USC Marshall School of Business

The 24th annual Asia/Pacific Business Outlook Conference conference, hosted by the USC Marshall School of Business’s Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) in partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce, attracted 430 participants eager to learn how to navigate thriving Asian/Pacific markets from top government officials, senior commercial officers, academic thought leaders and executives. This year’s assembly, which drew a record number of participants on March 28-29, offered insight from the highest level of government – with keynote presentations given by Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and Indonesian Ambassador to the United States Dr. Dino Djalal — and included regional perspective from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who called the city the capital of the Pacific Rim, a city that "looks East and not West" and is thus "a hub of the future."

Creating new markets for U.S. products in Asia and beyond, the conference focal point and a key goal of President Obama’s ambitious National Export Initiative, which aims at doubling U.S. exports in the next five years, is especially crucial for small and medium-sized American businesses still recovering from the 2008 recession, according to Locke. Locke’s appearance was part of the Cabinet’s "New Markets, New Jobs Tour," which focuses on a new U.S. city every month.

"Helping Southern California companies export more to the Asia/Pacific region and indeed around the world is why we are here," said Locke, who was recently nominated by the president to serve as ambassador to China. "In a global economy where you have 95 percent of the world’s consumers living outside the borders of the United States, you’ve got to go where the customers are. And the truth of the matter is your ‘Made in the U.S.A.’ goods and services are in high demand all around the world."

To seize export possibilities, America needs to reclaim its confidence, get out of its comfort zone and embrace internationalism, Djalal told attendees during his luncheon keynote speech on March 28. He set the stage by detailing how his own country emerged from instability and low self-esteem to become the largest economy in Southeast Asia.

"In many parts of Asia, you see this resurgence in confidence, you see pride...you feel it, that Asia is reclaiming its glory, in innovation and technology and culture, you see this across the board. So, my advice to my American friends is that in this new world, in what might be the most progressive century, America needs to reposition itself and reinvent itself," said Djalal. "I don’t know what comes first, is it confidence or economic achievement, but whatever it is you’ve got to reclaim that confidence because no other country has the innovation and centers of excellence and capacity to reinvent itself as America does. That is your greatest asset."

According to the International Monetary Fund’s "Developing Asia" forecast, Asian markets are expected to grow by 8.4 percent, representing sizable opportunities for U.S. goods and services.

Repeat conference attendee Timothy Wandell, president/founder of WI Environmental, LLC, whose company has been contracted by China’s Shenzhen Waste Management Company to remediate heavy metals in the country’s south central Hunan Province, came to get an overview of such opportunities. "You get a worldwide outlook by country, which is updated every year. That’s invaluable knowledge to have," said Wandell.

In one of the conference’s keynote presentations, Sidney Rittenberg, president of Rittenberg & Associates, Inc., based in Fox Island, Wash., and veteran China consultant, shared his insights on the world’s second largest economy.

"It’s a country that stands at the crossroads. For the past five years they’ve been engaged in a tremendous effort to completely transform the model for economic growth, from growth pulled by the export market to growth that is mainly targeted at the domestic Chinese market," said Rittenberg.

"You have a country in which the life expectancy has more than doubled. You have a country where food, shelter and clothing are no longer a matter of bitter struggle for the majority of Chinese. So the market is definitely there and it is a market whose growth depends on a large extent on the import of our technology, our expertise and our capital, it is not always easy to make that entry, but definitely possible, and we have people here who have done so with stunning success." Rittenberg said.

This year’s conference also highlighted green and sustainable business opportunities, with speakers discussing the best such initiatives in their respective countries during country outlook sections. The topic was particularly timely given the ongoing global energy crisis, turmoil in the Middle East – a main source of the world’s oil supplies -- and rising safety concerns about nuclear power in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan that severely damaged a nuclear power plant there.

In one such outlook section, Judy Reinke, senior commercial officer at the U.S. Embassy, New Delhi, identified the energy sector, particularly, clean energy, as one of the key areas of opportunities for U.S. business in the years ahead.

"Energy is an opportunity, primarily because India is growing so fast and already suffers a deficit in its ability to meet its power demand. If you are in the energy sector, you have great opportunities. Opportunities exist in clean energy," said Reinke. "Right now, India relies heavily on coal and clean coal and clean coal technologies are important opportunities. Renewable energy is incredibly important. We see opportunities in solar and wind, particularly solar. There is a national mission by the Indian government which hopes to put in place 20 Gigawatts of solar power by 2020. That’s a huge and ambitious opportunity for American companies that have solar technology to apply for."

From sustainable energy to construction to technology, there are myriad possibilities for small and medium companies to take advantage of powerful emerging markets, according to Richard Drobnick, director of CIBER at USC Marshall. "You are here to strike out new grounds and decide what new countries you are going to in order to increase your investments," Drobnick told participants. "You are here because the U.S. economy is recovering so slowly. You are looking at expanding markets of Asia, the dynamic growth of Asia and new opportunities there. As the market grows and the dollar continues to decline, the opportunities will continue to grow also."

Watch Video Highlights of the March 28-29 Conference