China”, the movement away from labor-intensive industries towards new, innovative and highly efficient manufacturing has begun. Coupled with this, the existent workforce are more expectant and empowered than ever, demanding increasingly higher wages - wages that are some of the highest in the Asian region. With some considering…
After its astronomical rise to the world’s largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) over the last 35 years, the Chinese economy is experiencing a major transition from a manufacturing-based to a service-based economy. In 2015, the tertiary sector climbed to 50.5% of total gross domestic product (GDP) while industry continued to fall to 40.5% of total GDP. While this economic trans…
Talk of robots replacing labor is everywhere, and a quick search will bring up a host of articles proclaiming our “jobs are at risk” or “the robotic revolution” is upon us. Over the last couple of months we at Collective have been conducting research into the future of labor in China and understanding robotics and automation has been a key area of interest. Throughout this period we have found…
While meeting with 10 partners from one of the world's leading consulting firms, I engaged in a conversation where I spoke about how foreign firms in China would seemingly do all they could to look away from obvious risk, and then find themselves in crisis mode when things went south. JCI and Apple were my two examples. Particularly as BOTH believed (and fought for) they were within legal para…
Developing the business case for sustainability is growing easier by the day, and many executives are now identifying areas where their firm is exposed. It is a process that for many, even those with seemingly small operations, can be a difficult and complex one, and in our recent series of articles for Supply Chain Magazine we have identified a number of areas where firms can take immediate actio…
With the conversations around systems and sustainability still largely a moving a target that bounces between emotional polar bears and destructive weather systems, I honestly cannot think of a better time for a focus on understanding the systems that exist in our economy, the impact of our economy on our environmental systems, and taking steps towards applying an economic value to those externali…
If you have been following China for any amount of time, then you will know that China is good for a chart that will shock and awe readers. Few, if any, in the cleantech space have as much power as the one above, from the Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP study China’s Promotion of the Renewable Electric Power Equipment Industry (download here), and why I chose to pull it out is twofold. First, just loo…
