1. HKU Professor Amy Shuen
AMYSHUEN@ECOM-ICOM.HKU.HK 1
The Emerging Role of the Chief Strategy Officer in Asia
The CSO Summit Hong Kong 2015 and the highly interactive presentations and conversations among the
60+ strategy leaders revealed several trends in the key roles and responsibilities in Asia compared to
previous studies of Europe and the US. Across the three major industry clusters represented—financial
services, TMT and consumer products—the head strategy role in Asia is focused on accelerating regional
and China growth through innovation, joint venture, M&A and national engagement strategies.
Growth through innovation was the primary theme. The strategy leaders at the Hong Kong Jockey Club
and Sun Life told fascinating stories of re-thinking their company’s business model and the process of
transforming executive thinking, organizational processes and resource allocations. eBay, BT Global
Services and GSMA captivated the audience with innovative customer-focused strategic approaches to
their sectors and GSMA with an unexpected high tech “wearables” fashion show video. Credit Suisse,
RGA, ANZ shared success stories of integrating digital and analytics into financial services with Asurian,
Whirlpool and Cisco involved in I0T.
Growth initiatives through M&A, Joint Ventures, Innovation Partners Networks and National
Engagement Strategies were highlighted and masterfully detailed by Telstra Global (M&A), Whirlpool
and Siemens (Joint Ventures in China), DHL (Innovation Partnerships) and Cisco (Government-Industry).
All of the presentations by these forward-thinking Asia-focused strategy leaders showed their successful
strategic initiatives and best practices as a complex combination of Yin and Yang---that is, strategy
formulation and implementation, internal and external focus. Strategy leaders in Asia tend to rely on
their externally-focused “specialist” background, network and eco-systems to help them succeed as a
strategic change agent for their organization. New growth initiatives can be viewed by business unit
managers and functional groups -as a risk or opportunity.
In M&A, having a strong PE background and network, is an advantage in sourcing deals, due diligence
and merger integration benchmarks. In JVs, deep operational and management experience in the local
or regional context, provides an advantage in identifying complementarities as well as cultural,
organizational and technological fit. In innovation, a range of experiences across industries and
technologies, such as in consulting, provides a broad perspective and accelerates the transfer of best
practices, KPIs and tacit innovation expertise. In national or regional engagement strategies and
government-industry partnerships, expertise in regulatory, government affairs provides insight into
areas of mutual stakeholder interest and economic priorities.
In conclusion, strategy leaders in Asia fit into three archetypes at once, not just one. This is in stark
contrast to an influential academic article studying UK firms that concluded that UK strategy leaders
typically fit into just one of four major archetypes—internal consultant, specialist, coach or change
agent. See matrix below. The Asia head of strategy role typically requires three key roles and
responsibilities (1) Specialist expertise in M&A, JV, Innovation or National engagement strategies, (2)
Coach to other internal organizational groups as well as advisor to executive management and (3)
Change Agent in “localizing” specialist domains and networks of expertise into best practices and
successful growth initiatives tailored to the challenges of the Asia region.

2. HKU Professor Amy Shuen
AMYSHUEN@ECOM-ICOM.HKU.HK 2
The Emerging Role of the Chief Strategy Officer in Asia
References: (Invited Strategy Leaders and presentations given at CSO Summit Hong Kong 2015)
1. Amy Shuen, CSO Summit 2015 Panel Moderator. Four Strategy Leader Archetypes Matrix
modified from Powell and Angwin, ”Role of the CSO”, MIT Sloan Management Review Fall 2012.
2. Gautam Bardoloi, Head of IT Strategy at Hong Kong Jockey Club, “Critical Checkpoints for
Deploying New Strategies”
3. Michael Wong, Head of Strategy at Sun Life Financial “Digital World: Risk or Opportunity for
Insurers?”
4. Vvivi Hu, CSO at eBay, “Connected Commerce-the Future of e-Commerce”
5. Max Parry, Head of Strategy at BT, “Shaping the Art of Connecting”
6. Leland Lai, Managing Director at GSMA, “Innovation in Asia Market”
7. Joseph Toh, Head of Strategy, IT at Credit Suisse, “How to Overcome your Company’s Resistance
to Change & Drive Digital Innovation in Asia”
8. Benedict Ang, Ass. Dir. Risk Strategy at ANZ Bank, “Pragmatic Innovation in Big Data World”
9. Jerome Matrundola, VP Biz Dev at RGA Reinsurance, “Redefining the Role of Strategy”
10. Tim Bailey, VP, Product Strategy at Asurion, “IoT Strategy at Asurion”
11. Kris Cudmore, Head of Strategy at Telstra, “International Expansion: M&A Strategy &
Execution”
12. Yang Xu, Director, Strategy at Whirlpool, “Growth in a Mature industry”
13. Anna Choi, Head of Strategy at Siemens “Asia at a Cross-road: Time for a New Strategy?”
14. Lucian Ion, Head of Strategy at Siemens, “East Meets West—A Story of Technology & Energy
Strategy in China”
15. Stephen Fung, Head of DHL Inhouse Consulting “DHL’s Approach to Innovation & China: Think
“Inside” the Box”
16. Dominic Scott, Managing Director at Cisco “Playing by Asian Rules Now: The Need for
Innovative National Engagement Strategies”