Commentary

How to market a start-up in Singapore

Singapore’s entrepreneurial stage has been set as a promising hub with enough buzz to re-launch a nineties boyband back to stardom. However, with only 778 km of highly urbanized land mass and five million consumers at best, you had better be selling the next best thing since the iPhone.

How to market a start-up in Singapore

Singapore’s entrepreneurial stage has been set as a promising hub with enough buzz to re-launch a nineties boyband back to stardom. However, with only 778 km of highly urbanized land mass and five million consumers at best, you had better be selling the next best thing since the iPhone.

Getting the right talents

Many HR resourcing managers carry the traditional idea that the job-seeker with the “most impressive” résumé (from big companies) and the necessary skill-sets will fit the role, but how many times do you come across a situation where the newcomer resigns after just a few months with the organisation?

Will the dragon year be dismal or delightful?

Since last Monday, people all over the world are celebrating the coming of the dragon year. A dragon year would typically promise ferocious successes but analysts' outlook is one of caution as Europe attempts to sort out its debt crisis and the US approaches another Presidential Election. How would Asia, Singapore in particular, fare this dragon year?

Next gen NBN will transform video content consumption in Singapore

News recently of Singapore's ultra-high speed Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN) achieving 83 per cent nationwide deployment was an exciting development in this countries evolution. Having the correct infrastructure in place provides people with greater access to the internet and ultimately a much broader range of video content.

There’s really nothing new about sustainability

In recent years, I’ve noticed an entirely new vocabulary being used to describe the modern business approach to sustainability. A number of them cropped up during our panel discussion at Singapore’s Media Leader’s Forum in December – resilience, adaptation, positive social change, CSR, behavioural change, going green.

Looking for a job? Try your luck in these hiring hotspots

This quarter is usually one of the most active for hiring, as senior talent comes back in demand and bonuses are paid out over the next few months, and this year should be no different. Chris Mead, General Manager of Hays in Singapore, discusses trends and current opportunities across Asia from the latest Hays Quarterly Report.

The perks of watching TV online

“When was the last time you finished watching an episode of any TV on free-to-air?” asked Razmig, and in the same breath he asked me to pronounce his first name, “Mr. Hovaghimian” which if I did, he would probably buy me ice cream.

Diligent homebuyers win the race

With the current headwinds from the western part of the world and the latest set of cooling measures implemented in December 2011, the Singapore residential property market is likely to moderate in the short term, with some procrastination in homebuyers’ decision and possibly an evident downward re-pricing of residential properties.

What's up with business analytics and business intelligence?

As the Dragon year commences, Singapore has awakened to the roar of Business Analytics. Identified as a focus sector development by iDA, to catalyse greater adoption, business analytics is an area of untold promise.

Why Singapore is best placed to be Asia’s lifestyle and luxury center

When I arrived in Singapore in the first week of the 21st century to live and work, little did I know that the island city would be still my home 12 years later.

Confronting the marketer’s fear in 2012

Surveying the world as a marketer from Singapore and thinking about the prospects for 2012, it’s difficult to be optimistic.

How to motivate your employees?

In Singapore, if we flip through any newspapers or attend any business seminar, it is almost certain that we have come across this statement; “Our people are our greatest resource.” In many ways, this is very true. If we think about it, strategies can be replicated, technology can be reverse-engineered and processes copied.

Designing a new marketing plan for design firms

Design firms traditionally believe that their design alone could sell, and Singapore’s design firms are no different.

What is the secret to sustained development?

The toolbox of improvement techniques available to the modern Singaporean executive has expanded rapidly in the last 25 years.

Singapore’s employers adapt to the skills shortage

A new year is usually a catalyst for people to move on to new jobs and 2012 will continue this tradition as candidates assess their options following bonus payouts, according to our latest Hays Quarterly Report, for the January– March quarter.

Cutting costs in a downturn: Where to trim?

There is no doubt Singapore business professionals will be tightening their belts in 2012 as the global debt crisis worsens. Given Singapore’s small domestic market, and reliance on foreign imports and exports, we are heavily exposed to the US and European markets.

Can SMRT go from social zero to next gen hero?

Social Media has come of age in Singapore.