Frontier Strategy Group - Emerging Market Insights

Managing Director for FSG’s Global Channel Practice, Ryan Brier, and Practice Leader for South Asia, Pratima Singh, analyze the impact of India’s Goods and Services Tax on multinationals’ channel strategies and discuss how executives can effectively capture the gains from a changing distribution landscape.

FSG's CEO Rich Leggett and Practice Leader for South Asia Pratima Singh discuss the outlook for India over the next several months, the opportunities and risks facing the economy, the newly released government budget, and the implications for MNC executives operating in the country.

FSG's CEO, Richard Leggett, and Global Economics Director Antonio Martinez discuss the Events to Watch for 2018 report, including the the methodology behind the report, the events that may disrupt multinational business performance and operations, and the importance of contingency planning in emerging markets

Western European markets will record strong performance in 2018, after risks subsided during 2017. However, multinationals are unlikely to see a considerable acceleration in consumer and business demand in 2018 unless governments implement reforms. As macroeconomic conditions remain favorable, competition will increase. With careful execution and a special focus on customer segmentation and redefinition of value proposition, MNCs can capture the solid opportunities across the region in 2018. This podcast details what companies should expect in the region next year and what opportunities and risks should be on their team's agendas as part of 2018 planning.

FSG held its annual Moscow breakfast with clients in September, where clients indicated their concerns over pressure from corporate to hit rising revenue targets in 2018 after a mild uptick in demand in 2017. However, nearly all firms noted that rising costs were a concern in the market and therefore high pressure on margins causing companies to increasingly focus on getting more value out of their channel in order to improve profitability. In this podcast, FSG's Senior Analyst for Europe Mark McNamee discusses the outlook for the market in 2018 and how companies are preparing to respond to it in their Russia strategies.

FSG's CEO Richard Leggett and MENA Practice Leader Zeynep Kosereisoglu discuss how MNCs must adapt their value offering to their customers in the GCC to manage the region's economic slowdown and its increasingly complicated operating environment

Western European markets will grow by 1.7% YOY in 2017—South Europe will exceed this growth, with Spain and Portugal leading the way. South Europe suffered the most from the 2008/2009 financial and 2012/2013 debt crises, but since then has been recovering because of strong exports—primarily tourism—and consumer demand. South Europe will be an attractive opportunity for B2C and B2B MNCs because of its improving fundamentals and low-cost environment

Ukraine has faced an extremely tumultuous period over the past three years and is beginning to recover and exit its recession. As MNCs are increasingly trying to anticipate the outlook for the market in the coming years and make strategic decisions regarding investments in the country, Ukraine is starting to return to focus. Our Senior Analyst for Europe, Mark McNamee, discusses his latest view on the market and insights from the ground from his most recent trip to Ukraine.

Political uncertainty subsides for the region, and economic fundamentals slowly strengthen, creating additional opportunities for multinationals. However, an acceleration in growth beyond current levels is unlikely, as unemployment remains high and reforms are slow. In this podcast, FSG's Western Europe analyst Athanasia Kokkinogeni discusses the outlook for Western Europe and its impact for multinationals ahead of H2 2017.

China is currently undergoing a once-in-a-lifetime transition to a consumption- and services-based growth model. To facilitate this transition, the government has embarked on an ambitious urbanization drive to turn tens of millions of rural farmers into urban consumers. The government has a detailed blueprint outlining how it intends to implement this project. A key component is targeting city clusters as the country’s core economic structure over the coming years. Companies who familiarize themselves with this program and adopt a clustering strategy of their own will benefit from additional scale and a more efficient use of resources. To that end, FSG has developed a tool that will enable MNCs to identify the cities and clusters of most value to their business. Executives should consider using this tool to align their organization’s approach to China with the government’s city-cluster development model.