MEDIA STORIES THAT MADE HISTORY FOR SIM IN page. Leading thoughts imprint. At Inflexion Point

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1 MEDIA STORIES THAT MADE HISTORY FOR SIM IN 2013 MCI(P) 116/12/2013 page page Deepening our Providing greater Recognising our Leading thoughts imprint opportunities achievers and trends page page At Inflexion Point IN 2013, SIM as a group scaled new heights with a slew of significant milestones. The capstone of our achievements was the appointment of SIM University (UniSIM) as Singapore s third Law School, in a series of announcements and endorsements helmed by Minister for Education Mr Heng Swee Keat and Minister for Law Mr K Shanmugam. UniSIM s announcements of its full-time programmes also made headlines. SIM Global Education (SIM GE), on the other hand, also had a good year. It retained its reigning status as the leading private educational institution (PEI) in Singapore. It was voted Best Private School for the fifth consecutive year in the AsiaOne People s Choice Awards and its students continued to make waves for their academic and sporting achievements. Providing greater opportunities SIM s dogged pursuit to fulfill its core mission of building Singapore s manpower through quality training and education has received strong support and endorsement. Such endorsement is strongly reflected in the increased interest from educational, industry and professional bodies to partner us in our mission. These partnerships provided or enhanced learning platforms for the entire spectrum of learners, from students to professionals, managers and executives (PMEs). Highlights included the collaboration between SIM Interest Groups and the APF Group to promote entrepreneurship amongst small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), a partnership between UniSIM and People s Association to sponsor degrees for grassroots leaders, and an agreement between UniSIM and the Singapore Table Tennis Association to offer scholarships for young national paddlers. Recognising our achievers SIM GE s ongoing commitment to providing its students with a holistic and rich campus life, unmatched by other PEIs, continued to bear fruit. From First Class honours to entrepreneurship and sporting prowess, the success stories of SIM GE students and alumni were featured in the media. Leading thoughts and trends UniSIM and SIM GE academics firmly established themselves as experts in their own right, lending credence to SIM and also reflecting on the entities growing stature. In comparison to 2012, significantly more commentaries by faculty members were featured in the local media and they were also quoted for their opinions on topics of national interest such as the economy, manpower, transport, education, environmental sustainability, aged care and population integration. Other opinion leadership coverage included the BT-UniSIM Business Climate Survey, SIM SME Survey, SIM Annual Management Lecture and various other speaking platforms organised by SIM Professional Development and Membership Services. SIM PAGE 1 January December 2013

2 Deepening OUR ImPRint Breaking new grounds I Raising the bar of excellence THE NEW PAPER Wednesday, April 24, 2013 SIM Global Education, POSB card win AsiaOne awards by Audrey Kang IT HAS won the Best Private School award at AsiaOne People s Choice Awards, five years in a row. Yesterday, SIM Global Education was honoured with the Hall of Fame award for winning the award consecutively for five years, including this year. It is the first year that the Hall of Fame award has been introduced since the awards started in The AsiaOne People s Choice Awards gives its readers the power to decide which brands, products and services are worthy of recognition. There were more than 200 nominees for the 27 award categories. Categories such as Best Full Service Airline, Best Tablet and Best Mobile Phone got the most votes from readers. The POSB Everyday Card also clinched the Hall of Fame award for having won the Best Credit/Debit Card award for the past five years, including this year. Ms Judy Wong, director of business and marketing relations for SIM Global Education, said: (We re) definitely surprised, we didn t expect this at all. (We re) happy that the students have continued to support us. What s most important to us is the fundamental concept of focusing on what students want, she said. Nervous We were really surprised and nervous (because) this is the fifth year we won (Best Private School) and we thought the students might have got tired of showing their support (for the school). She said that students were alerted about the school s nomination and that it served as feedback about what the students think about the school. AsiaOne People s Choice Award this year also included categories such as The Top Three Shopping Malls in Town, won by VivoCity, which beat Ion Orchard and Plaza Singapura audkang@sph.com.sg WINNING: Ms Judy Wong, Director of Business and Marketing Relations for SIM Global Education, at the AsiaOne People s Choice Awards last night. (C) Singapore Press Holdings Limited THE STRAITS TIMES Saturday, July 27, 2013 UniSIM s part-time degrees a draw by Sandra Davie Senior Education Correspondent Good reputation, specialised courses and subsidies create strong demand PART-TIME degree courses at SIM University (UniSIM) are more popular than ever. The school received 5,700 applications in January and last month, pushing enrolment to more than 13,000, up from 11,000 just two years ago. The number is expected to hit 14,000 by 2015, even as UniSIM plans for full-time degree programmes. UniSIM president Cheong Hee Kiat attributes the demand for its part-time courses, which are geared towards working adults, to generous tuition fee subsidies. Singaporeans who pursue a parttime degree at the private UniSIM get a 55 per cent Government subsidy, as do part-time students in the country s publicly-funded universities. This means a student enrolled in a three-year course which costs $30,000 would end up paying just $13,500. Singaporean workers want to upgrade their skills and knowledge to better their job prospects, said Professor Cheong. The MOE s subsidy adds to that push. He said another draw is the specialised courses UniSIM offers, along with the school s growing reputation for quality. Many of its 55 courses, ranging from counselling to aviation maintenance, are accredited by professional bodies. Its popular accountancy degree, for instance, is recognised by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra). This will help a graduate register as a public accountant here. UniSIM also ensures its courses have relevance to the job market, and appeal to students. Before launching a new programme, university officials study academic and market trends. Prof Cheong said: For example, we discovered that the local universities don t offer counselling degrees despite the demand for them, so we moved into this area a few years ago. Importantly, the university has found through employment surveys that its graduates enjoyed better job prospects and salaries after getting their degrees. That is something that current students, such as Ms Siti Fairuz Muztar, are hoping for. The 24-year-old senior quality assurance officer with NTUC FairPrice, who is in her second year of a UniSIM business degree, said: I feel that increasingly you need a degree to go further in your career. Mr Randy Tan, 25, a polytechnic graduate who works as an events manager, enrolled in UniSIM s business analytics programme after he failed to get into the local universities. The course trains students to analyse business data and pick up on trends. I do think there is value in working and studying at the same time as you can apply it directly to your job, he said. Plus UniSIM is also gaining recognition for its quality so it should help my promotion prospects. Last year, the Education Ministry announced that UniSIM, which was set up in 2006, and the Singapore Institute of Technology will expand their programmes to offer more places. UniSIM is also looking to add fulltime degrees, as well as offer programmes combining job attachments with study. sandra@sph.com.sg Prof Cheong says UniSIM studies academic and market trends before launching a new course SIM PAGE 2 January December 2013

