Singapore Case

Republic of Singapore is physically small, with a total land area of 710.3 square kilometres, but an economic giant. It has been Southeast Asia's most modern city for over a century. Singapore blends Malay, Chinese, Arab, Indian and English cultures.

Singapore is a city-state where natural resources are not plentiful. However, the city has turned its lack into strength. Nowadays, the state has the second busiest port in the world after Rotterdam, unemployment at a minimum, and super-efficient infrastructures.

Goldman Sachs Economist has named Singapore as the MIST nation -- Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Turkey -- which means that the city is part of the next most promising emerging market.

For some economists the MIST is the next BRIC. Indeed, market is growing strongly in recent years for this country.

In this report, we will provide the emerging economies and the attractiveness of the market in Singapore, identifying relevant issues, trends, opportunities and threats. This analysis is important for a company, which wants to conquer the Singaporean market.

Following this, we will assess the general direction of the political and economic policies being followed in order to develop this country.

Finally, we will appraise the future prospects for international trades and businesses between Singapore and Malaysia.

In order to make a global analysis, this part will examine Singapore external and internal environment through a PESTEL analysis firstly, and a SWOT analysis afterwards.

Singapore is known as having one of the best business environments in the world - one of the world's competitive most profitable with world-class intellectual property protection and enforcement .

Nowadays the number of Multi-National corporations in Singapore, which is up to 7,000, is a testimony of Singapore's excellence in manufacturing and services.

The following sections will analyse the factors that influence the business environment in Singapore.

Singapore becomes independent in 1965. Since this period, a big part of political factors refers to governmental policies with their intervention in the economy. The Singaporean Government, under the leadership of the People's Action Party (PAP), has given priority to boosting economic growth and development .

This country put into practice the open-policies to make a better environment for a local and international firm.

To help businesses, the government has set up several organizations like the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI). These make Singapore leading global city by promoting economy growth and creating job. MTI gives also broad direction for the economy. The Ministry of Finance prefers collaborate with each company rather than control them.

Reputed to be a country where is scarcely corruption, Singapore has a Corruption Practices Investigation Bureau to: safeguard the integrity of the public service.

Moreover deregulation and liberalization are no more monopolized by the government. Now we can see more competition in the market.

Singapore is very careful with allowing foreign hypermarket. Indeed, we can see only two French Carrefour and four Malaysian's Giant on the island.

We have seen a high rebound in 2010 but now the economy is stable relative to the world situation. The domestic demand allows helping. However the export is decreasing because of the euro zone crisis.

The public debt represents 111.4% of GDP in 2012; a tightening of the monetary policy began in 2012. Due to its favourable tax system, its political stability and its good business environment, Singapore attracts important FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) but its economy depends mostly on external demand. The location, between India and China, has permit to Singapore to overcome their geographic disadvantage and became a highly developed market, a major actor in the globalization and the financial sector is highly competitive.

Due to its low trade barriers, Singapore is the 14th largest exporter and the 15th largest importer in the world. Most of the imports into Singapore are duty free but some products have however a high taxes especially for alcohol, tobacco, motor vehicles and petroleum products.

There are approximately 2.7 million of people who work in Singapore. The unemployment rate amounted to 2, 2% in 2010. This rate is one of the lowest in the world. At the contrary the labour force is well educated and has a high level of skills.

Singapore is a very cosmopolite country. Indeed the population in 2012 was composed of 74% of Chinese, 13% of Malay, 9% of Indian and 4% of other nationalities . Due to its 5.312 million people, Singapore has the second highest density rate, just after Monaco.

Moreover, the demography growth is about 2.8% per year because of the migrations: Singapore is the 11th attractive country in the world, according to The World Economic Forum (WEF).

The country presents a majority of Buddhists and Taoists, also Christians and atheists.

According to The Trading Economics, the whole population is urban. It can be explained by the small size of the country.

Depending on The Index Mundi, the population is, in majority young (50%) with an average of 25 to 54 years old (median age: 33.6 years).

English is the first language used in Singapore's education, but they also speak Malay, Mandarin Chinese or Tamil, due to their origins. All of these four are official languages in Singapore.

Singapore has built a very strong public educational system. The Ministry Of Education has invested US$10.6 billion in 2012.

The literacy rate was about 96.4% in 2012, according to the Singaporean Department of Statistics.

The country has attracted more than 86.000 international students in 2012, depending on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.