Singapore: Rod Steiger of South East Asia

Enterprise Resilience Management Blog compares Singapore to Hollywood actor Rod Steiger. Steiger took on a wide variety of roles across genres making him the most connected actor. “Connectivity is also a good thing when talking about the global economy. The Rod Steiger of Southeast Asia is Singapore. That nation has worked hard to achieve that position. Singapore understands that the more roles you are involved in the better your chances are of staying on top; therefore, it plays an important role in finance, electronics, trade, and (increasingly) biotechnology.”

2 comments

  • This letter was written by me to the chief author of the blog:

    “I refer to your blog’s most recently published article, “Singapore’s Resilient Strategy”

    And while I find it an interesting point of view, as a Singaporean who was born, bred and grew up in the country, I feel your analysis is overly simplistic.

    You have failed to consider many important facts about the country’s economy, amongst many others:

    a. Since the year 2000, the incomes of the bottom third of wage earners have actually fallen. The push towards a knowledge driven economy has resulted in a neglect of those who were equipped with skills to thrive in one driven by manufacturing and industries such as electronics. This ‘resilient strategy’ you speak of may be a good one, but it’s execution has fallen far short of perfect. It has failed to deliver economic welfare to a large section of the population. And as any corporate strategist should know, execution is everything, especially the execution of a change management project.

    b. The country is now facing a very severe population problem. Last year, the country’s mothers gave birth to 36,000 babies, whereas it needs 50,000 to replace its population. This trend places a big question mark on the efficacy of this ‘resilient strategy’ when the country’s population is rapidly depleting itself. It also pays to take note that the same omniscient ruling party which has come up with this ‘resilient strategy’ is precisely the same party that placed penalties on families when they had their third child – it seems they are not so omniscient after all.

    c. Many life science students in Singapore, having gone through their life science degrees – supposedly egged along by the government to herald the ‘age of biology’ – are finding it difficult to find a job. If the strategy you suggest is indeed as resilient as it is, then how do you account for this phenomenon?

    There are many other intricacies and details about Singapore that you should consider, that would place a big question mark on your glowing analysis of Singapore’s Economy. In fact, a brief survey will demonstrate that making sweeping statements like

    “No one can doubt that Singapore’s economic miracle has become permanent.” and “It’s a great lesson in resiliency.”

    will place a huge question mark on the credibility of your analytical and consultancy skills.

    I suggest you research Singapore’s economy further, and reconsider the conclusions in your essay once again. “

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