3 DEEPENING OUR IMPRINT zaobao SUNDAY Sunday, May 5, 2013 大专院校亮名牌 底牌竞争 大学教育发展欣欣向荣 迈入21世纪 新加坡大专教育景观全新 除了增设第三和第四所公立大学 新加坡 国立大学和南洋理工大学也同英美学府合作设立新学院 新加坡科技学院和新跃大 学则将在不久之后加入公立大学行列 为莘莘学子提供更多升学选择 大专教育迅速发展 欣欣向荣盛景可有隐忧暗藏 英国公共政策研究所在今年3月刊登了题为 An Avalanche is Coming ( 雪崩来 了 ) 的报告 由前英国首相府顾问巴伯 (Barber) 出版集团培生 (Pearson) 的执 行董事唐纳利 (Donnelly) 及利兹比 (Rizvi) 联合执笔的这份报告指出 随着全球经济转型 科技日新月异和学习模式的蜕变 全球高等教育正面临前所未 有的革命 雪崩 真会出现吗 雪崩 的时候 本地大学是否都做好了准备 本报访问聆听了各大院校校长 学者 在籍学生 雇主以及公众的意见 尝试了解 大势所趋 根 据国际劳工组织的数据 全球目前有7380万个15 岁至34岁的青年没有工作 去年 全球青年的失 业率高达12.6 估计到了2017可能会上升到12.9 报 告 An Avalanche is Coming 雪崩来了 认为 青 年失业率偏高的情况不仅凸显全球经济委靡对劳动力市 场所造成的冲击 在一定程度上也反映了高等教育和就 业市场需求的失调 报告点出 大学接下来的主要挑战是如何缩小传授 理论和培养实践经验的差距 以继续协助学生实现就业 理想 对此 国大校长陈祝全教授受访时说 国际形势固 然会对大学教育产生影响 但在讨论相关课题时也不应 忽略个别国家与地区的情形 以亚洲为例 经济增长和 就业展望相对乐观 在经济转型的过程中 本区域对大 专生的需求会继续增加 陈祝全说 关键是如何加强大学教育 满足短期 工作需求 同时让毕业生打下基础 日后在不同的领域 保持就业竞争力 树立独特品牌保持优势 本地大专学府普遍以几个方式与企业保持联系 例 如 业界代表组成的咨询团为课程提供建议 大学也 鼓励学生到国内或海外的企业实习 让学生累积实战经 验 20世纪综合型大学 (general university) 崛起 但迈入新 纪元 除了少数的精英学府有能力以 不变应万变 的 姿态迎接新挑战 其他学府必须通过树立独特品牌来继 续保持优势 雪崩来了 报告就指出 新加坡的升大学渠道委员 会似乎已经意识到开辟更多元学位课程是为大学教育保 值的策略 委员会因此建议政府拓展应用型 (applied) 大 学教育 把每年新增学额逐步上调到2020年的3000个 即将升格为大学的科技学院正是提供应用型高等教育 的学府 院长陈添顺教授说 这份报告让他深刻地体会 到 科技学院作为一所新型学府 必须采纳与传统大学 不同的发展模式 把满足业界需求视为首要任务 因 此 科技学院只会考虑开办具有 长期和强劲 企业需 求的课程 新跃大学朝 终身学习 模式发展 同样以实践教育著称的新跃大学 目标是朝 终身学 习高等教育伙伴 的模式发展 新跃大学校长张起杰教授指出 大学无须局限在仅提供学位课程的 框框 大学也可以和企业合作 辅 助企业强化延续教育与培训机制 为人们制造更多 活到老 学到 老 的机会 是否能满足职场需求固然是高等 教育的一项关键指标 但不应成为 大学的终极目标 新加坡管理大学 校长 简称新大 迪枚晔教授提醒 说 大学生应该研究文化 传 统 道德等深奥的知识 以及学习 如何思考 大学不只是提供专业培 训的学院 大型开放式网络课程受欢迎 这 两年迅速崛起的大型开放式网络课程 (Massive Open Online Courses, 简称MOOC 被视为冲击大学 教育的重要趋势 以美国公司Coursera为例 它自2011年成立以来 已 同包括国大在内的美国30多所学府建立了伙伴关系 在 网络平台提供200多个免费课程 目前的登记用户有100 万人 雪崩来了 报告认为 MOOC用户持续增加 会直接影响大学垄断高等教育的格局 新大校长 MOOC目前有三大劣势 为了了解MOOC 新大校长迪枚晔教授今年初报读了 一项课程 他形容网上学习的体验蛮 有趣 迪枚晔 认为 MOOC确实能鞭策大学讲师改进课程 但这种网 上资源会否比大学教育更受欢迎还言之过早 在他看来 与大学教育相比 MOOC目前有三大劣 势 没有推动使用者完成课程的机制 无法良好评估使 用者的学习进度 以及未设有公认的认证框架 此外 实体大学 同侪学习氛围 的最大优势 MOOC也无法 营造 南大制定战略蓝图 虽然如此 多媒体资源越来越丰富已引起大学重新思 考学习方式 南大副教务长 本科教育 甘灿兴教授受 访时说 大学日前推出名为 南大教育 的战略蓝图 蓝图其中一个目标就是逐步引进 翻转课室 (flipped classroom) 的教学模式 翻转课室 指的是学生在上课前通过翻阅多媒体讲 义了解课程的基本理论 之后教授利用课堂时间解答学 生疑问等 进行其他促进学习的活动 大学教育津贴 VS 教育券 目 前 大学的主要经费来源是政府为学生提供的学 费津贴 教育部答复本报询问时说 公民在公立大学修读本科 学位的费用获得政府75 的津贴 津贴比率在过去五年 至10年维持不变 不过 在高等教育日益国际化 私校和其他教育机构 冒起的当儿 报告 雪崩来了 质疑这样的资助模式是 否限制了学生的选择 美国一些地区实行 教育券 制 政府把投入学院的 经费折成教育券 发放给家庭或学生 让学生凭教 育券选择政府认可的学校就读 抵消学费 张起杰说 教育券的概念吸引人 但在操作上 存在许多困难 他解释 教育券若要发挥最大的成 效 应该允许学生自由选择修读的课程 但是市场 选择多样化 当中难免水平参差不齐 另外 若有 太多人报读受欢迎的课程 也会导致某个领域的毕 业生出现供过于求的问题 这并非有效使用公款的 方式 新跃大学校长张起杰教授希望年轻一代能 对生命抱持 学海无涯 的心态 雇主和学生 应扮演更积极的角色 传 统上 企业是大专教育学府的主要 顾客 报 告 雪崩来了 形容 不满毕业生工作表现的雇 主 不应只抱怨或冷漠旁观 而是要积极向大学反映业 界的确切需求 受访的企业指出 本地大学其实和企业有良好的联 系 企业一般会通过提供实习机会或参加就业讲座和展 览 助大学生为将来踏入职场做好准备 有企业希望能 进一步促进与大学的合作 花旗新加坡人力资源主任蔡秀青举例说 为了加强 毕业生对交易服务的认识 公司今年就同国大商学院联 手推出相关的课程 美国电力器材制造商Cummins是另一家参与国大环 球实习与指导计划的伙伴 招聘经理 东北和东南亚 陈慧敏认为 大学可以考虑设立常年的对话平台 让企 业代表可以定时为大学 献计 加强课程的实用性 学生 争取进入 适合自己 的院校 当大专教育景观更多元 要报考大学的学生更应该 掌握选择的自主权 争取进入 适合 自己的院校 科技学院院长陈添顺建议学子 了解自己的长处和 SIM 学习风格 以挑选能助他们发挥最大潜质的学府 莱佛士书院毕业生陈垣伉 23岁 和萧文 21岁 A 水准成绩优异 可报读本地任何一所大学 但两人 大 胆 地选择了新加坡科技设计大学 简称新科大 成 为首批新生 为了进入这所由美国麻省理工学院和浙江 大学联合打造的新型学府 陈垣伉得说服母亲放下顾 虑 萧文则在毕业后花了一年多的时间等待学校开课 陈垣伉说 到新科大是希望能遇到志同道合的同 学 他们不仅仅只是为了 啃书 而念大学 新跃大学在籍生林艾琳 45岁 和欧俐馪 40岁 是热衷学习的例子 两人有全职工作 这几年来都以半 工半读的方式修读学士学位课程 原本只有高中学历的 林艾琳从事采购工作十多年 因为想在事业上继续冲 刺 所以决定再当学生 工程师欧俐馪持有硕士学位 一向对语言深感兴趣的她报读翻译及传译课程 欧俐馪这样总结 中年 返校的收获 自己累积 的知识 别人带不走 这就是终身学习的好处 对不同 的事物有更深刻的认识 不但能拓展视野 心胸也会变 得更开阔 PAGE 3 新跃大学在籍生林艾琳 左 和欧俐馪是全职工作妇女 过去 几年都以半工半读的方式修读学士学位课程 陈福洲摄 January December 2013

4 TODAY Wednesday, October 16, 2013 Shanmugam welcomes announcement of Singapore s third law school in UniSIM by S Ramesh SINGAPORE Minister for Law K Shanmugam has welcomed the announcement that SIM University (UniSIM) will be hosting the country s third law school. In May, I welcomed the recommendations of the 4th Committee on the Supply of Lawyers, wrote Mr Shanmugam on his Facebook page. One of the key recommendations made was the need to establish a new law school to focus on training prospective lawyers keen to practise criminal and matrimonial law, he said. He added that it would also provide Singaporeans interested in a career in the law with more opportunities and a new pathway to fulfil their career aspirations. Meanwhile, Dean of the National University of Singapore s Law Faculty Simon Chesterman said he looks forward to working with his counterparts at UniSIM to strengthen and deepen legal education in Singapore. Professor Chesterman said the new programme will increase options for Singaporean students with a passion for law, and help ensure access to justice for all. The third law school is expected to take in 75 students. CHANNEL NEWSASIA Minister for Law K Shanmugam has welcomed the announcement that SIM University (UniSIM) will be hosting the country s third law school. PHOTO: OOI BOON KEONG THE STRAITS TIMES Thursday, October 17, 2013 UniSIM picked to host S pore s 3rd law school by Sandra Davie Senior Education Correspondent and Ian Poh Part-time degree course to focus on criminal and matrimonial law SINGAPORE S only private university, SIM University (UniSIM), has been picked to host the third law school. The part-time undergraduate degree course, which will open in the next few years, is expected to take in about 75 students. While it will be a general law degree, there will be a strong focus on the specialist practice areas of criminal and matrimonial law to address the shortage of lawyers in these fields. Setting itself apart from the two existing law schools, the course will be geared towards attracting mid-career professionals who want to make law their new career. They may include paralegals, social workers and law enforcement officers. The law schools at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Management University (SMU) target mainly students who have just completed their A-level examination. Education Minister Heng Swee Keat made the announcement yesterday at UniSIM s convocation ceremony. Mr Heng said that in selecting UniSIM, the Government considered its strong track record in providing degree programmes for working adults, and its complementary offerings in the social sciences and humanities. It is envisaged that this third law school will have a strong applied curriculum, he said. The Ministry of Law will work with UniSIM to develop the school s programmes in consultation with the legal industry. Referring to the upcoming school, Law Minister K. Shanmugam wrote in a Facebook post: It will provide Singaporeans interested in a career in the law more opportunities and a new pathway to fulfil their career aspirations. Plans to set up a third law school were announced by Mr Shanmugam in May. It was one of the recommendations made by a committee formed to review the supply of lawyers here. Lawyers welcomed news that Singapore s third law school will be hosted at UniSIM. However, they pointed out some issues that need to be addressed, such as ensuring that the school can secure the resources to distinguish itself from the two existing ones. Criminal lawyer Josephus Tan suggested that there be some sort of mechanism to ensure that graduates from the school actually practise criminal and family law. Lawyer Raphael Louis, who worked as a counsellor for 13 years before practising community law, is concerned that the new school could eventually lead to an oversupply of lawyers. Graduates from this school will have to fight for limited places at smaller firms, since the top or bigger law firms do not focus mainly on community law. How will they all be able to start to practise? NUS and SMU were supportive of the new school. NUS law dean Simon Chesterman said: I would see the school as complementing what we do rather than competing with us. SMU law dean Yeo Tiong Min said he saw that all three law schools would look to differentiate themselves in terms of research and teaching focus. NUS takes in about 250 students a year, while SMU takes in about 120 students. sandra@sph.com.sg pohian@sph.com.sg SIM PAGE 4 January December 2013

5 DEEPENING OUR imprint CHANNEL NEWSASIA Monday, October 21, 2013 Job placement and flexibility emphasised in new UniSIM programmes by Sharon See Students in SIM University s new full-time degree programmes can convert to a part-time course if they find a job during their course. SINGAPORE: Students in SIM University s (UniSIM) full-time degree programmes will be able to switch to a part-time course if they find a job while studying. Such flexibility is a key feature of the university s new full-time programmes, which are slated to start next year. UniSIM has been offering part-time degree programmes since 2005, and it is drawing on that experience in its first foray into full-time programmes. The university is taking in 120 students for its Accountancy course and 80 students for the other two courses in Finance and Marketing. Finance and Marketing students will have to take a compulsory minor in areas such as Analytics, Psychology and Communications. These classes will be taken in the evenings together with part-time students. Professor Cheong Hee Kiat, president of SIM University, elaborated: First, we want to offer as many disciplines in the minors as possible and these are all located in our part-time selections. Secondly and more importantly, by getting our full-time students to do the courses in the part-time, they will actually be interacting with people who are already from