Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, Ltd.- PERC

20/F, Central Tower
28 Queen's Road, Central, Hong Kong
Mailing Address: G.P.O. Box 1342, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2541 4088 Fax: (852) 2815 5032


About Political & Economic Risk Consultancy, Ltd.


Page Index:

PERC Organization | Experience | Publications | Senior Management |


PERC Organization:

Established in 1976, Political & Economic Risk Consultancy is headquartered in Hong Kong. From this office,  PERC coordinates a team of researchers and analysts in the ASEAN countries, Greater China and South Korea. Some of the world's leading corporations and financial institutions regularly use PERC's services to assess key trends and critical issues shaping the region, to identify growth opportunities, and to develop effective strategies for capitalizing on these opportunities.

Back to the Index


Experience:

Although a wide range of companies use our services, the focus of our research is very much a niche: We help companies understand how politics and other subjective variables are shaping the business environment in individual Asian countries, as well as the interlinkages between countries and the people of the region. Such variables may be difficult to quantify, but nevertheless can have a critical impact on investment performance and therefore have to be factored into the decision-making process, which is the function of our services. Our value lies in our experience, our Asian network of seasoned analysts, our emphasis on primary research, our complete independence from any vested interest groups, our technical capabilities, our discretion, and our integrated, regional approach to analysis. We have included here a short list of some of our projects in order to give you an idea of the focus and range of our work:

·         One of the world's leading mining companies recently retained PERC to facilitate a scenario plan on the sustainability of China's economic development and how it could fundamentally change the global supply and demand balance for resources over the next 20 years. 

·         We have conducted risk assessments of different Indonesian islands like Batam, Kalimantan, Bali and Java to see how conditions vary between islands and how specific island risks compare with a consensus view of overall "Indonesian risks".  Some islands are safer than others for foreign investors in terms of having different social conditions, vulnerabilities to corruption, labor conditions, physical infrastructure quality, and local governments' receptiveness toward foreign investors. We surveyed foreign investors on all these islands to assess their perceptions of these and other critical issues.

·         One leading foreign business chamber in Hong Kong recently retained PERC to conduct a business confidence survey of its membership and to identify which concerns were biggest in terms of the membership's priorities and which ones were less important.  In this way the business chamber was in a better position to communicate its membership's main concerns to the Hong Kong government and to develop programs that concentrated on the issues in which the membership is most interested. 

·         A leading multinational with operations in both China and Taiwan retained PERC to develop different cross-Strait's scenarios, assessing how different developments could affect the growth and interaction of the company's Greater China business.

·         We have just finished a country risk assessment of Cambodia for a company that is preparing to list on a foreign stock exchange and required an independent assessment on the risks and opportunities to which its Cambodian investment is exposed.  Like much of PERC's other work, this was an example of how risk assessments really need to be customized to specific industries and projects.  Generic approaches to country risk assessment are too broad to capture the real situation and relevance of specific variables.

Back to the Index


Publications

Besides customized consulting, PERC also offers several published products.

Back to the Index


Senior Management:

Robert Broadfoot is the founder and Managing Director of Political & Economic Risk Consultancy, Ltd. A US citizen, Mr. Broadfoot graduated with honors in economics from Oberlin College in the United States in 1972. He has lived in Hong Kong since 1975. Beside coordinating PERC s overall operations, Mr. Broadfoot is directly responsible for managing PERC's research and consulting involving mainland China and the Greater China region. In addition to overseeing PERC's primary research, Mr. Broadfoot facilitates customized scenario-planning programs for companies to help them understand the parameters of uncertainty they face, the interlinkages of risks within and between countries, and signposts they should be aware of to gain a competitive advantage by recognizing changes in the environment. His analysis of Asian developments is regularly quoted by such publications as the Asian Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, as well as by such TV stations as CNN, CNBC and Bloomberg.   He is a contributing author to a new book called China Into the Future – Making Sense of the World’s Most Dynamic Economy, which was published by John Wiley & Sons in 2008 and is available from Amazon.com as well as major bookstores.

Back to the Index


Return to Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, Ltd.- PERC home page.