Locations in Asia-Pacific are being increasingly chosen due to dynamic qualitative factors, such as a skilled workforce, rather than static quantitative factors, such as low-cost considerations.
Compared to the previous five years (2013-2017), skilled workforce availability has entered the top three most influential factors amongst determinants cited for investment in the Asia-Pacific region during the 2018-2022 period (figure 7). Approximately half of all Greenfield projects within the software and IT services sector cited skilled workforce availability as having prompted the location decision. The figures are 22 per cent for the business services sector, 22 per cent for communications and 17 per cent for the financial services sector.
Similarly, technology and innovation as well as the existence of universities and research hubs moved up the ranks, while conversely, lower cost moved from the ninth place down to fifteenth in the 2018-2022 period.
This development underscores that the Asia-Pacific region is increasingly chosen due to its (interrelated) talent pool, technology and innovation ecosystems, industry clusters, and services quality. Such a change in investor appreciation also aligns with the observation that the region is attracting increasingly higher value-added business activities.