the industry. And this mix of students fresh from school and those who come from industry will be mutually beneficial. It is not one way the fresh school leavers will benefit from those with experience, and those with experience will be able to experience the youthfulness of thinking and maybe get new ideas also from those who come fresh from school. That idea appeals to one prospective student Channel NewsAsia spoke to. Tavence Heng said: They are able to share with the students about their working life, so that helps to broaden the perspective of the lecturers and students itself, so that is an edge up against other universities. Mr Heng added that he is drawn to the university s industrial links. Professor Cheong said the university has got about 50 employers on board 14 of which are audit firms to offer 24-week work attachment pro- grammes to UniSIM students. The university said flexibility is a key feature of its full-time programmes. For example, students can choose to earn their degrees between three and six years. They can even choose to do more than one 24-week attachment to find out what career best suits them. Professor Cheong said: If the student finds that the work he is doing is really meaningful, and the employer finds the student very suitable, they could actually make an agreement that the employer actually employs the student on a full-time basis, and then we will allow the student to finish his degree programme on a part-time basis with the rest of our part-time students. Having overseas experience is also compulsory in order to graduate from UniSIM s full-time degree programme, and students can do this through work attachments, community projects and exchange programmes. The university will start taking applications at the the end of the year. It expects to offer half of its places to A Level applicants, and the other half to diploma holders. The university said its admission process will involve a few phases where applicants need to write an essay after viewing a video clip, and they would have to go for group and individual interviews. CNA/fa/ms The Straits Times Tuesday, October 22, 2013 Flexibility key to UniSIM s full-time courses by Sandra Davie Senior Education Correspondent Students can opt to finish courses earlier, or switch to study part-time FLEXIBILITY will be a defining feature of SIM University s (UniSIM) new full-time courses when they kick off next year. The pioneer batch of 200 students can crunch a four-year course into three years by taking more modules during a semester, even through evening classes. And if students land a job during their course, they have the option of switching to part- time studies and taking up to six years to earn their degree. UniSIM president Cheong Hee Kiat, who stressed the flexible nature of the three new full-time courses in finance, marketing and accountancy as he detailed them yesterday, said: In the future, the boundaries between parttime and full-time and work and study will not be clear-cut. You will have workers alternating between periods of work and study. It s not like today where you study for four years and then go out to work. There will be no lectures and tutorials. Instead, students will read materials and listen to lectures online before coming to class ready to take part in discussions. They will also study minor modules such as psychology and sociology in evening classes alongside working adults on part-time degree courses. Explaining why the university wants its full-timers to study alongside its part-timers, which currently number 13,000 in some 55 courses ranging from counselling to aviation management, Professor Cheong said: The interaction would help them develop a deeper understanding of real work issues, and allow them to form valuable professional and personal networks. Real work experience will also feature heavily through a structured six-month work attachment. Final-year students will have to complete a project based on a work-related issue, and be required to spend at least 80 hours organising a community service project. Prof Cheong noted that more than 50 companies, among them 14 accounting firms, have already signed up to offer work attachments to UniSIM students. Singapore National Employers Federation executive director Koh Juan Kiat is not surprised at the numbers, saying it is a win-win situation for students and companies. It benefits the students in that they get to try out different jobs. For the companies, it is a very good recruitment tool. UniSIM provost Tsui Kai Chong said applications for the 120 places in accountancy, and 40 places each in marketing and finance will open in December. Students will be selected based on not just academic results, but also other attributes such as voluntary work. About 400 will be shortlisted, and they will be required to write an essay, and undergo group and one-toone interviews. Full-time national serviceman Tavence Heng, 21, who is already eyeing a place in UniSIM s finance degree course, said the draw for him is the intensive job preparation that the course will provide. The polytechnic graduate, who holds an engineering with business diploma, said: I also like the idea of a degree route which is flexible. According to UniSIM, fees for its full-time courses will be comparable BLURRING BOUNDARIES In the future, the boundaries between part-time and fulltime and work and study will not be clear-cut. You will have workers alternating between periods of work and study. It s not like today where you study for four years and then go out to work. UniSIM president Cheong Hee Kiat to what the National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University charge for their general degrees. The Public Service Division, the civil service s human resource arm, also told The Straits Times yesterday that it will recognise UniSIM s full-time degrees, just as it does the part-time ones. sandra@sph.com.sg SIM PAGE 5 January December 2013

6 BERITA HARIAN Tuesday, October 22, 2013 UniSIM perkenal 3 program sarjana muda sepenuh masa by Nurul Ain Razali SEKILAS TIGA IJAZAH SARJANA MUDA SEPENUH MASA PERINTIS UNIVERSITI SIM (UniSIM) Ijazah-ijazah kepujian yang ditawarkan: Bidang perakaunan Bidang kewangan Bidang pemasaran Pendaftaran: Disember 2013 hingga 15 April Pemohon harus mengisi borang dalam talian serta menghantarkan esei untuk dinilai menerusi laman UniSIM (www. unisim.edu.sg). Kelas Bermula: Ogos 2014 KRITERIA KELAYAKAN Pemohon akan disenarai pendek berdasarkan kelayakan akademik, dan mereka yang berjaya terpilih kemudian dinilai mengikut pencapaian bukan akademik atau ciri-ciri di luar lingkungan pelajaran. Sesiapa yang ingin memasuki tiga program ijazah sarjana muda UniSIM yang baru itu haruslah memiliki sekurangkurangnya: BERTEMU MESRA: Provost UniSIM, Profesor Tsui Kai Chong (kiri); dan Presiden UniSIM, Profesor Cheong Hee Kiat; menemui calon pemohon ijazah baru universiti swasta itu, Encik Tavence Heng (tengah), dalam sidang media di kampus SIM, Clementi Road, semalam. FOTO SIM Pendaftaran secara dalam talian dibuka mulai Disember ini PARA pelajar kini mempunyai pilihan lebih luas melanjutkan pelajaran ke peringkat ijazah sarjana muda dengan kepujian menjelang Ogos Selain universiti setempat seperti Universiti Nasional Singapura (NUS) dan Universiti Teknologi Nanyang (NTU) yang menawarkan program ijazah sarjana muda sepenuh masa, Universiti Institut Pengurusan Singapura (UniSIM) kini mengenalkan tiga program ijazah sedemikian dalam kampusnya yang terletak di Clementi Road itu. Tiga ijazah tersebut ialah ijazah sarjana muda bidang perakaunan, kewangan dan pemasaran. Siswa bidang kewangan dan pemasaran boleh memilih antara pelbagai bidang pengkhususan, misalnya bidang perhubungan, psikologi dan sosiologi. Pendaftaran secara dalam talian akan dimulakan Disember ini dan berakhir 15 April tahun depan. Ketiga-tiga ijazah tersebut merupakan program sarjana muda sepenuh masa perintis tawaran UniSIM, yang lazimnya menawarkan kursus ijazah sarjana muda, ijazah peringkat possiswazah dan diploma bagi golongan possiswazah secara sambilan. Seramai 200 siswa akan diterima masuk dalam ketiga-tiga program tersebut yang bakal dimulakan pada Ogos tahun depan. Pengumuman tersebut dilakukan pihak UniSIM menerusi sidang media yang diadakan di kampus Clementi semalam. Presiden UniSIM, Profesor Cheong Hee Kiat, berkata program UniSIM lain daripada program ijazah sarjana muda biasa kerana ia dilengkapi latihan profesional dan sosial agar lulusannya menyerlah. Lulusan UniSIM kelak adalah golongan profesional yang berkemahiran tinggi dalam bidang masing-masing, serta mampu menjalankan tugas dengan berkesan. Mereka golongan individu yang terdorong menyuntik perbezaan dalam masyarakat dan pelajar sepanjang hayat yang beretika serta berpedoman, ujar Profesor Cheong. Pengumuman tersebut sejajar gesaan