Commentary

The recent discovery of a terror cell, the doubling of online cheating cases, and the ongoing investigations on third-party corruption scandals are signs of a new reality faced by Singapore businesses – the global threats of cybercrime, terrorism, and fraud are now a part of everyday life.

Industrial production in the country peaked in 2010 and has been in a state of decline ever since, except for minor increases in 2013 and 2014.

In global financial markets that are drowning in information and data, we may have a huge advantage here in Singapore: We can glance out into the bay from the ECP and learn more about oil markets than any deskload of commodities traders sitting in London or New York.

Social media influencers are key stakeholders in the broad scheme of marketing and communications. Not only restricted to blogs, they also wield strong influence through the likes of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms.

It's natural that the excitement of having a robot complete your mundane work chores for you is tempered by a fear of the unknown. Will the robot take my pay cheque too?

The property market is closely linked to economic conditions as the demand for commercial space fluctuates with changes in the level of business activity. Unfortunately, due to the combination of a number of factors, the slowdown in Singapore looks set to continue.

2016 is a special year for Singapore. While much of the SG50 Jubilee celebrations was spent reminiscing our economic miracle, SG51 marks our first chapter of a new tomorrow. As Singapore pushes ahead, we face a completely different set of challenges as compared to our pioneers.

Singapore's employment landscape is presently undergoing seismic changes, but the sectoral transformations exhorted are being driven more by need rather than by design. Against a backdrop of a slowing economy (2.1 percent in 2015 and expected to remain between 1 and 3 percent this year), high retrenchments in the service industries (4,600 redundancies in 1Q16 compared with 3,500 in 1Q15), and falling demand for manufactured goods, Singapore has had no choice but to review, redesign, and restructure its labour market in an attempt to galvanise employment stability in an unpredictable and volatile global market.

Almost every industry today is digitised. Most business functions are software-enabled. Around 40 percent of the world's population has an Internet connection. It comes as no surprise that 68 percent of Singapore’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will invest in their in-house technology and innovation capabilities, according to DP Information Group’s SME Development Survey. While this figure appears promising, the increase in technology adoption from a year ago was a mere 4 percent.

In recent years, Singapore's stock market has been a good place to lose money. But that might be about to change.

Here are five other factors that entrepreneurs should look at when deciding on where to place their hub in Asia Pacific.

According to a report released recently by Savills, a global real estate service provider, the Singapore property market has recorded its lowest quarterly investment sales since 2009. This information confirms a declining trend that was evident for the last two years.

Last April Facebook Messenger announced the introduction of chatbots, presenting a major opportunity for businesses in Singapore and beyond which are looking to connect with their customers on a more personal level. The move is designed to turn the instant messaging platform into a space where brands can become an intuitive part of their audiences' own conversations.

With the annual Singapore Maritime Week now a distant memory, it is worth reflecting on the health of the local Maritime sector. Agreed, 2016 hasn’t got off to a great start with Keppel announcing 2800 redundancies, a fire at a local oil storage facility, estimates of 40% of the bulk sector going under and, significantly for the local industry, Sete Brazil going bankrupt. All this on top of the 2015 sale of national shipping icon NOL/APL.

It's time for companies in Singapore to expand globally, according to the recent Budget 2016 announcement. An economic slowdown this year has the government predicting a small 1 to 3 percent growth. At that rate, Singapore businesses simply can't afford to keep their sights solely focused on the local market.

I live in Singapore but I also love spending time in Hong Kong and Shanghai. My business is global, and my fastest growing market is China and Hong Kong. I have found that people I visit and know tend to love one city over the others.