Organised by the Retail Centre of Excellence (RCoE), the annual Asia Retail Leaders Conference was held on 17 November 2021 at the Singapore Management University Mochtar Riady Auditorium. The full-day hybrid conference brought together 11 industry experts from the retail and academia sectors, was attended by more than 300 participants.

The theme of the conference, Pivot or Perish, saw experts sharing insights on a range of topics, from the impact of digital transformation to changing consumer expectations and purchasing habits in a post-pandemic environment.

In light of the ongoing pandemic, changing financial landscape and evolving job market, are the young adults in Singapore able to withstand financial challenges that come their way? How financially literate and resilient are they?

These are key questions the Citi Foundation-SMU Financial Literacy Programme for Young Adults aims to understand in its inaugural survey conducted between March and April 2021.

SMU welcomed Mr Amit Midha, President of Asia Pacific & Japan and Global Digital Cities at Dell Technologies, as the first keynote speaker of the Presidential Distinguished Lecturer Series (PDLS) of 2021 held at SMU Hall on 31 March.

SMU President Professor Lily Kong hosted the hybrid event which was attended by close to 350 SMU students, staff and faculty, polytechnic and junior college students, and teachers, as well as government, media and industry representatives.

It started with a 20 per cent jump in price for a simple bowl of noodles. Next came double-digit hikes in pump prices.

Inflation, a sustained increase in the price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time, has hit countries around the world hard and fast, even as we inch towards a new endemic era.

Are special purpose acquisition companies (Spacs) really worth the hype? Should they be part of a retail investor's investment portfolio?

For those unfamiliar with them, Spacs are public companies that raise money through an initial public offering (IPO) to make a specific acquisition. In other words, they are essentially public shell companies that have only one purpose: as a transaction vehicle for private entities to go public.  

It perhaps came as little surprise when the Singapore government announced a fresh round of measures to cool the city-state's red-hot housing market at the end of 2021.

The swift nascence of the "Asian Century", during which the global centre of trade has shifted to the continent, has led to an abundance of opportunities in Asia. While Asia was not immune to the economic shock triggered by the pandemic, regional GDP growth rates have proved resilient, with the Asian economy shrinking by a mere 1.5 per cent in 2020 versus the 3.2 per cent experienced by the world economy.

Last Update: 06 June, 2024

In August 2022, SMU launched the College of Graduate Research Studies (CGRS), its eighth School and second College to place interdisciplinarity at its core. Here, postgraduate research students are provided with a cross-school experience through interdisciplinary programmes, courses and events that are designed to facilitate the cross-fertilisation of knowledge and ideas by students of diverse backgrounds and disciplines.