Perdana Menteri, Encik Lee Hsien Loong, sewaktu melancarkan University Town (UTown) NUS minggu lalu. Encik Lee berkata usaha mempertingkat pendidikan tinggi bukan sekadar menambah tempat di universiti malah menyediakan pendidikan yang boleh mempersiap penuntut dengan kemahiran yang relevan dan membantu mereka mendapatkan pekerjaan yang baik. Menurut kenyataan UniSIM, perbezaan ijazah mereka ialah mereka membolehkan pelajar menyertai program bekerja sambil belajar selama 24 minggu yang dibangunkan bersama majikan. Ijazah tersebut pun mengikut sistem modul dan boleh disesuaikan mengikut keperluan pelajar. Mereka boleh belajar dalam tempoh empat hingga enam tahun atau tukarkan kepada pelajaran sambilan jika mereka terima tawaran pekerjaan waktu belajar. Provos UniSIM, Profesor Tsui Kai Chong, berkata ongkos ijazah- ijazah tersebut dibiayai pemerintah sama seperti ijazah NUS dan NTU. Berkenaan peluang pekerjaan, Profesor Sui menjelaskan bahawa lulusan bidang perakaunan, kewangan dan pemasaran mempunyai masa depan kerjaya yang baik. Beliau turut akur pihak majikan mungkin memiliki dasar pengambilan kerja tersendiri, namun ijazah sarjana muda UniSIM tidak rendah kedudukannya berbanding universiti berautonomi lain di sini. Pengambilan kerja bagi para pemegang ijazah bergantung pada beberapa faktor, misalnya keadaan ekonomi dan bidang itu sendiri. Lulusan ijazah sepenuh masa UniSIM dijangka mempunyai peluang pengambilan kerja yang dipertingkat, memandangkan mereka dilatih secara amali menerusi program mereka dan terdapat juga bahagian lain, seperti tempoh bekerja sambil belajar, yang menarik perhatian majikan, ujar Profesor Tsui. nrazali@sph.com.sg Aspek Akademik sijil peperiksaan GCE peringkat A ; atau diploma politeknik setempat; atau diploma International Baccalaureate (IB); atau diploma Diploma Sekolah NUS High; atau kelayakan setaraf, dilengkapi keputusan SAT1 Aspek Luar Lingkungan Akademik ciri-ciri peribadi, umpamanya kemahiran berhubungan, ciri kepimpinan, bakat istimewa dan pengalaman bekerja. sumbangan kepada masyarakat atau khidmat kepada orang lain. Pemohon juga dikehendaki melalui sesi temuduga secara persendirian serta berkumpulan sekitar tiga minggu setelah pendaftaran diterima. KRITERIA KELULUSAN Setelah melalui pendidikan di UniSIM selama empat hingga enam tahun, para siswa akan lulus pengajian jika mereka memenuhi kriteria berikut: Program perakaunan: 140 unit kredit (CU) Program kewangan dan pemasaran: 100 CU dan 40 CU (bagi modul pengkhususan). Semua program: 60 CU modul teras, projek, kursus bersepadu, tempoh latihan sambil bekerja selama 24 minggu (enam bulan), pembelajaran bidang khidmat kemasyarakatan selama 80 jam, pengalaman luar negara, bengkel kemahiran hidup serta pembangunan pasukan dan portfolio elektronik SIM PAGE 6 January December 2013

7 DEEPENING OUR IMPRINT Today Tuesday, October 22, 2013 Three-part admission process for new UniSIM courses by Ng Jing Yng S INGAPORE Securing a spot in one of SIM University s (UniSIM) new full-time degree programmes next year will mean passing a three-part admission process watching a video and submitting an essay about it, followed by one-on-one and group interviews, and concluding with a reflection essay. This helps the university get to know a student better, and also mirrors the school s pedagogy requiring students to go to classes prepared with some work done, said UniSIM Provost Tsui Kai Chong yesterday as he laid out the details of the three programmes in accountancy, marketing and finance at a media conference. Education Minister Heng Swee Keat announced last week that UniSIM and the Singapore Institute of Technology will begin taking in 200 students each for their full-time degree programmes next year, as part of the Government s plan to provide more university places for Singaporean students. UniSIM s inaugural batch will offer 80 places in the finance and marketing programmes, and 120 places for accountancy courses which reflect an increasingly services-oriented economy, Professor Tsui said. Places will be split between A-Level students and diploma holders, and possibly those with other qualifications. The provost said applicants will be first shortlisted based on grades and non-academic skills like leadership. He did not give a clear weightage to either criterion, but noted that it will place very serious consideration on the latter category. We would prefer now to assemble a class where people care not for themselves alone, but care for each other, for society at large, he added. A UniSIM spokesperson said that the entire admission procedure will take less than four weeks. UniSIM President Cheong Hee Kiat reiterated that flexibility will be a key feature of its full-time courses, where students can take any time between three to six years to graduate. For instance, students can choose to speed things up by taking the evening classes that are part of the part-time courses. If they are offered a job mid-way through their studies, they can switch to studying part-time. Currently, the maximum candidature for an honours degree course at the National University of Singapore is five years, while Nanyang Technological University allows students in several full-time engineering programmes to opt for part-time studies. The Singapore Management University also permits undergraduates to graduate in six years if they need more time for certain modules or to complete their double degree. Prof Tsui noted that while other local universities also offer business degrees, UniSIM s full-time finance and marketing undergraduates will be able to minor in psychology and analytics, among other disciplines drawing on the school s existing capabilities in the social sciences. These minor programmes also allow students to interact with part-time students who are working adults, so that they can gain an industry perspective. The school will also structure the work attachment experience with clear learning outcomes, such that students come away learning about subject material, (learning) how to deal with other people, about the business, (and) the student will function as an employee within the company, he said. All students will have to complete a project centred on a work issue as well as 80 hours of service learning in order to graduate. In the meantime, UniSIM has at least 14 auditing firms including the Big Four: Deloitte, Ernst and Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers and 38 other businesses on board as work attachment partners. Some 12 faculty members, including PhD holders from Harvard and Cambridge, have also been recruited. UniSIM eventually plans to have more than 100 faculty members for its fulltime programmes. University-bound students TODAY spoke to welcomed having more choices. Singapore Polytechnic graduate Tavence Heng, 21, felt that strong links to the workplace makes UniSIM s full-time finance courses attractive. Final-year Raffles Institution student Darren Foo, 18, said students value hands-on education opportunities, but noted that, compared to other local institutions, UniSIM s reputation is not as established, and this will be among his considerations. NANYANG SIANG PAU Tuesday, October 29, 2013 新加坡新跃大学 明年推行弹性学时制 新 加坡新跃大学 SIM University 明年起推出弹性的全时间课程 允 许学生在3年至6年内完成学业 所有学 生在毕业前需实习至少24周 以及完成 至少参与80个小时服务学习的规定 与 当地其他学府的学士课程相比下将更灵 活 选择一门副修 据当地媒体报道 跃大目前只开办部 分时间课程 惟随着教育部长王瑞杰出 席毕业典礼时宣布 跃大明年开始推出 会计 金融和市场学科的全时间学士课 程 从2014年开始 分别提供120个会计 课程及80个金融和市场学科的学额 主 MY PAPER Tuesday, October 22, 2013 新加坡新跃大学明年起推弹性上课 可让学生在3至6年内完成学业 FULL-TIME UNISIM DEGREE OVER 3-6 YEARS S OME 200 students who enrol for full-time SIM University degree courses next year can take as few as three years or up to six years to complete their studies, said UniSIM president Cheong Hee Kiat (left). They can complete their degrees more quickly by taking more courses each semester or additional classes in the evenings, The Straits Times reported. 修后两门专业的学生可从心理学 分析 学 社会学等课程选择一门副修 负责规划全时间课程的跃大副校长 学术 徐继宗教授向媒体解说 推出这 三门课程主要基于其他公立大学已设有 商业管理学科 新跃大学因此选择推出 更专门的课程 另外 随着新加坡经济 的转型 市场日后对金融服务专才的需 求也会越来越大 新国政府去年接纳升大学渠道委员会 的建议 计划通过拓展应用型大学教育 助更多人圆大学梦 配合这个方针 跃 大的新课程将强调职场实践价值 在策 划新课程当儿 校方会继续与企业联手 制定更系统化的实习计划 让学生如正 式员工般 累积实战经验 可做不同职业尝试 跃大容许学生用更长的时间完成课程 所需 是希望学生在毕业前能有更多时 SIM PAGE 7 间做不同的职业尝试 跃大校长张起杰 教授举例 学生可以选择延长实习时间 或到不只一家企业实习 若他们在实习 的过程中受到雇主青睐 在毕业前就获 得聘用 他们也能选择以半工半读的方 式完成学业 跃大将在年底开放新课程的报名 有 意申请的学生必须拥有A水准毕业证书 新加坡理工学院专业文凭 国际中学文 凭 IB 国大数理中学文凭或其他同 等学历证书 并附上学能评估测验一 SAT1 的成绩 校方在进行第一轮的甄选过程时 还 会考虑申请者的其他专长以及他对社会 所做出的贡献 顺利通过第一轮遴选的 学生过后还要提交两份文章和经历小组 及个人面试 校方尚未确定新课程的收费 但校方 表示跃大的学费 将和新加坡国立大学 的商科学费不相上下 January December 2013

