
Boston Consulting Group Names Yasushi Sasaki as Next Asia Pacific Chair
'Thanks to Neeraj's leadership, BCG's business in Asia Pacific is now stronger, more connected, and more future-ready than ever,' said Sasaki. 'We have faced volatility, and we know more uncertainty lies ahead—but even as the winds shift, our direction remains clear. With a strong crew and a shared compass, I have no doubt we'll continue reaching new horizons—together.'
Since joining BCG, Sasaki has focused primarily on the financial services sector, with deep expertise in banking, insurance, investment banking, and asset management. He has advised clients on a wide range of strategic and organizational topics, including mid- to long-term strategy, reorganization, sales reform, IT, and digital strategy. Prior to his current role, he served as Regional Practice Area Leader for Financial Institutions in Asia Pacific and has contributed to several firmwide initiatives. With this appointment, he joins BCG's Executive Committee, Operating Committee, and People and Purpose Committee.
Sasaki will succeed Neeraj Aggarwal, who has led the Asia Pacific region since 2018.
'I'm especially excited for the region as Sasaki-San steps into the role,' said Neeraj. 'Having worked closely with him over the years, I've seen his thoughtful, inclusive, and bold leadership in action. He has played a central role in strengthening the Northeast Asia system—expanding our presence in Japan and Korea and deepening collaboration across the region.'
During Neeraj's tenure, BCG's business in Asia Pacific has doubled in size and established itself clearly as the top consulting firm in the region. He helped scale the firm's capabilities in Digital & AI, Climate & Sustainability and significantly advanced BCG's diversity agenda, while guiding the region through COVID-19 and broader global volatility.
Looking Ahead
'Asia-Pacific is entering a pivotal decade—AI-fueled productivity, net-zero growth plays, and smarter supply chains are rewriting the growth playbook,' Yasushi said. 'I'm grateful for this opportunity to lead BCG Asia-Pacific and continue to help our clients create stronger, more resilient businesses.'
BCG's Longstanding Presence in Asia-Pacific
BCG has been a trusted advisor to leading companies in the Asia-Pacific region for over five decades. Its first office opened in Tokyo in 1966, and since then, the organization has rapidly expanded its presence to 27 offices in the region. With a team of experts dedicated to the region, BCG continues to partner with clients to navigate the complex dynamics of global trade and drive transformation across industries.
About Boston Consulting Group
Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we work closely with clients to embrace a transformational approach aimed at benefiting all stakeholders—empowering organizations to grow, build sustainable competitive advantage, and drive positive societal impact.
Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives that question the status quo and spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting, technology and design, and corporate and digital ventures. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, fueled by the goal of helping our clients thrive and enabling them to make the world a better place.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Quad remains resilient. But everyone wants to be friends with China again
Quad took a significant step in its long journey to shed ambiguity and reveal its true purpose on Tuesday in Washington DC. The US, India, Japan, and Australia signed on to a joint statement that was more pointed and critical of Chinese actions in the maritime domain than in the past. Quad also categorically called out China's economic coercion, price manipulation, supply-chain disruptions, and use of non-market principles to concentrate production in critical minerals. In classic diplo-speak, the statement did all of this using the passive voice without attributing actions to the agent. Trump, to lend retrospective coherence to a badly thought out tariff policy, made it all about China in April. (REUTERS) To be sure, each edition of Quad has witnessed the introduction of a more critical nuance against Beijing and an additional layer of tech, economic, or security cooperation with the subtext of countering China. But this week's Quad meeting was much sharper in its focus. It also narrowed down cooperation to maritime security, economic security, critical and emerging technologies, and humanitarian assistance. The advantage of this sharp approach is that the fluff is out, and all sides are discussing real actionable items. The disadvantage is there is drastic dilution of the agenda and many valuable items of cooperation may get lost. But the Quad statement is significant because a strong diplomatic rebuke of China has become rare. Indeed, the big geopolitical picture of the moment is that China is on the geopolitical comeback trail after five years. The onset of Covid-19 in early 2020 woke the world to the dangers of opaque systems that can suppress information with globally devastating consequences. China's weaponisation of its overwhelming advantage in manufacturing awoke the world to the need for diversified supply chains. China's inroads into eastern Ladakh alerted New Delhi to the dangers of a belligerent neighbour that was willing to violate Indian sovereignty. China's continuous aggression in the East China Sea, South China Sea, and around Taiwan made the region aware of Beijing's territorial and maritime ambitions. China's predatory economics made Global South nations conscious of the downsides of Chinese development and investment flows. China's stunning technological, military, and economic strides awoke the US to its 'peer-level competitor'. Under the first Donald Trump administration, the Joe Biden administration, and under a set of Indo-Pacific leaders worried about Beijing, there was a concerted approach to take on this Chinese machine. American export controls on chips were meant to slow down China's progress. The US began building stronger countervailing coalitions in the Indo-Pacific. It encouraged plurilaterals, trilaterals, and strengthened bilaterals to shape the environment around China. The US married strategic and defence imperatives with business opportunities and innovated with new tech partnerships. It expanded its developmental, climate, and security