Solving Asia's “creativity problem”

Professor of Organisational Behaviour & Human Resources Thomas Menkhoff commented that educators need to stimulate and reward curiosity, encourage risk taking and provide opportunities for discovery. Some Asian countries arguably have creativity and innovation-averse cultures which make it difficult to break out to higher income-country status. He said that this is not only a challenge for high-income countries such as Singapore but also for countries such as Brazil, China and Malaysia which have yet to master the transition from resource-driven growth to a higher value-added, knowledge-intensive type of economic system.