8 HRM SINGAPORE Issue 13.7 I SUPPLEMENT Professional Development The future of L&D by Vivien Shiao Shufen With competition getting stiffer and the talent crunch worsening, employers need to ensure their staff are adequately equipped to navigate through the uncertain economy. HRM examines some of the latest professional development courses on offer IN TODAY S fast paced economy, companies that remain static will ultimately lose out. To keep the competitive edge razor sharp, it is crucial for workers to be continually trained and developed, honing both their soft and hard skills. More and more, a highly groomed talent pool is the key to ongoing success. Companies are starting to see the importance of investing in their employees professional development, says Arthur Chiang, Assistant Director Learning, Curriculum and Design, Kaplan Professional. Similarly, employees are increasingly relating job satisfaction with professional development opportunities. However, companies in Singapore seem to be putting training and development on the backburner. According to Randstad s recent Workmonitor Q survey, nearly half of companies (43%) in Singapore do not invest enough in staff training and education. In another survey by Ambition, 62.6% of workers did not think their companies were investing enough in their fields. More can be done to encourage Singapore companies to invest further in training and development in order to attract, nurture and retain talent, says Jason Law, Senior Manager of Management Development and Consultancy (MDC), the corporate training arm of the Management Development Institute of Singapore. Training trends Businesses in Singapore have traditionally put more emphasis on enhancing the technical skills of staff. However, with more studies showing that people skills are critical components in the long term success of any organisation, companies are now shifting their focus to other areas. Skill-sets in the areas of communication, critical thinking, mindset and motivation, and teamwork are the new focus areas, says Chiang. Companies also recognise the need to develop talents and groom leaders so they have also started to invest in leadership workshops. He adds that the notion of training itself is slowing making way to a preference for coaching. Chiang explains that training is inclined towards taking a directive approach, in which skills and knowledge are imparted from a more experienced person to a less experienced person, while coaching is about eliciting performance by tapping into the participant s potential. It is more holistic and transformative, and leads to greater performance sustainability, he notes. Vincent Yeo, Director Programme Management, SIM Professional Development also agrees that the coaching element is becoming more sought after, especially in the realm of leadership training. It caters to the sophistication needed to develop human capabilities in an uncertain global economy, he explains and the first half of 2013 saw a slight resurgence in the market for programmes related to people management skills, especially in the subject areas of communication and change management, he says. Other important and relevant programmes involve the provision of know-how in talent management and retention, building employee loyalty and labour productivity, as well as skills in managing and handling a multi-generational workforce. As the workforce in Singapore becomes better educated and qualified, workers are also starting to see the importance in upgrading themselves to stand out from the pack. There is anticipation of a significant upgrading of the Singaporean workforce towards professional and managerial jobs (and) the current trend sees more local companies providing career training for their staff. The latest trends steer toward professional development programmes such as executive training and life coaching, says Law. The tech touch According to the New Ambient Insight Report, the Asian e-learning market is expected to be worth US$11.5 billion by Law, of MDC, says there are three forces behind this rise in popularity. First, it is the massive content digitisation in school systems in every country of the region, he says. Second is the large-scale deployment of tablets in the academic segments creating a new delivery platform for suppliers. The third would be the explosive growth of online education enrolment. These three factors combined have built up a massive demand for packaged content. The future of learning has to stay in sync with the latest learning technologies, says Yeo. There is a need to leverage on learning portals integrating social and collaborative tools for access and packaging of knowledge, he explains. One emerging new type of training is blended learning, a combination e-learning platforms, social media, mobile applications and face-to-face facilitation. Rising in popularity in emerging markets like Indonesia and Malaysia, it features both formal and informal elements of learning, says Jeremy Blain, Regional Managing Director, Cegos Asia-Pacific. Blended learning focuses on how traditional forms training methods can be enhanced with technology enablement, something Blain says will be red-hot in the near future. We predict an explosion of formal and informal blended learning over the next couple of years, he says. Blended learning is growing particularly quickly in the Asia-Pacific region where business adaptation of new technology is fastest in the world. Face to face learning is still pre-dominant, and technology is not replacing that, Blain says. It merely completes the portfolio of learning solution for organisations and individuals to blend and suit their own preferences or as aligned with the organisation, says Blain. Chiang, from Kaplan, concurs that the human touch is still just as significant in learning in Asia today. With the new generation in the workforce becoming a lot more tech-savvy, there is greater inclination towards non face-to-face learning. Of course, to say that technology will totally replace the human educator is still quite a myth in this era, he says. Benefits Much has been said about the importance of learning and training for organisations across the economy, but few realise that the impact of learning and development often spills over to also have positive industry and sector-wide advantages. Apart from the common benefits, we also see training as a form of contribution to our (hospitality) industry which has been facing challenges in attracting and retaining talent, says Candice Lim, Director of HR, Ramada and Days Hotel at Zhongshan Park. This then builds the company s reputation within and out of its industry as a good trainer and therefore a choice employer. She adds that even if employees choose to leave the company for better opportunities, they take their training with them, contributing back to the industry in which they operate. If a former employee has been happy in their employment, he or she will likely return to the company, bringing an even greater wealth of experience and perspectives with them. Blended learning not yet gaining traction in Singapore A CCORDING to the Cegos 2012 Pan-Asian Pacific Survey, it is clear that classroom training does and will continue to play a crucial role in training in Asia. It found that 79% of Asian learners receive classroom training. Online learning is the second most popular learning tool, used by 58% of Asia. Blended learning is also on the increase in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Australia. However, only 17% of individual learners in Singapore are studying in this way. The survey findings reported that there is much talk and seeming commitment towards blended learning in Singapore, but this is not yet reflected in reality. In addition, training by smart phone and tablets is limited locally; and online learning has not yet been fully embraced. According to Carsten Rosenkranz, director of business development at e-learning service provider Knowledge Platform, only about 20% of the 500-plus companies registered on the Singapore Stock Exchange are using e-learning in an effective or advanced way. SIM PAGE 8 January December 2013

