Bloomberg News Asia

South Koreans work the longest hours in Asia, getting instructions from bosses well into the night and foregoing many of their allotted days off. Some relief could be on the way. Newly elected President Moon Jae-in pledged during the campaign to give people the “right to rest.” Moon promised to stop bosses from delivering orders through social media or mobile messages after hours (except when “unavoidable”), cut annual hours by almost 15 percent and provide alternate days off when public holidays fall on weekends. Koreans spent 11 hours a week using smartphones, tablets and laptops to work on weekends or after hours during the week, a 2015 survey by the Korea Labor Institute found. Experts say a better work-life balance would help relieve some of the country’s most chronic and pressing problems, including a fertility rate that ranks among the worst in the world, sluggish domestic demand and a female labor-participation rate far below that of men. Many are skeptical about the prospects ...

Mason Baxter explains why crowdfunding may not necessarily be the best way to fund a new business. Bloomberg News Asia -- Mason Baxter: Crowdfunding has come into its own as a viable way of sourcing capital for new or existing ventures and it’s easy to see why; entrepreneurs can pitch large groups of individuals for funds by posting a description of their prospective or existing business venture on an online platform. Individual investors can then choose to make contributions to the venture by pledging money towards it. It’s refreshingly simple and effective and, indeed, thousands of innovative start-ups have successfully tapped this method to either get started or to raise additional funding for expansion. Crowdfunding was the evolutionary response to tight credit markets following the great recession of 2008/09 that saw many banks restrict lending to new businesses while they struggled to rebuild balance sheets battered by sub-prime mortgage write downs. The concept stuck and has g...

The pageantry permeating Beijing this week showed that China’s expansive vision for a new global economic order had another goal: Boosting President Xi Jinping’s grip on power at home. From fawning state media campaigns to the words of the man himself, the so-called Belt and Road Forum repeatedly stressed Xi’s centrality to infrastructure-and-trade initiative that brought about 30 world leaders to Beijing, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Communist Party chief claimed personal credit for the “project of the century,” unusual in a political system that stresses collective leadership. “This is the initiative I proposed in 2013,” Xi said at a round table discussion Monday featuring the leaders of the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. “This initiative stemmed from my observations and thoughts about the world’s situation.” Greater prestige may help Xi put supportive officials in place during a twice-a-decade leadership reshuffle that will det...