• Internal factors that affect Singapore
• External factors that affect Singapore
• Economic strategies for sustainable development
• Environmental strategies for sustainable development
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• Limited land
• Shortage of water
• Dependence on imported technology
• Environmental pollution
• Racial vulnerability
• A small and open economy
• Shortage of skilled labour
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Economic Slowdown in Other Countries
Socio-Political Unrest in Other Countries
Environmental Issues
3
Economic Slowdown in Other Countries
How it affects:
- Singapore relies on other countries for natural resources
- sells to other countries its manufactured goods
- reduction in imports and exports mean less business for
Singapore. This affects the economy.
Example
- Currency Crisis in 1997 and 1998
- slowdown in economic activities
- many workers lost jobs
- Singapore ran into recession
4
Socio-Political Unrest in Other Countries
How it affects:
- strong links among countries due to globalisation
- countries are inter-related to one another
- when one country is affected, others are involved
Examples
- World War II and Singapore’s involvement
- Social unrest in Vietnam and refugee problems in Singapore
- Political unrest in Indonesia and Singapore’s investment
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Environmental Issues
How it affects:
- air, noise and land pollutions have no boundary
- what happens in one country – impact on its neighbours
Example 1
Example 2
- forest fires in Indonesia in
1997
- haze in Singapore leading
to unhealthy living
conditions
- collision of two oil tankers
in 1997
- affected people as well as
marine life
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1. Moving
Towards a
KnowledgeBased Economy
4. Building an
Information Technology
(IT) Infrastructure
2. Improving
Workers’
Employability
5. Going
Regional and
Global
3. Promoting
Manufacturing and
Services as Twin
Engines of Growth
7. Promoting
Research and
Development
8. Attracting
Foreign Talent
6. Developing Local
Entrepreneurship and
Technoprenuership
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1. Moving Towards a Knowledge-Based Economy
What is it:
- information and knowledge drives economy
- need to be knowledgeable, creative and innovative
- need to train and upgrade
How to achieve it:
- greater emphasis on training and upgrading
- choose right type of training
- no use memorising everything in this computer age
more important to review and analyse, in coming up
with creative & sound suggestions to issues
value-addedness at all levels of manufacturing &
service industry
EG?
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1. Moving Towards a Knowledge-Based Economy
Results:
-Maintain long-term competitive edge
-Workforce that is more skilled to compete in
knowledge-intensive industries eg electronics,
IT
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2. Improving Workers’ Employability
What is it:
- new technology and rapid changes  obsolete workers
- important to keep the workers employable
How to achieve it:
- upgrading of skills, eg part-time courses
at Bukit Merah Skills Development Centre
- retrain rather than retrench employees
- training in new areas, eg IT
EGs?
10
2. Improving Workers’ Employability
after 2000:
promoting continuous learning among workforce
•Workforce Devp Agency in 2003: ensure competitive
workforce through skills upgrading (new Stat board under
MOM)
• target main competencies for IT, creative, financial industries
•Data management, game development etc!
•http://app2.wda.gov.sg/wsq/Common/hompage.aspx to find
out more!
•Employability Skills Systems – new skills to adapt to
new job demands and changing work environment
•Skills Development Fund: financial assistance to
employers to encourage them to train and upgrade skills
of their workers
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3. Promoting Manufacturing and Services as
Twin Engines Of Growth
What is it:
- promoting high-technological manufacturing
- at the same time promoting services
-if one sector fails, can rely on the other sector
How to achieve it:
- a regional service centre (promote services)
- centres of education and research in Singapore
- better service eg. DBS and POSB
- regional headquarters here
- manufacturing services (promote manufacturing)
- import raw materials from other countries and export as
refined products
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3. Promoting Manufacturing and Services as
Twin Engines Of Growth
•Centre for technology intensive, high value-added
manufacturing activities
•Attract MNCs to set up technology-intensive, high valueadded manufacturing activities here
eg electronics, Seagate (hard disk drives), chemical engineering (Jurong
Island:chemical hub for ExxonMobil and Shell), Life Sciences (Biopolis)
 Generates more jobs locally
 Affirms Singapore’s position as a manufacturing hub
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3. Promoting Manufacturing and Services as
Twin Engines Of Growth
•Aims to be regional hub for services
•Education (University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business,
University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, Shanghai Jiao Tong
University, Stanford University set up branches in Singapore)
•Strengthen Singapore’s position as a choice tourist
destination in SEA
•Innovative in offering man-made attractions so as not to lose out to competitors in
the region (Integrated resorts (IRs) Marina Bay and Sentosa)
Jobs creation
Generate further economic growth to withstand intense
regional competition
 Reduce dependence on single industry/market
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4. Building an Information Technology (IT)
Infrastructure
What is it:
- invisible network linking different parts of Singapore
- links Singapore with rest of the world