9 PROVIDing greater OPPORtunities Opening doors I Making waves The straits times Thursday, January 17, 2013 More competitors after windsurfing returns to Olympics by May Chen THE wind is back in the windsurfers sails after the sport was reinstated as an Olympic event, and it is evident in this year s SIM Singapore Open Asian Windsurfing Championships. Apart from more competitors at the four-day regatta starting today at the National Service Resort and Country Club Sea Sports Centre off the East Coast, at least half of the more than 100 sailors hail from overseas, including from regional powerhouses Hong Kong and Thailand. The number of foreign participants is a two-fold increase from last year s turnout. Said Timothy Khoo, president of the Windsurfing Association of Singapore: The mood of the event is great and there is a great sense of relief among the windsurfers. Every one is happy that the sport is safe for at least the next Olympic cycle. We would probably have seen a huge drop in numbers this time if windsurfing weren t an Olympic event. It s simple once the funding is cut, athletes don t get to compete. Windsurfing was initially dumped by the International Sailing Federation in favour of kiteboarding in May last year, but was reinstated six months later. It also helps that the Singapore regatta is acting as the Asian Championships event for the RS:One class, which will likely be competed at this year s SEA Games in Myanmar. The RS:One was introduced in 2011 as a feeder class to bridge the gap from youth boardsailing to the adult Olympic RS:X class. But Singapore s Youth Olympic bronze medallist Audrey Yong has her eyes on next year s Asian Games and has chosen to focus on the RS:X. The 18-year-old took a break from regular training for most of last year to focus on her studies as a first-year hotel and leisure facilities management student at the Singapore Polytechnic. She said: It s been quite tough working to get my fitness back again. I m just going to focus on having fun going out to race again. maychen@sph.com.sg AsiaOne Tuesday, March 19, 2013 New sponsorship degree for grassroots leaders The UniSIM sponsorship will cover up to 80% of total course fees for 5 PA grassroots leaders. SINGAPORE The People s Association and SIM University signed their second Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for academic collaboration on March 19. This MOU provides opportunities for five grassroots leaders to equip themselves academically, by the partial sponsorship of their continual education in any of the degree programmes offered by UniSIM. The sponsorship will cover up to 80 per cent of total course fees for five PA grassroots leaders (GRLs) each year, for a period of three years, for their Bachelor s degree programmes offered by UniSIM. The first MOU was signed on Feb 18 last year launching Singapore s first Master of Community Leadership and Social Development, which was aimed at meeting the growing need for trained expertise in this area amidst a fast changing social and cultural landscape in Singapore. Mr Yam Ah Mee, Chief Executive Director of PA, shared, UniSIM s sponsorship of their Bachelor Degree programmes for grassroots eaders not only recognises their hard work and dedication to the community but more importantly, it provides opportunities for them to continually improve their knowledge and skills in building greater social capital in the community. TODAY Tuesday, April 2, 2013 Tackling the manpower crunch in preschools Tertiary institutes offering programmes for early childhood educators will raise intakes by Ng Jing Yng SINGAPORE Tertiary institutes here offering training programmes for early childhood educators will be raising their intakes a move preschool operators felt would address the sector s perennial manpower crunch, even though some wondered if the expansion would be sufficient to meet the industry s expansion and demands. The Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), which partners overseas universities to offer degree courses to polytechnic upgraders, said it will enrol up to 60 students under the joint SIT- Wheelock College programme, up from the current 42. SIM University (UniSIM) is prepared to expand the intake of its Early Childhood Education with Management course by up to 20 per cent. Currently, annual enrolment at the university stands at about 80 pupils. Having adequate faculty to teach students would be the challenge in raising intake, according to Dr Theresa Lu, who heads the early childhood education programme at UniSIM. The university is hoping to address this through collaboration with industry partners. Singapore Polytechnic, which offers an advanced diploma for kindergarten teachers, plans to increase enrolment to 150 next year and 200 in 2015, up from its current annual intake of about 100 places. Both Ngee Ann and Temasek polytechnics said they are looking to open up more spaces in their diploma programmes but were unable to provide finalised figures. There are more than 15,800 staff members currently employed in about 500 kindergartens and 1,000 childcare centres here, with the Government set to add about 20,000 more childcare places over the next four years. The PAP Community Foundation (PCF), one of the largest pre-school players here, said it is prepared to give out more scholarships and create short stints for potential educators. A PCF spokesperson said the surge in demand for teachers exceeds the supply of trained teachers currently, and increasing supply will help to alleviate manpower constraints. The PCF spokesperson, however, added that pre-school teachers are people with a special temperament and aptitude this naturally limits the field. We are prepared to allow those keen to join the industry to experience or observe what a (pre-school) educator s life is like through a short stint in our centres, said the spokesperson. The PCF is recruiting some 500 teachers this year and next year and will give out more scholarships to polytechnic students if there is interest and demand. It gives out 30 scholarships yearly. Chief Executive of Modern Montessori International T Chandroo, who felt that expanding intakes at the tertiary institutes will ease the pressure in the short run, suggested that men be tapped to make up for the shortfall of teachers in the industry. Dr Chandroo, who is also President of the Association of Early Childhood and Training Services, questioned pegging pre-school teachers salaries to that of allied educators in schools. All preschool teachers are required to undergo professional teachers training (they) should be accorded equal status with MOE primary and secondary teachers, he added. Director of Carpe Diem chain of childcare centres Rhonda Ng added that it is an employee s market in the pre-school industry, citing how she has not been able to hire an English language teacher since last year. The reduction in foreign manpower quota further compounds the problems, especially for the recruitment of Chinese language teachers, she said. We try to provide job flexibility to retain staff but there will be more centres coming up and I m afraid the increase in intakes (at the tertiary institutes) will not be enough. SIM PAGE 9 January December 2013

10 Lianhe zaobao Thursday, April 11, 2013 第一届新加坡华语电电影放映中港台 10 新片 李亦筠 / 报道曾道明 / 摄影 两岸三地狮城聚, 十天十片华夏以情 为主题的第一届 新加坡华语电影节 将于 4 月 26 日至 5 月 5 日, 在国泰乌节电影娱乐城及旧国会大厦艺术之家举行 为期 10 天的电影节是新加坡电影协会和新跃大学新跃中华学术中心联办, 推出 10 部中港台电影, 以及两个电影座谈会 新加坡电影协会和新跃大学新跃中华学术中心昨早在记者会签署了备忘录, 目的在于加强双方的合作关系, 并共同致力于将新加坡华语电影节打造为本地的年度盛事之一 新跃中华学术中心主任郭振羽教授在记者会上表示 : 本地社会对华语电影的认识还有开展的空间, 他希望透过这个电影节, 让大家对两岸三地的中华文化有更深一层的认识 新加坡电影协会主席陈继贤认为要鼓励本地人从事电影业, 一定要多认识和体验来自不同区域的电影制作 : 这个电影节不但提供销售者另一个观影选择, 也间接给本地电影人有浸濡机会 开幕片 汇聚台湾 20 位导演电影节的开幕片 汇聚了台湾 10 位资深电影导演和 10 位新锐导演, 每人分别以 台湾特有 为题拍摄 5 分钟短片, 导演包括侯孝贤 张艾嘉和魏德圣等 电影节推出的台湾电影还包括彭于晏演出的 翻滚吧! 阿信 ; 随棠 阿 B 和李烈主演, 去年金马奖的开幕片 甜. 秘密 ; 以及在去年台北电影节摘下最佳电影等三奖的 宝米恰恰 两部香港纪录片是 三生三世聂华苓 与 一国双城, 作家聂华苓曾自喻为 一棵树, 根在大陆, 干在台湾, 树枝在爱荷华 香港导演陈安琪花 3 年往来两岸三地与美国拍摄 三 一国双城 则是金像奖导演张经纬穿越中港, 以 4 年时间记录一个中国女子半生奔走中港双城的故事 中国电影最瞩目的莫过于去年东京影展开幕前被炒得沸沸扬扬的 万箭穿心, 万 讲述颜丙燕所饰演的 女 新加坡电影协会主席陈继贤 ( 左 ) 与新跃中华学术中心主任郭振羽签署备忘录 扁担 李宝莉跌宕起伏的一生, 道尽生活的温暖 苦痛与无奈 另三部中国电影是 告诉他们, 我乘白鹤去了 米棍儿 及去年金马奖获 亚洲影评人联盟 奖的 美姐 10 部影片展现中港台人生百态中国去年电影产量超过 700 部, 加上港台, 去年三地华语电影的制作超过 800 多部 问及电影节选片的方向, 新跃中华学术中心副主任符诗专博士说在本地看到的华语片多是战争片 功夫片或宫廷片 黑帮片 : 但电影应该多面性 此次电影节推出的片子都是近两三年的电影, 因为我们要让观众看到中港台三地人的人生百态 这次的 10 部影片涵盖不同类型和世代, 都是首次在新加坡放映 此外, 电 影节也希望透过两场华语座谈会 华语电影的本土风和普世价值 : 一场台 港 新电影人的对话 与 华语电影编导论坛 : 艺术与商业之间, 让本地的电影人和来自中港台的电影人互相交流 出席的海外嘉宾包括 万箭穿心 导演王竞, 他是北京电影学院摄影系主任 ; 台湾演员兼制片人李烈 ; 香港纪录片导演陈安琪 ; 美姐 的中国导演郝杰, 以及 美姐 编剧之一的葛夏, 她是中国演员, 也是郝杰的夫人 参与座谈会的本地电影人有庄米雪 邓宝翠 陈哲艺 韩耀光与蔡于位 电影节将从今天开始售票, 读者可透过网址 面簿 查阅电影节详情 THE STRAITS TIMES Monday, June 17, 2013 Training to be better leaders Special courses for senior executives are aimed at sharpening their organisational skills for effective leadership by Ahmad Osman FROM business leaders to community and educational leaders, there is an increasing need for programmes that help them prepare for the complexities of today s world. We live in a complex and volatile world that currently demands leaders to be able to lead not just vertically, but also horizontally and across various boundaries, says Mr Sureish Nathan, vice-president, Asia-Pacific, Center for Creative Leadership (CCL). CCL, ranked by Financial Times as one of the Top 10 providers of executive education, has an Asia-Pacific campus here at Science Park Drive. One of the courses it runs is the Leadership Development Programme, which develops the skills and confidence of experienced leaders in the middle zones of their organisations to carry out effective strategies. Launched in 2005, the five-day programme, which costs $9,880 (excluding GST) per participant, has trained over 1,000 individuals from the business, public, government, private and non-profit