A report by United Overseas Bank and SMU Business Families Institute (BFI@SMU) revealed that Asian business families recognise the importance of bringing in external professional managers in areas such as financial management, regional expansion and human resourcing, in order to establish a more professional talent-development structure. Commenting on the findings of the report, SMU Office of Business Development Vice President, Professor of Finance (Practice) and BFI@SMU Academic Director Annie Koh said that “Asian business families tend to favour stable returns over riskier growth and expansion options”, adding that they prefer instead to “use innovation to improve product quality and drive cost reductions in order to achieve sustainable profits”.