- good IT structure would encourage more investment
How to achieve it:
1991 to 1995 - $2 billion for National Technology Plan
- IT 2000 Plan (1992)
- prepare Singapore for the IT age through use of
computers in workplaces, public places and schools
1996 to 2000 - $4 billion National Science and Technology Plan
- Singapore ONE (1996)
- world’s first nation-wide network
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5. Going Regional and Global
What is it:
- limited land and labour resources
- need to look beyond Singapore for investment
 mutual benefits – long-term growth potential
 diversify investments
How to achieve it:
i. Go Regional (Regionalization)
- invest in countries that have abundant land, lower labour
costs and new markets
- provide infrastructure, expertise and money; in return, host
country would provide land and labour for Singapore’s
companies
1989/94: SIJORI
1994: Suzhou Industrial Park
International Tech Park in Bangalore, India
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How to achieve it:
ii. Go Global
- 1997 and 1998 recession in Southeast Asia
- global investment e.g. Africa and Latin America
- EDB: business opportunities in region and tax incentive
schemes for companies which set up factories overseas
- TDB: grants for companies to move to new markets;
contacts authorities for overseas investment
- government: provides opportunities eg. setting up of
Southern Africa Investment Fund of US$100 million
Investments in Australia, Indonesia, India, Middle East, Africa, Latin
America, Central and Eastern Europe
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6. Developing Local Entrepreneurship and
Technopreneurship
What is it:
- ensuring entrepreneurs are highly skillful
- need to transform entrepreneurs into technopreneurs
How to achieve it:
- role played by government
- established one-stop centre to assist technopreneurs
- allows for changes in law to accommodate risk taking
e.g. change in bankruptcy law
- educational opportunities
- technopreneurial skills taught in NUS and NTU
Kenny Yap of Qian Hu Fish Farm, a local ornamental fish service provider,
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Creative Technology, Hyflux
7. Promoting Research and Development
What is it:
- development of own talent pool and own technologies
- importance of successful R&D
How to achieve it:
- encourage local enterprises to partner with universities and
national research institutions
- encourage international partnerships to promote science and
technology exchanges eg. joint projects with countries like
China, Germany and India
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- recruit more foreigners in areas where talent is inadequate
- learn from foreign talent to improve own labour force
How to achieve it:
- more foreigners in fields like petrochemicals and wafer
fabrication
- Research Scientists and Engineers
- information centres overseas e.g. London and Hong Kong
- foreigners in local universities
- foreign talent could provide avenue for more business
opportunities overseas
EGs?
20
1. Moving
Towards a
KnowledgeBased
Economy
4. Building an
Information
Technology (IT)
Infrastructure
2. Improving
Workers’
Employability
5. Going
Regional
and Global
3. Promoting
Manufacturing
and Services as
Twin Engines of
Growth
6. Developing Local
Entrepreneurship
and
Technoprenuership
7. Promoting
Research and
Development
8. Attracting
Foreign
Talent
21
Why do you think the Asian currency crisis caused a
decline in visitor arrival from ASEAN countries to
Singapore?
ASEAN countries were the most affected by the currency
crisis. Due to the crises, the people in these countries had
less money to spend. They thus avoided Singapore as the
cost of living in Singapore is very high.
22
How will the decline in visitor arrivals affect
other related economic activities?
Impact on service industry – employees will lose their jobs
due to reduced tourists (eg retail, hospitality, F&B, tourism)
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Why do you think that human knowledge is considered
the key factor for Singapore’s successful future
growth?
Since Singapore has no natural resources, it has to ensure
that its human resource is very good. As such, there is an
important need to ensure that the people are knowledgeable
and prepared for the challenges ahead.
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What problems will the retrenched workers and
economy face if workers refuse to be retrained?
If they refuse to retrain, they will not be able to get
another job easily. As such, they will be financial
burdened. This would mean an increase in unemployment,
which would worsen the economy as money circulation
would be reduced.
25
Why do you think the Singapore government needs to
help the private companies by co-investing with them?
This would ensure that the private companies are wellequipped and prepared to face challenges.
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Why do you think some Singaporeans may choose to live
permanently in other countries?
Pull Factors:
Some of them might feel comfortable staying on as they
are used to the lifestyle there.
Opportunities to pursue passion
Push Factors:
Others might decide to settle down overseas due to the inability
to cope with the fast pace of Singapore life.
Lack of opportunities
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How do you think Singaporeans can stay rooted to
Singapore while living abroad?
With IT facilities freely available overseas, they can keep
in touch with what is happening in Singapore through emails
and internet access.
NS & other common experiences
Home & Friends
Connection with the community & surroundings
 sense of ownership
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Do you agree that maximising our strengths and
minimising our weaknesses are sensible approaches
to planning for our future? Explain your answer.
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