Commentary

In this series of 10 short essays, I will provide ten easy rules for you to adopt to instill innovation at the core of your company in Singapore or the rest of Asia. These rules are bold and will surely contravene inherited teachings and convictions.

In the movie, The Pursuit of Happiness, we see this moving scene where Will Smith, together with his son, had to spend the night locked-up and sleeping in a public toilet.

In 1992, Singapore signed its first free trade agreement (FTA), the Common Effective Preferential Tariff scheme with its ASEAN neighbors. Twenty years and 18 FTAs later, it is an appropriate time to reflect on how these FTAs have affected Singapore’s economy.

The disposable age, as we know it, gathered momentum in the 1950’s and 1960’s along with the rise of convenience as a lifestyle benefit, with TV dinners, disposable diapers, disposable cutlery, plates, and just about anything that could be used once and thrown away rather than reused became desirable for the sake of convenience.

If you think you are equipped with all the skills that are required for the workplace today, think again. There are thousands of new graduates each year with the same set of qualifications or better.

Business is more mobile than ever before. To make the most of opportunities, businesses must be flexible about where and with whom they do business.

Uncertain markets force big decisions on businesses. When there’s pressure to maintain cashflow and customers, firms often have to take bold steps to achieve greater efficiency or competitiveness. However, with the changes wrought by technology and globalisation, many traditional strategies for weathering storms no longer work. Some of the common beliefs held by companies about the best way forward may instead damage their prospects. Here are five common mistakes to avoid: 1. “I will concentrate on what I know, and focus on existing markets” When times are hard, there’s a temptation to stick to tried and tested basics. However, one lesson of successful companies like Google is that businesses must continuously innovate and iterate. The fact that something worked last month does not guarantee future success. Innovation can mean developing new products or services, but also new markets. Recent research found that in most countries of the world, companies with international markets are performing better, in terms of revenue and profit growth, than those that only operate domestically.[1]

Think of great leaders and we often think of strong people who are highly visible or great orators or action figures. Some might recall Russell Crowe in the opening scene of Gladiator… “On my command, unleash hell! ”

According to the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum, 95% of businesses in the Asia-Pacific region are SMBs. The percentage varies by country.

Any Singaporean organisation seeking to improve the effectiveness of its planning processes will quickly discover that feedback is a vital element of any planning system.

In today’s sometimes chaotic business reality, leaders in Singapore are consistently caught in a squeeze. They are responsible for creating and driving performance and at the same time they are measured on just how lean an organization they can run. A great majority of leaders and managers are well-intentioned, smart and accomplished, but fail to live up to their potential. This could be because they stop working on themselves. For some, they stop making progress because they simply do not think that they need it in the first place.

When it comes to business, success is often measured by top line and bottom line performance.

There were a record number of marriages in Singapore in 2011, yet a similar record decline in the UK. Why? Singaporeans get married as if it was going out of fashion and this might be their last chance! There are many reasons for this. If people got married in 2011 they may well have a Dragon baby. Yes as daft as that may sound, having a baby born in the Chinese Lunar Year of the Dragon, especially Water Dragon, the most powerful of the Zodiac signs means a lot to Chinese Singaporeans. The other major reason why Singaporeans get married and got married in record numbers is housing. In Singapore the vast majority of housing is provided by the government, called HDB’s (Housing Development Board).

So you're a young Singaporean professional. Go out there. Travel. It’s the best thing you can give yourself after finishing that final report you’ve spent grueling nights typing in your office cubicle.

(Or how they can create greater value by focusing on experience rather than price.)

Mention Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and most small to medium business sized business owners in Singapore would likely dismiss it as something that only the big companies and big multinational companies need.