GSK-EDB Essay Competition Merit Prize.pdf

Wong Yun Sheng Calvin (06S61) - GSK-EDB Merit Prize.
Value of Book Prize - $500
Q1 EDB has been at the forefront of developing Singapore's economy for the last 45 years.
In the next 10-20 years, Singapore's economy could be a roaring success or a spectacular
failure. What could make it one way or the other?
In the recently released annual world competitiveness ranking produced by the Swiss-based
International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Singapore has retained its standing as
the world’s third most competitive economy, and together with Hong Kong (at second place), is
fast catching up with top ranked United States.
Given rising economic powerhouses in the region however – namely Shanghai, Hong Kong and
various others – it is not time for Singapore to rest on her laurels. The next decade or two will
present Singapore with three possible scenarios: growth, crisis or stagnation. A host of challenges
awaits her as Singapore joins Asia in taking her place on the world stage. In this essay, two fronts
are identified as playing key roles in driving Singapore’s economy of tomorrow.
Firstly, there is the need for Singapore to reinvest itself economically and identify the appropriate
set of comparative advantages that will increase her prosperity. In the nascent stages of
Singapore’s economic development, the EDB focused on establishing Singapore as a centre of
trade; she was effectively an importer of raw materials and exporter of goods. In recent years,
Singapore has masterminded a comparative advantage in Asia based on attracting copious
amounts of foreign investment and establishing state-of-the-art infrastructure.
Such a comparative advantage is however, fast being eroded. Singapore, for example, cannot
benefit from the expansion of a huge neighbouring market, such as Hong Kong does from China.
Singapore’s position as the world’s busiest port, on the other hand, is now being contested by
other ports such as Shanghai and Hong Kong. It is high time that the old recipes of success for
Singapore give way to new ones.
No more can Singapore wait for the world to come to her – her economic future will increasingly
depend on her aggressiveness and presence in international markets in Asia and beyond. The
pressing challenge for EDB now is to create a knowledge base in Singapore that will allow her to
pursue a strategy of investments overseas so as to increase Singapore’s presence on the global
market. Cooperation with government linked companies such as Temasek Holdings and the
Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) will allow the EDB to have access to a
diversified global portfolio. Experience could be drawn from such organisations to allow companies

here to diversify their operations overseas. The EDB, for example, could offer seed money to
promising enterprises and help expand their businesses to nearby countries; offer tie ups with
organisations such as Temasek Holdings to co-invest in valuable markets; and to continually train
herself, through recruiting the best and brightest of human talent from around the world, or through
investing in novel ideas – such as the Integrated Resort.
Redefining Singapore’s competitive advantages to include those in global markets however does
not entail that Singapore forsake local developments. Singapore should continue to reinvent
herself, and the EDB should continue its move from “work power” to “brain power”.
While manufacturing and its related industries continue to dominate a substantial proportion of our
economy, it is apt that the EDB recognises the need for Singapore to shift her economic roles – a
goal achievable only when steps are taken to facilitate development on a local scale. For one,
Singapore should not only be an exporter of goods, but also an exporter of high-end goods and
services. The establishing of industries such as the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries,
along with various other science research institutes has been an appropriate move. The EDB has
also done well in embracing the technology pre-requisites for such a change: specifically funding
applied research, tightening intellectual property protection laws, and focusing on research
commercialisation. In the coming years, however, Singapore should also seek to enter the next
phase of IT-related growth – developing e-commerce. Tie-ups with western counterparts would no
doubt help Singaporean companies refine their business models. “The world's largest online B2B
marketplace” Alibaba, a Chinese company, was started with funds from companies such as USbased
Granite Global Ventures. Even media industries in Singapore can be developed further if
the EDB were to capitalise on the Internet to channel Singaporean culture to the rest of the world.
In short, all these examples show one thing: Singapore cannot be just a global factory; she must
also be a global office block, lab, shopping mall, and playground.
In conclusion, the ability to carve out a new set of competitive advantages and the ability of
Singapore to continually reinvent herself will be instrumental in determining Singapore’s economic
success in the next few decades. Only rigorous and well-planned economic policy can ensure that
Singapore maintains her share of the global limelight. Singapore’s economic future is thus
Singapore’s to make or break.