The Breakfast Grille

William Asprey, the chairman and founder of William & Son, a luxury goods store in London's Mayfair talks about the future of luxury brands - should they remain small and exclusive, or gain scale? William is a seventh generation member of the Asprey family of royal jewellers.     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Franz Linder, the preseident of Mido of the Swatch group, tells how the timepiece brand became a leader in the mid-tier segment in China. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Markus Miele & Dr. Reinhard Zinkann, Managing Directors, Miele, discuss: - Malaysia expansion; - Importance of Malaysia to ASEAN; - Biggest markets; - Number of "galleries" around the world -- locations, breakdown by region; - Upmarket positioning - reasons; - Why showrooms are called "galleries"; - Whether will ever go downmarket for a less wealthy but far more populous Asian market; - Ho...

Count Anton Wolfgang von Faber-Castell tells how the company can stay in family hands for more than 250 years and the vision for the company for the next 10 years in view of competing substitute products like the iPad. The premium maker of writing materials sells more than 2 billion pencils a year and last year's revenue was 540 million Euros.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informat...

Jebsen and Jessen Group of Companies (SEA) Chairman Heinrich Jessen discusses: - Explanation of business - Singapore / Malaysia origins; - Core businesses (Eight): Cable Technology, Chemicals, Communications, Life Sciences, Marketing, Material Handling, Packaging and Technology; - Challenges of managing so many (50) subsidiaries; - How the management structure works - pluses and minuses; - Whether...

HE Dr Guenter Gruber, the German ambassador, defends the European Union and the steps taken by the European Central Bank to resolve the debt crisis which are not sufficiently aggressive according to the market. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sally MacDonald, CEO of Oroton, explains how the Australian luxury accessories brandname will build its presence in Asia where it is lesser known. She also talks about the potential of augemented reality retail in Malaysia and the group's online plans, a core strategy of the group. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Nathan Myhrvold, former Microsoft CTO, co-founder of Intellectual Ventures and Author of Modernist Cuisine: The Art & Science of Cooking, discusses: - His gastronomic origins; - Former career as Microsoft Chief Technology Officer; - How science and technology applies to cooking; - Heat, water and the kitchen; - The basic biology of food­borne illnesses; - His ideas on eliminating globa...

PayPal Senior Vice President of Global Operations John McCabe discusses: - Updates on active accounts and transaction value handled; - Asia - Asia-Pacific details; - Update for international business versus US; - Open Malaysian global operation centre; - Hiring locals - skills sought; - English - Malaysians - tinkering by the government - whether problem going forward; - Incentives offered for set...

John Chapman, the VP for Airline Group Asia Pacific at Amadeus, tells the new growth areas for the software company that supports hotels, travel agents, and airline clients like MAS, SIA and AirAsia. He also explains how the internet will not displace travel agents.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO of DataWind, talks about the $35 iPad-like tablet he is selling to the Indian government for college students.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Bruton, Former Irish Prime Minister and EU Ambassador to the United States, discusses: - Ireland's economic recovery: - In reducing its ‘country-specific’ bond risk premium;   - Strong export growth; - Goldman Sachs' identifying four key positive developments such as, > The EU Council granting Ireland a sharp reduction in the interest rate on the bailout funds, cutting the...

Richard Macey, Global Vice President of Kipling, says the handbag brand is able to grow quickly to over 65 countries by flooding the market with its own stores, store in store, airport outlets, selling online, and working with the right partners. That coupled with maintaining brand authencity. With this, it has established itself as one of the leading casual European handbag brand in China. Well k...

Joey Yap, bazi expert, gives his predictions for business and politics in 2012. He expects the general elections to be held in March or April, and Barisan Nasional is likely to return to power. On business, he predicts that global economic growth will be higher than 2011 contrary to economists' expectations. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

MATRADE CEO Dr. Wong Lai Sum discusses: - Malaysia's top five export destination in 2011; - Insight on intra-ASEAN trade in context of decoupling; - Reports of her saying that export growth could slow in 2H; - New export hubs; - Malaysian exporters - innovations and R&D as percentage of revenue; - Low-cost producers based in China - Vietnam - Cambodia; - Natural gas shortages; - Malaysia's pla...

Dato' Dr Mohd Nazlee Kamal, CEO of Biotech Corporation, gives an update on the biotech industry in Malaysia and its challenges.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Diligent Board Member Services Inc Chairman, David Liptak, discusses: - Beginnings of the business; - Reasons for listing in NZ; - How and why it is regulated by the US' SEC; - Value of Industry; - Proliferation in the US and penetration - opportunity in Asia; - Spring Street's investments - focus - role of Corporate Governance; - Whether CG focus is profitable; - Reasons behind investing in healt...

Konstantin Guericke, co-founder of Linkedin, says the social network is still relevant in the face of competition from Facebook.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Scientist and Pulitzer-prize winning Author, Jared Diamond: - Born September 10, 1937 - Is an American scientist and - Author, whose work draws from a variety of fields. He is currently Professor of Geography and Physiology at UCLA. - He is best known for the award-winning popular science books 'The Third Chimpanzee'; 'Guns, Germs, and Steel'; and 'Collapse of Civilisations'. - He has an assortmen...

SEDA Malaysia CEO Badriyah Abdul Malek discusses: - Qualifications for the role - experience brought to the table; - Reasons SEDA missed June deadline; - Achievability of increasing renewable energy from 1% to 5.5% of electricity supply by 2015; - Whether job more urgent - Tenaga two straight quarters of losses; - Reasons for target for clean energy production having been revised downwards; - The...

Lim Chin Han, CEO of  Towers Watson, talks about navigating cultural issues in mergers and acquisitions, and the hot jobs in Malaysia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike Mayo, CLSA Bank Analyst and Author of "Exile on Wall Street: One Analyst's Fight to Save the Big Banks From Themselves", discusses: - Prospects for another Global Crisis; - Shareholder voice (or lack thereof); - Problems of: compensation being out of whack - excesses - ratings agencies fees - over-authorised regulators - vote-hungry politicians - whistleblowers who were ignored; - Earnings th...

Robert Baldock, CEO of Monument Mining, tells what he pays the Malaysian government in exchange for mining gold and owning mines in the country. He also explains the steps taken to ensure no contamination during the mining and waste disposal process, and justifies that gold mining can be done safely.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Life Inspired (Li) TV Asia General Manager Anne Chan discusses: - Capital needs; - Revenue model - profit share - Path to profitability - cash flow positivity; - Distribution - network condition; - Cost structure; - Long-term - network distribution - platforms; - Measat - Astro - working relationship; - Content selection - thinking process; - Local versus foreign content; - "Cutting the cord" - th...

Dato Sri' Abdul Wahid Omar, President and CEO of Maybank, expects net interest margins will stabilise at about 2.4% in Malaysia and undervalued companies may take their companies private, thus providing a pipeline of business for investment banking despite an economic slowdown in Malaysia. He remains bullish on the Indonesian economy and expects net interest margins to stay at 5% despite key inter...