Tumble at the top

The number of big-earning bosses in Asia has fallen in the past two years, with macro-economic trends in the region dominating the latest Asian Businessmen Readership Survey (ABRS 8). The universe in the latest series, which since 1985 has been monitoring the reading and consumption habits of the region's most senior and influential business leaders, was 234,000 -- down about 4,000 since its last study in 2001. Simon Baty, survey director of ABRS with research firm Ipsos-RSL, believes tough economic times seen in several Asian markets last year are to blame for the shrinking pool. While strong economic indicators in places such as Malaysia, the Philippines and South Korea gave many businessmen there a lift up the corporate ladder, testing conditions in Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore meant that fewer people there qualified for consideration in the survey. Executives counted in ABRS must hold senior management roles within the region's biggest and most important firms. Taiwan contributed 13 per cent fewer people to the survey universe than in ABRS 7, meaning that South Korea -- economically buoyant until soaring personal credit card debt recently took its toll --overtook Taiwan as home to the largest number of ABRS executives in the region, with 42,000. Korea placed ahead of Hong Kong with 34,000, Singapore and Indonesia with 29,000 each, and the Philippines with 23,000. Of the 6,421 people who responded to the survey, six per cent were the owner or partner in their business, and the bulk of them, 33 per cent, were either chairman, chief executive, chief financial officer or held a similarly senior post. A further 21 per cent were other directors, managing directors or vice-presidents in the companies they work for. While the number of big earners went down, the amount they were being paid went up, with the average salary of respondents rising from US$72,000 a year to $78,000 since the last survey. In Indonesia, senior salaries rose by 32 per cent, the research shows, to $62,000 a year, and Hong Kong businesses remain the most generous, with average senior salaries at US$117,000. "This shows that however your company is doing, you still need to make sure you've got the right people at the top and that you're rewarding them properly," Baty says. The average age of respondents was unchanged, with a third of people taking part in the 35 to 44 age group, and another third aged 45 to 54. The number of under-35s qualifying for inclusion fell from 15 per cent in ABRS 7 to 11 per cent in the latest survey. The majority (80 per cent) are involved in business purchases, and three out of every five (60 per cent) have final authority over business purchase decisions. Curiously, the proportion of men and women taking part both fell, with double the number as before (up from five per cent to 10 per cent) not declaring their sex. Some observers suggest that women are more likely than men not to declare their sex, so the results may well be a reflection of fact that increasing numbers of women are taking senior jobs in big business around the region, but with huge variation between markets. In Thailand, women accounted for 30 per cent of the ABRS 8 universe there, compared to 22 per cent in the Philippines, 18 per cent in Hong Kong, 16 per cent in Taiwan and just three per cent in South Korea. ABRS is sponsored by Asian Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, CFO Asia, The Economist, Far Eastern Economic Review, Financial Times, Forbes, Fortune, the International Herald Tribune, Newsweek, Time and, for the first time, Yazhou Zhoukan, owned by Ming Pao Enterprise Corporation and the multi-media Tom group in Hong Kong.