footprint in neglected regions such as the Pacific Islands. This period saw China's internal vulnerabilities get more pronounced. Beijing's Covid-19 crackdown boomeranged. Its real estate and infrastructure-fuelled boom created a crisis. Its domestic consumption paled in comparison to its production excess. Its demographic policies generated social fissures and policy pressures. It seemed relatively friendless in the region. And theories about how China had peaked gathered traction. That 2020-2024 era of rising global estrangement with China is over. 2025 may well be the year when everyone wants to become friends with China again. The effort to construct a bridge between Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific theatres has faltered. Even as Russia and China work more closely together, the US is now doing little to bridge the gap between Nato and Indo-Pacific allies and is instead pressuring both simultaneously to step up on defence. The Australian, South Korean, and Japanese heads of government decided to stay away from the Nato summit in The Hague. European countries, both collectively and separately, are seeking to cut deals with China. To many in Europe, a closer working relationship with China seems safer than putting their eggs in the unpredictable American basket. America itself is sending signals of wanting a deal with China. Trump, to lend retrospective coherence to a badly thought out tariff policy, made it all about China in April. As soon as markets responded negatively and inflationary concerns became real, he did a deal by mid-May. When the deal showed cracks and China imposed restrictions on exports of rare earths, the US showed a willingness to lift restrictions on exports and visas. Nikkei now reports that Trump is exploring a visit to China with a major business delegation. China's dependencies are real, Beijing is far more keen to do a deal than it publicly lets on, and no one is discounting either the structural rivalry or US advantages. But, in this entire episode, China has shown it has cards too and held its own to a large extent, while American vulnerabilities have become visible. And then you have China's neighbours. Despite Japan's fundamental security contradiction with China, Trump has made life so difficult for Tokyo that it cancelled a 2+2 ministerial dialogue with the US and is engaged in a public acrimonious fight on auto tariffs — any such rift plays to China's advantage. South Korea's new government is all about a more balanced approach to foreign policy compared to its pro-US conservative predecessor. Australia is struck by the Pentagon's review of the AUKUS pact and Trump hasn't even met Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. And India is sending public signals of rapprochement with China — despite China being the force behind Pakistan's military response during Operation Sindoor, India's own border tensions, the trade asymmetry that emanates from Chinese manufacturing dominance, and Beijing's efforts to construct a hostile architecture in South Asia. New Delhi's political troubles with the US due to Trump's false claims on peacemaking, mediation, and trade could only have made China happy. And in smaller countries in the region, American instruments of influence in the form of foreign aid, foreign trade, and liberal visa policy have all but gone, leaving the ground open for more Chinese presence. Neither was China about to collapse or get isolated in the past four years, nor is it about to take over the world now. But there is a shift that suits Beijing. As the next Quad chair, India's challenge is framing a credible and strong agenda that takes into account this adverse diplomatic environment. Prashant Jha is a political analyst. The views expressed are personal.


Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
Domino's Australia franchise CEO steps down
HighlightsMark van Dyck, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Domino's Pizza Enterprises, will step down before Christmas this year, causing the company's shares to plummet approximately 16%. In his eight months in charge, Van Dyck implemented cost-saving measures and closed low-volume stores as the company faced declining sales in a post-COVID environment. Domino's Pizza Enterprises is beginning a global search for a new Chief Executive Officer, with Chairman Jack Cowin stepping in as the interim executive chair. Domino's Pizza Enterprises said on Wednesday its CEO and managing director, Mark van Dyck , would step down before Christmas this year, sending the Australian franchise operator's shares plummeting about 16% to their weakest in over 11 years. Van Dyck, a former Coca-Cola executive, took over from the franchise operator's longstanding head, Don Meij, in November last year as the company struggled to maintain sales in a post-COVID era. In eight months, Van Dyck laid the groundwork for a turnaround, closing low-volume stores and initiating cost-saving measures. His departure, effective December 23, sent the stock spiralling. Shares ended 15.8% lower at A$16.96 apiece, their lowest since February 2014, and logged their worst session since late January 2024. The stock was the second biggest loser in the ASX 200 benchmark on the day, and has lost 90% of its value since scaling an all-time high in September 2021, when pizza sales surged and the company was mapping out expansion plans for the coming decade. "A new CEO will take some time to appoint, raising the risk (of an) extended period of sub-par execution and lost earnings and further talent loss," said John Lockton, head of investment strategy at MST Financial. The company's underlying profit declined 8% in 2024 and was 36% below its record 2021 profit . A consensus of analyst estimates forecasts an 85% slump in fiscal 2025 profit, per Visible Alpha. The board has begun a global search to replace the incumbent CEO, the firm said. Chairman Jack Cowin, who has over five decades of experience in the quick-service restaurant sector and is the company's largest shareholder, will assume the role of interim executive chair . Cowin was one of the founders of KFC in Australia and played a key role in Domino's expansion into Europe and Asia. Domino's Pizza Enterprises runs the largest master franchise of the U.S.-based Domino's Pizza in 12 countries across Asia, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Japan accounts for around a fifth of its stores.


