Asian Factor

Diamond and jewelry suppliers are ever more aware of the market potential in India, says Ken Grassman of IDEXOnline.  Depending on some statistics, there are approximately 300 million people in this country who may be attributed as “middle class.” They buy cars, they spend their holidays at spas, they tend to the Western quality of life, and they require world standards for higher education of both genders.

Thus, India’s middle class is equal to the population of the U.S., and it means that here and now India happens to be a hot and growing market for the jewelry industry.
On the other hand, China won’t have a similarly strong “middle class” until 2030. This is why when some jewelry suppliers talk about the Chinese market they are first and foremost fascinated by its potential. Some may be posting sizable sales gains right now, but the real “gold rush” will begin in a decade or two.

Western businesspersons are often at a loss trying to understand what is going on in Asian markets. Recently, the Wall Street Journal reviewed a book, The New Asian Hemisphere, by Kishore Mahbubani, released by New York Printing House PublicAffairs. This book written by the former high-ranking diplomat, now the dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore should help American and European entrepreneurs to get a sense of what is happening in the South-East of the globe.

Here are some facts from this book, which can help businesspersons and jewelers in particular to grasp the opportunities offered by this market and the tack of its development.
By 2030, nearly 361 million Chinese will belong to the “middle class.”
As early as 2010, one half of the population in Asia will live in the region’s cities, many having moved there in search of better jobs and better lives.

The population of the Asia Pacific region is the most optimistic in the world. India, in particular, is second only to Norway in generating upbeat consumers, according to Nielsen’s survey.
As a result of this optimistic attitude, China, India, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea – the so-called Asian Tigers – are undergoing a modernization process and raising their standard of living by turning the opportunities of modern capitalism to their account.

This brings about a shift in the way people in the Asian countries view themselves and the world around them. In Mahbubani’s opinion, the Asian countries realize the interconnection of their economic growth with their perception of fundamental Western values. The West should support the Asian modernization. As the global pre-eminence of the West it has enjoyed for over a century is fading, its approach to rising Asian powers should be changed.