sectors. Another of CCL s programme a five day residential Leadership at the Peak programme at Capella Singapore has attracted some 33 experienced senior executives in the top three tiers of their organisations since last year. It was set up for executives at the peak of their careers to know how key stakeholders rate the effectiveness of their leadership through feedback and reflection techniques including personal assessment, peer review and experiential learning. During the training, they review their organisational visions, develop clear action plans for success and enhance communication skills to influence critical stakeholders. Networking and other activities to raise mental, emotional and physical fitness for their leadership jobs are in the programme costing $17,880 (excluding GST) for each person. CCL works with 3,000 organisations around the globe to implement leadership development training distilled from more than 40 years of research and practice. It has over 500 faculty members and hundreds of experienced adjuncts working at five campuses in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Think like a boss Another leadership programme aimed at head honchos is The Job of the Chief Executive (JOCE), which is a five-day full-time programme that SIM Professional Development has been running annually since It focuses on the skills and competencies for chief executives to lead the development and execution of successful competitive strategies. Organisations are just as likely to fail from bad execution as from the wrong strategy, says Ms Peggy Lee, director of enterprise services at SIM Professional Development. A strong Asian context and networking opportunities are the key features of the programme, which is helmed by a faculty team from renowned universities in the United States. Its 1,225-strong alumni hails from various industries in over 15 countries including South Korea, the Philippines, New Zealand, Oman and Indonesia. Funding is available for the programme that costs $15,000 per person. For instance, those from eligible small and medium-sized enterprises that enjoy 70 per cent Spring Singapore funding would pay only $4,500. Specially for community leaders, SIM University offers the Master of Community Leadership and Social Development in partnership with the National Community Leadership Institute of the People s Association. This programme reflects the university s commitment to support the growing need for effective community leaders who can play a progressive role in Singapore s social development. Participants acquire a multi-disciplinary understanding of the issues and challenges in the practice of community leadership and social development. Academic rigour is combined with practical policy skills development by the teaching team of distinguished academics and professionals. Teachers and leaders The National Institute of Education (NIE) Singapore and Teachers College at Columbia University set up the joint Master of Arts (Leadership and Educational Change), which focuses on organisational and curriculum leadership. It is the first degree programme of its kind offered here and in the Asia-Pacific region with accreditation from the New York State Education Department. The goal is to produce a new generation of educational leaders, according to Professor Christine Goh, the NIE Associate Dean for Higher Programmes Graduate Studies and Professional Learning Academic Group. She notes that these leaders are open to different perspectives, critically reflective and sensitive to multiple contexts, diversity and difference as they develop and implement educational changes and innovations. Recent changes in education as a response to producing knowledge workers of the 21st century signal the need to re-envision the role of educational leaders, she adds. Graduates of the programme will possess the knowledge, practices and dispositions to re-imagine schools and facilitate the process for all children to gain access to and succeed with high quality education. The graduates will have good career progression prospects, she says, adding that many of them are expected to take on higher levels of leadership in schools and education agencies. SIM PAGE 10 January December 2013

11 PROVIDING GReateR OPPORTUnities The NEW PAPER Wednesday, September 25, 2013 Table Tennis UniSIM to offer scholarships for paddlers by Lim Say Heng IN RECENT times, Singapore s table tennis players were encouraged to concentrate on their playing careers, pursuing their university degrees after retirement. Now, the likes of Clarence Chew, Yee Herng Hwee and Pang Xuejie will have the option of doing both at the same time. Yesterday, the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) signed a memorandum of understanding with SIM University (UniSIM). The five-year partnership will see the institution offer two scholarships, to the tune of about $7,000 a year each, to outstanding paddlers recommended by the STTA. The selected athletes can use the scholarship for Continuing Education and Training courses when they turn 18, and undergraduate courses when they turn 21. STTA president and MP for Nee Soon GRC, Lee Bee Wah, said: This MOU is very different from oth- LIANHE WANBAO Sunday, October 27, 2013 参加讲演达人速成班练就卓越口才掌握标准华语 文 / 林慧莉 现今充满竞争与挑战的社会, 公众演说的需求也在随之增加 拥有好口才及卓越的演说技巧将让你在各自职场及领域中, 发挥无穷魅力 有鉴与此, 新加坡管理学院讲演会特主办 讲演达人速成班, 让公众从最基本 有效的汉语拼音入手, 掌握标准华语, 感受华文华语的魅力 ; 学习表达 演讲及主持的技巧, 成功迈向成为讲演达人的梦想 无论是对华文华语及公众演说有兴趣和期许 ; 想运 ers we ve signed in the past... the paddlers can take courses, which are very modular and flexible, whenever time permits them in the evenings and during certain months where they are not so busy. Recognise efforts UniSIM president, Professor Cheong Hee Kiat, added: Our intention is to recognise the labours of our athletes who train very hard and spend a lot of time and effort doing, in a sense, national service. The structure that SIM University has is... only modular in the sense that they can take a course at any one time. He added that the university is open to offering more than two slots each year if the STTA finds deserving athletes who are keen to take up the offer, although the paddlers will still have to meet age and other admission requirements for their desired courses. Prof Cheong said UniSIM is open to having similar collaborations with other national sports associations. National paddlers Yee Herng Hwee, 16, and 17-year-old Clarence Chew, both said the MOU gives them more options. Herng Hwee, who is putting her studies on hold to train for next year s Youth Olympic Games, said: It is a very good opportunity for me because I can continue with full-time table tennis and not drop my studies at the same time. I am interested in engineering my sister is studying mechanical engineering at Imperial College and both my parents are engineers. 用好口才在职场 生活 学习上无往不利, 散发无限魅力 ; 或想成为演讲冠军 活动主持 电视主播及讲演达人者, 讲演达人速成班 就是你的理想平台 该课程的主讲者都是新加坡管理学院讲演会的资深会友, 其讲演经验丰富, 是各项比赛的佼佼者, 更在各自专业工作领域中表现出色, 包括体育台电视主播丘丽婷 演讲培训导师及活动主持 即席及幽默演讲比赛双料冠军 ; 以及多名演讲比赛冠军如张夏平 王淑雅 张睫 滕宇婧 课程详情日期 : 11 月 及 30 日 ( 星期六 ) 时间 : 下午 2 时至 5 时 30 分 ( 包括茶点 ) 地点 : 新加坡管理学院分院 (SIM Management House) 收费 : $80-$140 询问与报名电话 : / 电邮 : ngzihui@sim.edu.sg 报名截止日期 :11 月 2 日 ( 星期六 ) MY PAPER Thursday, October 17, 2013 本地 2 大学明年增 400 学额 新跃大学获选承办本地第三所法学院, 学院何时开课还有待确定 ( 曾坤顺摄 ) 育部长王瑞杰说, 新跃大学 (UniSim) 明年将增教设 3 个全日制学士文凭 (full-time degree) 课程, 分别是营销 金融和会计学位课程, 总共将有 200 个名额供学生报读 新跃大学目前只开办部分时间制 (parttime) 课程 另外, 目前与外国大学合作提供专长 (niche) 学位课程的新加坡科技学院 (Singapore Institute of Technology), 明年起也将开办自己的基础设施工程 资信科技和会计课程, 同样将接受大约 200 名学生 王瑞杰说, 新跃大学和新加坡科技学院提供的课程, 将结合课堂学习和现实生活中的应用, 学生也会参与更规范, 以及时间较长的实习计划 新跃大学和科技学院也会发展各自的专长领域 新跃大学将培养拥有深层技术的专才 科技学院将栽培工商 人文和社会服务行业的毕业生 王瑞杰昨早也宣布, 新跃大学也将开设新加坡第三所法学院 该校将通过提供部分时间制课程, 着重培养擅长刑事与家事法的律师 律政部正与新跃大学合作, 咨询法律界的意见, 研究和发展新法学院的课程 详情将在日后宣布 ( 联合早报 新明日报 ) THE STRAITS TIMES Tuesday, October 29, 2013 Test to certify translators, boost industry by Kash Cheong ANY bilingual person can do it, as can Google. These are just two of the misconceptions that translators hear about their profession. To boost the industry s standards and credibility, SIM University (UniSIM) has launched a Certification Examination for Professional Translators the first one-time test in Singapore to certify professional translators. Conducted annually from next month, it adheres to standards set by associations in Britain and Australia. It will certify English- to-chinese and Chinese-to-English translators and is approved by a panel of local experts. The move comes amid a furore about bad translation on the National Heritage Board s website, which sparked debate about the need to boost the translation capabilities of government agencies. The issue was raised in Parliament last week. People think professional translation is easy, said Ms Susan Xu, head of UniSIM s translation and interpretation programme. They don t know how