The Breakfast Grille

Patrick Blethon, President of South Asia Pacific , United Technologies Corp, Building & Industrial Systems isn't worried about China's slowdown affecting business. Asian countries continue to see urbanisation at a rapid rate. This will drive demand for UTC's lifts, air-conditioners and security systems. The company's results have been good and no pick-up in bad debts, a reflection of econ...

Adventa Bhd's Chief Executive Low Chin Guan comes on the Breakfast Grille to talk about the company's future direction following the upliftment of its PN17 status. The company, which was formerly known as a manufacturer of medical examination gloves, is now shifting its focus to offering medical related services instead. We ask about the company's strategies going forward as well as the outlook of...

Tech Mahindra ASEAN region Vice President and Enterprise Business Head Ram Ramachandran, comes on the Breakfast Grille to talk about the business of BPO. Tech Mahindra is in the business of the providing of solutions and services in the Information, Communications and Technology industry with a base of over 605 global customers. However, in Malaysia BPO is still relatively new, so what does the fu...

Eva Au, Managing Director of International Data Corporation (IDC) Asia Pacific, discusses its core businesses of market intelligence, advisory services, and events, how they are doing in her purview (15 countries in Asia-Pacific ex-Japan) versus its biggest rivals (Forrester and Gartner), addressable market and opportunities.  She also discusses trends and themes in its core proprietary resea...

Glove manufacturing is one of the few industries in which Malaysia is a global leader, occupying significant market shares. Dato' Seri Stanley Thai, Executive Chairman / Group Managing Directorn of Supermax highlights the advantages of nitrile over latex gloves as well as how the government's intervention of natural rubber prices have shifted demand and research into nitrile usage. See omnyst...

In this 2014 interview, Peter Miller, CEO, Tune Insurance Bhd, discusses his financial results, provides a business update on his airline and general insurance divisions, investment income, rate deregulation, AirAsia and AAX tieup, M&A plans in Indonesia and Thailand, collapse of purchase of PT Batavia Mitrama, E-Commerce platform, marketing strategy, fallout from nurse ad, tie-up with Cebu Pa...

James Wong, ED of JCY, explains how increased mobility through smart devices does not necessarily equal lower growth for hard disk drives (HDD). He also refers to specific industry factors like the dearth of competitors and the Thailand factor that might help the fortunes of the company. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this 2014 interview, M.Prakash Chandran, CEO of Siemens Malaysia discusses its global CEO change, a reportedly deteriorating economic environment and offers an update on Siemens' local business (staff size, major projects, area of concentration, new investments). He also discusses the upcoming High-Speed Rail project and the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit among its infrastructure initiatives,...

Anthony Tan, CEO of MyTeksi explains how taxi-booking app MyTeksi fills the gap in the notorious problems with taxis. Strong growth is accompanied by careful navigation of the regulatory environment and maintaining quality standards. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mohd Razlan Mohamed, CEO of Malaysian Rating Corp elucidates the role of rating agencies especially after the bad press suffered by foreign rating agencies in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ng Kok Heng, the CEO of mobile operator XOX Bhd comes on the Breakfast Grille to talk about the prospects of the company, which is in the telecommunication space as a mobile virtual network operator or MVNO. The company has however, come under fire for delaying submission of financial statements and showing variances between audited and unaudited results. He comes on to talk about how XOX intends...

Aaron Hung, Trip Advisor's Director of Partnerships for Asia Pacific comes on the Breakfast Grille to talk about the business of travel and how Trip Advisor's well-known website plays its part. He talks about whether websites such as Trip Advisor resulted in the death of travel books, its new system and how it deals with competition such as Airbnb See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informatio...

In this 2014 interview, Dato' Redza Rafiq, Chief Executive of Northern Corridor Implementation Authority, discusses its twin mandates transforming the corridor into a “world class economic region” and its socio-economic objectives. He also discusses the initiatives and challenges in each of its four key areas: tourism, logistics, manufacturing and agriculture. He also addresses impedim...

Keith Schafer, Managing Director, Volvo Car Malaysia Sdn Bhd, discusses opportunities and challenges in the Malaysian car market, the National Auto Policy, sales outlook, brand challenges like maintenance costs and residual values. He also discusses Volvo's Geely ownership in regards product development, (and developing a subcompact car to enter the European market), cultural clashes, a new global...

 A sixth generation Falkland Islander, Mike Summers, is a member of its legislature as well as representative to the Commonwealth Games Federation. Despite the 1982 war over the disputed territory – the Argentine government calls the islands Isla Malvinas – which Britain won and which burnished Margaret Thatcher’s credentials as the Iron Lady, controversy remains, not least...

M. Madani Bin Sahari, CEO of Malaysia Automotive Institute, discusses the country's third National Auto Policy, due for unveiling on Jan 20. In particular, he touches on issues such as protection of the national car projects, excise duties, the AP system and the vehicle end-of-life policy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ping Fu, chief strategy officer at 3D Systems and author of the book "Bend, Not Break" talks about surviving the Cultural Revolution in China, and starting afresh in the US with little money and speaking little English. Upon a friend's recommendation, the Chinese American entrepreneur studied computer science, and while working for the National Centre for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), she su...

Tony Fernandes talks to us about the setting up of a British boarding school, Epsom College, in Malaysia. He also gives his views on the state of education in the country. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nadia Hassan and Julian Ng take a retrospective look at the IPOs for 2013 who came on the Breakfast Grille, whether their debuts sizzled or failed to excite, and whether their promises came through down the line. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gudjon Reynisson, the CEO of Hamleys comes on the Breakfast Grille to share about the launch of the toy retailer’s new shop in Malaysia, and the company’s plans for the rest of the emerging markets. Hamleys' has the distinction of being the world’s oldest toy retailer, but in the face of thinning margins and intense online competition, he talks about Hamleys' strategy going forwa...

After the acquisition of MAAKL, Manulife continues with a growth strategy. Group CEO Mark O'Dell also gives his views on the regulatory and competitive landscape. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr Iman Bibars is the Vice President for Ashoka: Innovators for the Public and the co-founder of ADEW (the Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women), a nonprofit organization providing credit and legal aid for impoverished women. On the Breakfast Grille, she tell us how Ashoka is using the instruments of capitalism to orchestrate social change and the challenges in advancing the la...

Despite leading the Pakatan Rakyat coalition to a thumping victory in the recently concluded General Election, the leadership of Selangor by Khalid Ibrahim has been called into question. And the recent decision to raise salaries of members of the Selangor assembly is only the latest in storms he has had to weather. We ask him about his troubled relations with Selangor Pakatan Rakyat Backbenchers C...

My Power Corp is a special purpose vehicle set up by the government to oversee the liberalization of the power sector. Datuk Razak talks about the recent tariff hikes, the criticism and what is left going forward.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Auditor-General’s Report is greeted with increasing public and media attention. Revelations of inefficiency and wastage has a rousing effect, signaling problems in the management of public funds. But the AG’s Report is not often read in full and blanket assumptions are made, that all wastage arises from corruption. Tan Sri Ambrin Buang, a career civil servant, has lead his office s...