HSBC's Guide to Cash, Supply Chain and Treasury Management in ...

Connectivity: Make or Break in a Global Market
Simon Constantinides, Regional Head of Trade and Supply Chain, Asia Pacific (ex Hong Kong/Macau), Richard
Jaggard, Regional Head of Sales, Global Payments and Cash Management, Asia Pacific, and Caroline Lacocque,
Head of Client Integration Consulting, Global Transaction Banking, Hong Kong, HSBC
• As buyer/supplier relationships continue to diversify globally and become more complex, so do
associated transaction patterns in the physical and financial supply chains.
• While physical supply chains have changed substantially in recent years to accommodate these
changes, financial supply chains have not always kept pace.
• The situation has improved for those corporations capable of exploiting new connectivity
opportunities and technology by deploying the right strategy.
• Achieving this requires a flexible mindset with a focus on maximising partnerships – with banks,
infrastructure providers and technology vendors, and within the supply chain.
The traditional model of East/West economic flows was already starting to look a little passé even
before 2008, but since then it has begun to look positively outdated. The original concept of
globalisation was based upon the expansion of large corporations from developed economies in North
America, Europe and Japan selling products into developing markets. By contrast, a new concept of
“globality” is replacing this whereby companies from rapidly evolving economies are operating in a
completely new business environment where knowledge, materials, people, suppliers and customers
can be located anywhere globally and transaction flows are similarly omni-directional.
The New World Ahead
New World, New Order
One consequence of this new environment is that companies that many in the West had barely heard of
20 years ago now hold prominent positions in developed markets. For example, through its holdings in
companies such as Jaguar and Corus, Tata is now the UK’s largest manufacturing company. Elsewhere,
HSBC’s Guide to Cash, Supply Chain and Treasury Management in Asia Pacific 2012 33