Singapore Business Environmental Analysis Essay

Economic Environment

The economic trends of a country are very influential over business operations. Singapore’s economy has shown continued resilience against most global crisis, and has rebounded with a record 13 percent growth from the recent global economy downturn. This rebound not only showed that the Singapore’s forward-looking and alert damage-control measures are always in place and working, it also shows the potential of even bigger growth in Asia’s top leading financial market. Singapore’s economic policies on national income, labour market, productivity, investment commitment, and external trade are also consistently fine-tuning their plans to adjust to a dynamic and changing Asian market in order to meet business growth.

Social Environment

Successful enterprises often leverage on developed and integrated social communities. The education level of a people, work habits, culture, leisure activities and the role of women in the workforce will affect the viability of a business entity. Singapore boasts one of the most competitive and well-educated workforces in the world, and it is renowned for its efficiency.

Its multi-cultural and cosmopolitan society makes it extremely easy for international and regional investors to set up headquarters in Singapore as a starting point to reach into the Asian market. The Singapore government’s “Live, work and play” motto ensures that a variety of businesses can successfully operate in their chosen industries, with the right human resource boosting business growth.

Technological Environment

Singapore, described as a “plug and play” nation, is ranked number three as the most wired national in the world, and the most wired in Asia, with a broadband network that reached 99 per cent of the population. Singapore’s electronics, pharmaceutical and biomedical industries are the leading boomers of both national and regional economy. In the past few years, the country has been the leading innovator to set up several technological research institutes to build better and greener business infrastructure. Technological advances have led to fast turnaround times for retailers and consumers, hassle-free financial transactions, as well as the creation of new products at competitive prices. The World Economic Forum ranked Singapore among the top 10 in the world for network readiness in 2002.

Legal Environment

Government statutes that oversee commerce, manpower, and other business-related areas are important to business owners. Singapore has a compliance act that has to be strictly followed and entrepreneurs must abide by government laws on working hours, minimum wages, industrial production and taxation. Business compliance includes the Employment Act, Taxation Act and the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Act. The various taxes paid by businesses such as sole proprietorship, companies and GST have a direct impact on firms.

Ecological Environment

A long with technological advances, Singapore’s push to integrate green technology into its society has reaped many benefits. Environmentally-friendly infrastructure such as Fusionopolis, ION, Orchard Central are some of the recent landmark achievements in the nation’s attempt to reduce its carbon footprint. The government is has also laid out plans to build institutes dedicated to researching green technology and growing a pool of local talents to focus on improving business infrastructure while protecting the environment. Mass Rapid Transit – Singapore’s public transport system, utilises electricity to run, and a plan has been launched to integrate the use of solar energy in SMBs and domestic households. An Anti-Pollution act is also in place to oversee the impact of growing industries in Singapore.