Perspective - Summer 2009

Compass and Governance:

The Guiding Principles of Watson Wyatt Consulting

IN RECENT PERSPECTIVE EDITIONS, we have made a point of systematically bringing to our clients and readers full thematic "dossiers" or "Special Sections". We hope that we have helped you to weather the storm and balance cost control measures versus the need of staying ahead of opportunities.

With this issue of Perspective, we present a "Special Section" on Investment Consulting � What do those consultants do? Where do they position themselves in the Asset Management industry? And how is the added value they bring to their clients being measured? The way Investment Consultants analyze the new landscape and help institutional funds stay true to their structure and governance has become of utmost interest in this market.

We hope that this section, which opens with a personal and professional profile on Naomi Denning, the Head of Investment Consulting for Watson Wyatt in Asia Pacific, will help you get a clearer image of Walton Wyatt Investment Consulting, its independence, beliefs and expertise.

In the first half of the magazine, "Engaging Employees in Periods of Lay-offs" builds on our WorkAsia study on retaining high-performers at a time when de-motivation might be a threat to productivity. Although their numbers may be declining, Merger and Acquisition deals still carry enormous potential globally and in Asia � read the consultants round table in Leadership Forum. Insight looks bilingually at "Maximizing Sales Force Performance" through carefully designed incentive plans, whereas Viewpoint explore "Underwater Options" and restricted stocks as part of executive compensation.

Finally Hot Off The Press takes a glance at a recent pulse survey on Benefits and the urgency for employers to control the cost of those in their organizations.

We polled you on your preferred way to receive Perspective. While our readers are still firmly attached to the printed version � and so are we! � a vast majority also asked for an on-line version to run parallel to the printed one. You also wished for a wider footprint of our articles, extending beyond Greater China into most of Asia markets. This is now done with a new Perspective fully interactive on-line version being launched in Summer 2009 in watsonwyatt.com!

Keat Tian

Managing Consultant, Watson Wyatt Hong Kong