Economic Times
3 hours ago
- Economic Times
Genpact work policy: Is India closer to adopting China's 996 work culture?
The speculation around Genpact's decision to increase daily work hours to 10 has sparked criticism from both employees and human resource (HR) experts, who argue that the move goes against progressive workplace practices. The company later clarified its stance to follow a nine-hour workday and not 10. This debate is not new. In the post-COVID-19 pandemic period, debates on work-life balance have been plenty. That gives rise to the question: Is India closer to adopting China's 9-9-6 work culture? China's work policy Chinese tech tycoon Jack Ma famously said it was a "blessing" for anyone to be part of the so-called "996 work culture," where people work 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week, a BBC report companies like Alibaba, Huawei, and Bytedance have been flagbearers of this work culture. Rooted in capitalist ideals, overtime work is what made China the 'factory of the world.'The BBC report in January found that workers at the suppliers of Chinese fashion brand Shein work for 75 hours weekly with low wages. It noted the basic wage without overtime was 2,400 yuan (£265; $327)—far below the 6,512 yuan declared by the Asia Floor Wage Alliance as the 'living wage.'China's Supreme Court in August 2021 and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security declared '996' work schedules illegal, stating that it was illegal to fire or take action against an employee who chose to refuse work under a company's '996 policy'. A 2021 study by the World Health Organisation found that overwork resulted in over 745,000 deaths annually from strokes and heart attacks. Between 2000 and 2016, deaths related to heart disease due to extended work hours increased by 42%, while stroke-related deaths rose by 19%. ET reported in February that the rate of unemployment for those between the ages of 16 and 24 nearly hit 20% in January, meaning roughly one in every five Chinese simply cannot find a job. Worker protests over unpaid wages are increasing throughout China, reflecting a surge in dissatisfaction among millions impacted by factory closures. Why does this matter for India? From a series of debates and discussions—from Infosys cofounder Narayan Murthy's 70-hour week remark to Larsen & Toubro (L&T) chairman S N Subrahmanyan's 90-hour week comment, Karnataka's proposed 12-hour workday clause in certain sectors, including IT, and now Genpact's 10-hour workday—India's work culture is witnessing a transformative shift. A similar pattern is emerging in India's tech and services sector, and the country is inching towards its own version of '996'. The Karnataka government seeks to extend the maximum working hours to 10 hours a day and the maximum overtime to 12 hours a day. It also seeks to increase the overtime limit from 50 to 144 hours in three months, as reported by ET. Infosys made headlines in June as cofounder Narayana Murthy advised Indian youth to work for 70 hours a week to boost the economy. L&T's Subrahmanyan had also sparked a controversy in the work-life balance debate by advocating 90-hour work-weeks for employees. ET reported in January that India Inc is facing a rise in mental health challenges among employees. More than 90% of employees under 25 years of age are experiencing anxiety, compared to 67% for those over 45, emphasising the need for structured support for younger employees. Ray of hope Software services company Infosys is warning employees spending longer hours during their remote work period, flagging health risks and urging them to focus on work-life balance, doing away with the earlier remark by the cofounder. Infosys has reportedly introduced a new monitoring system to track remote working hours. Employees are now expected to work nine hours and 15 minutes per day, five days a week, and any excess time spent working remotely will trigger an alert. Chinese company Pang Dong Lai, a retail chain business, announced publicly that the employees at the chain will be entitled to additional leaves and perks at times when they are not at their mental or emotional best, which was termed as 'unhappy leaves,' ET reported in April last year. Even policies around silent hours during work shifts, dedicated meditation zones, parental leaves, etc., are prominent change makers to support work-life balance and foster employee well-being.