Family Matters? Recruitment Methods and Cultural Boundaries in Singapore Chinese Small and Medium Enterprises

Singapore official discourse speaks of (Chinese) families as both cultural and economic assets and as vestiges of national identity. Chinese families are often described in traditional terms, namely as patrilinial, patrilocal, patriarchal and clearly hierarchical. In Singapore official discourse, the historical success of traditional family businesses is presented as a unique ethnic and national characteristic. Simultaneously, the Singapore state claims to be ‘modern’, ‘Western’, and ‘cosmopolitan’, allowing little space for ‘parochial practices’ and ‘archaic traditions’. Either praised or looked down on, family businesses occupy an ambiguous position within the ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ discourses of the Singapore state. This article supplies the evidence of changing family and business relations in Chinese–Singapore firms. Three major factors are isolated that influence Singapore attitudes towards family businesses: Chinese culture, globalization and the logic of developing capitalism, and the role of the Singapore state.     

A Multicultural Joint Venture Under the Post-Developmental State in Singapore

As a multi-cultural country with a British colonial past hosting many different ethnic groups including Westerners, Singapore juggles with the often conflicting forces of Westernization (holding the promise of economic prosperity) and Asianization (holding the promise of a distinct cultural identity). Although the endorsement of ‘Asian values’ by Singapore political leaders such as Lee Kuan Yew may be seen as a mere rhetoric device to either explain ethnic Chinese business success or the Asian crisis, the question needs to be raised as to the ways in which the Asian Values discourse affects both Western and Asian MNCs operating in Singapore. In order to address this question, this article investigates the participation of a European–Japanese joint venture in a large government-sponsored reclamation project in Singapore. It is a rather unique situation in which the state as paymaster has the upper hand over the partners. The investigation shows that reference to ‘Asian values’ is a significant boundary-marking strategy used by both the Singapore government and the joint venture partners to manipulate the power balances in this triangular relationship. The outcome is more often than not advantageous for the Singapore state.     

网络时代高校教学信息化的机遇、挑战与应对——基于新加坡与中国的比较

随着网络时代的到来,人类的经济社会生活发生了巨大变化,高校教学信息化迎来了各方面的发展机遇,同时也面临着巨大的挑战.新加坡与中国高校教学信息化水平在资源分配、普及程度、国际化及应用重心等方面存在一定的差异,这主要是由两国在经济社会、教育理念、教育背景和基础等方面的差异造成的,高校、教师以及全社会都需要积极应对,探索中国高校的教学信息化改革之路.     

借鉴新加坡经验 加快中新知识城知识产业发展

本文总结了新加坡发展知识经济的经验,包括务实而前瞻的产业规划,积极灵活的产业政策,配套完善的金融环境,高效亲商的投资服务;借鉴新加坡经验,本文提出了加快中新知识城知识产业发展的几点建议,包括探索灵活有效的管理机制、制定知识城产业发展促进办法、研究出台知识城知识产业的专业化政策、制定知识城产业发展年度行动计划、建立知识城重点项目库、为不同类型的企业量身定做个性化产业政策、充分发掘"新加坡元素",营造知识产业发展的良好氛围。     

Singapore Technologies Electronics——Committed to Growth in China

Headquartered in Singapore, ST Electronics has almost 40 years of experience providing electronics, communications and ICT （information communications technologies） solutions to governments and commercial enterprises worldwide.     

The impact of R&D on value added for domestic and foreign firms in a newly industrialized economy

This study compares the impact of R&D on value added between domestic and foreign firms in Singapore. The analysis is based on a comprehensive panel database from 1993 to 1999 provided by the Singapore Government. Our results found that R&D investments of foreign firms generated higher value added than those of domestic firms, and that the difference in value added contributed by R&D was moderated by the type of R&D and the technological level of industry. The study supports the argument that the ownership advantages possessed by foreign firms, relative to domestic firms, have positive effects on R&D performance.     

Does a reward program affect customers’ behavioural intention of visiting the airport? A case study of Singapore Changi Airport

An understanding of the behavioural intentions of customers in visiting airports may help airport management to boost airport retail revenue (i.e. non-aeronautical revenue) by increasing customer spending at the airports. This study aims to examine the connection between airport reward programs and customers' behavioural intentions of visiting the airport, attempting to bring some benefits and credits for implementing reward programs in the airport sector by using Singapore Changi Airport as a case study. Two types of customer behavioural intentions (i.e. time spent at the airport and various purposes of visiting the airport) were investigated in the study to examine the effects of Changi Airport's reward program (i.e. Changi Rewards). An on-line survey was conducted, and the participants' responses were analysed via a structural equation modelling approach. The results showed that the attractive benefits of Changi Rewards could have a positive influence on arousing customers' intentions to engage with the programme. In addition, customers' intentions to engage with the programme can have a positive effect on increasing passengers' time spent at the airport and inducing customers to visit the airport for leisure purposes. Managerial implications to the airport sector are discussed.     

Managing in the Middle: Characterizing Singapore's Exchange Rate Policy*

It is by now common knowledge that there can be a significant divergence in the de facto versus de jure exchange rate regimes operated by economies. Although much of the recent published literature in Asia has focused on the crisis-hit economies, Korea and Thailand in particular, scant attention has been paid to Singapore, which officially targets its nominal effective exchange rate (around a band). The present paper examines the degree of exchange rate intervention for Singapore using various methods of assessing de facto exchange rate regimes. In the main, we show that although the Singapore dollar is primarily influenced by the US dollar, in keeping with its de jure classification of a basket pegged regime, other major currencies, such as the yen and the euro, also impact the Singapore dollar. There is also evidence to indicate that Singapore uses the nominal effective exchange rate strategically as a policy instrument to satisfy domestic inflation objectives.     

An Analysis of Transactions Data for the Stock Exchange of Singapore: Patterns, Absolute Price Change, Trade Size and Number of Transactions

The availability of the transactions data of the Stock Exchange of Singapore allows us to examine intraday patterns and the relation among absolute price change, trade size and number of transactions. The presence of a trading halt in the mid-day results in two crude U-shaped return patterns but, contrary to Brock and Kleidon's (1992) model, it does not cause volume to be unusually high right before or after the halt. We find a positive relationship between absolute price changes and the number of transactions for both the active and inactive stocks. This supports the findings of Jones, Kaul and Lipson (1994) that these relationships also hold at the intraday level and in a market with different market architecture.     

Assessing macro environment trends in Singapore: Implications for tourism marketers

The growth in the number of Singaporeans traveling overseas has been quite remarkable. In 1994, Singaporeans made over 2.4 million overseas trips. This was made possible by the increased affluence of the population, after several decades of continued economic development. At the same time, there are changes in the demographic and psychographic composition of the population which attracted the attention of tourism marketers not only locally and abroad. This paper attempts to examine these changes and discuss their implications. Several types of new tours are suggested for a tourism industry that must innovate and upgrade their products and services to meet the demands of a new breed of consumers.