When the Financial Times' new boss in Asia, John Ridding, boards the plane to Hong Kong this summer, it will be with a certain sense of homecoming.
Ridding's connections with Asia stretch back 30 years, to when he lived in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hong Kong as a child, and he has been drawn back, both for work and holidays, ever since. He covered Hong Kong and Korea for the FT in the 1990s, and was the paper's Hong Kong bureau chief when the territory returned to China. "(Hong Kong) is going through tough times now. But there's an enduring sense of energy and entrepreneurship that's appealing to someone with an interest in business," he says.
Ridding, now 37 and an Oxford graduate in philosophy, politics and economics, has just been named editor and publisher of FT Asia, and chairman of Pearson Asia. His mission now is to simultaneously grow the FT's coverage and readership in the region at a time when both his own company and his target market are facing some of the greatest economic hurdles ever put before them.
The paper dipped into the red late last year, and its owner has described the advertising climate as being in its worst state for 50 years. Ridding says the FT's Asian expansion plans have not been pared because of this.
"Clearly it's not the best business environment now in some respects, but we've got a strong international strategy and we'd be mad to abandon it," he says. Ridding will oversee the launch of the FT's first dedicated Asian edition late this year, along with a Chinese-language website in the summer. He says the FT's huge investment in its online editions, at FT.com, will help it overcome the distribution issues that have been holding the paper back in Asia. At the same time, it will add new print sites to the four in Asia.
About six extra reporting positions, providing a cross-border or regional perspective on events in the news, will not only deepen the FT's Asian coverage for the region but also its other international editions. The FT's obvious competition in Asia - as in other markets - is the Wall Street Journal, but Ridding says it will be presenting an editorial product and marketing strategy that contrast strongly with those of its American rival.
The content, he says, will be more consistent across the various regional editions in the FT rather than providing entirely different papers, although the focus, prominence and editing of stories will differ between them.
"We will still do the production in London and we obviously have editing and reporting teams in the region, but our model is extremely efficient and facilitates a global agenda that's tailored for each region," he says.
"We think that's what internationally minded businesspeople want, whether they're in San Francisco or Stockholm - they're interested in the same big issues, although the implications of those issues might be slightly different."
From a marketing perspective, Ridding says that while a new campaign will accompany the launch of the Asian edition, the focus will be on capturing top-level readers who appeal to advertisers. This means there'll be none of the mass giveaways that competing titles have been doing in the region.
"What we're not aiming to do is flood the market with mass circulation."
From a personal point of view, Ridding wants to use his new "ringside seat" observing some of Asia's fast-developing trends to spend some time writing as well. And he hopes he and his team in the region can contribute to a greater good. "There are certain markets (in Asia) in which you can't print and distribute ... and any newspaper person would want to see freedom of the press develop and extend."
RIDDING: ON THE RECORD
Quality provider We think this is a big opportunity for us now. We've already got a very strong reporting network ... and we think there's a real opportunity now in being an international, independent, high-quality provider of regional and political news.
Agent for change It's a force for good, and quality journalism really does help change things.
Hong Kong blues It's going through tough times now. But there's an enduring sense of energy and entrepreneurship that's appealing to someone with an interest in business At home in Asia I've lived and worked a lot in Asia. I spent a lot of my childhood there, and I've always been excited by the potential and dynamism in Asia.
Circulation objectives We see ourselves as pretty unique ... what we're not aiming to do is flood the market with mass circulation.
Business issues (Internationally-minded business people are) interested in the same big issues, although the implications of those issues might be slightly different.