difficult it is until they try it out. Exam candidates must meet high standards and pass rates are expected to be only 30 to 40 per cent, said Ms Xu. We want to design credible exams, not easy ones. We hope practising translators will certify themselves and that junior translators would aspire towards achieving this standard. Of 12 exam candidates, some have degrees in translation while others are translators looking to get certified. One of the latter is Mr Koh Chin Aun, 30, who is pursuing studies in contemporary China at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He is looking to get a professional qualification in translation without taking a long course. This one-time certification saves me time and money. UniSIM has a bachelor s degree in translation and interpretation, while the National University of Singapore has electives in translation and NTU runs a minor in the subject. The Singapore Chinese Chamber Institute of Business has a diploma in translation and interpretation and The Confucius Institute has a diploma in business interpretation and translation. Translation agencies, however, expressed mixed reactions to UniSIM s latest exam. Ms Denise Chen, 36, project manager at Frank Tan Research Associates, said: Good translators need other qualities, such as broad general knowledge, sound research skills, strong reasoning abilities and a sense of responsibility. These are much harder to evaluate in tests of this nature. Others say firms must be willing to pay good money for quality translation. Ms Hong Yin Yin, managing director of Elite Translations Asia, said those paying the lowest dollar might find the work is outsourced to other countries where the phrasing and nuance of words are different or even a cut-and-paste job from Google Translate. kashc@sph.com.sg SIM PAGE 11 January December 2013

12 The Business Times Tuesday, October 29, 2013 Joint effort The APF Group and SIM Interest Groups collaborate to promote entrepreneurship and offer more avenues for SMEs to share and learn from one another by Hazel Tan Our programmes are complementary. Our winners will get the opportunity to participate in SIM Interest Groups, which provide them with a platform to share as well as gain insights into specific areas of concern. Mr Brans Ong, chairman, APF Group The APF Group-SIM alliance is a partnership to support, promote and help organise each other s programmes. IN JULY, in an effort to support entrepreneurship and deepen engagement within the small and mediumsized enterprise (SME) sector, the APF Group forged a strategic alliance with the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) Interest Groups. Mr Brans Ong, APF Group s chairman, says the partnership will help APF Group and SIM Interest Groups foster and strengthen their respective entrepreneurship programmes. Our programmes are complementary. Our winners will get the opportunity to participate in SIM Interest Groups, which provide them with a platform to share as well as gain insights into specific areas of concern, he explains. SIM Interest Groups members will also be part of APF Group s CEO Circle network, providing them with greater outreach to the marketplace. The CEO Circle is a quarterly closed-door event for award winners to share ideas and learn from one another and currently has more than 200 members. Last month, APF Group helped promote the SIM Interest Groups Convention, which saw close to 350 CEOS, professionals, speakers, members and sponsors converge at the Singapore Expo to learn about the latest business insights and trends. Going forward, the two groups will jointly organise the CEO Circle to foster and build a stronger networking platform for local entrepreneurs and business partners. Win-win for all APF Group met the team at SIM Interest Groups through a networking session and saw an opportunity to lean on each other to deepen both parties outreach to SMEs, says Mr Ong. This is a partnership to support, promote and help organise each other s programmes. SIM will focus on its core strength of providing a platform for learning and APF Group will focus on the outreach to entrepreneurs and the industry, he adds. Ms Tang Mei Sin, SIM s director of relationship and events management, describes the partnership as strategic, multifaceted and with immense potential. As the choice provider of continuing education to PMEs (professionals, managers and executives), SMEs and local entrepreneurs, SIM wants to add more value and build stronger networking platforms through leveraging the strengths, reach and resource pool of our valued partners, she says. Through this touch point, we look forward to bringing the latest business innovations and trends to PMEs and SMEs through our wide plethora of professional development courses and membership networking events. There are currently 12 SIM Interest Groups, made up of professionals from specialised fields who come together to share best practices and experiences. The groups range from China Interest Group to human resource and strategic management. Each group is led by a voluntary executive committee with support from SIM. Reaching milestones The partnership comes at a significant time for both groups. Next year, APF Group turns five and the SIM, 50. Entrepreneurship is like an endless marathon race. It calls for one to have trials, stamina and perseverance, says Mr Ong. Every milestone is a success and a learning experience. Regardless of whether we are five or 50, the key to continuity depends on the desire for new knowledge and the willingness to share. The APF Group looks forward to the synergy from the collaboration with SIM, he adds. NTUC THIS WEEK Thursday, November 8, 2013 PMEs Learn To Build Better Work Relationships by Joshua Joseph The nine different personalities which was shared was helpful, it helps me relate to the different personalities at the workplace better. Mr Sudipta Mallik, Assistant Fleet Manager AS PART of its series of workshops to foster lifelong learning and professional development, NTUC Membership Department (MED) organised an enriching engagement session for PMEs (Professionals, Managers and Executives) at NTUC Centre on 29 October The event was part of a follow-up series after the successful Future Leaders Summit in June where PMEs from various leading industries expressed their interest in more learning and development initiatives. The workshop jointly organised with U Associate partner Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) saw some 100 participants in attendance as they learned more about building stronger relationships at work to advance in their careers through a sharing by certified Life Coach, Entrepreneur and Author Andrew Chow. Mr Chow, who is Founder and Managing Director of IdeaMart (S) Pte Ltd, shared his wealth of knowledge with participants in the areas of leveraging on natural strengths, working on blindspots, maximising one s potential at work as well as building rapport with the nine different personalities that can be found at the workplace. The workshop proved to be an enriching one for the participants. Said Service Relationship Manager Joreis Ong: It helped me learn more about relationships and how I can better relate to people. Also sharing on some of the valuable lessons that he learned during the session was Assistant Fleet Manager Sudipta Mallik. I attended the talk just to see if I m doing things right at the workplace and to learn how I can work towards improving myself. The nine different personalities which was shared was helpful, it helps me relate to the different personalities at the workplace better, he said. Article reproduced courtesy of NTUC This Week, NTUC Media Co-operative Limited. SIM PAGE 12 January December 2013

13 TODAY Thursday, October 31, 2013 Back to school for new insight into eldercare UniSIM s gerontology course useful for those looking to take their skills to the next level by Navene Elangovan PROVIDING GReateR OPPORTUnities Mr Satyapraksh Tiwari. PHOTO: FACEBOOK SINGAPORE When Mr Satyaprakash Tiwari, 49, told his family that he was signing up for the Master of Gerontology programme at SIM University (UniSIM) in 2011, they could not understand why he, a veteran in the social service sector with decades of experience, needed further education. But as Director of the Elderly and Disability Division at Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society, which he joined in 1998, Mr Tiwari found that he was using intuition to implement policies and programmes. These 30-over programmes that I was doing were more trial-and-error, using intuition, guts, he recounted. I would say it was all done without much of a scientific (basis). You just do if you feel there is a need to. So when he heard that UniSIM was introducing a course on gerontology, he grabbed the opportunity to upgrade his skills. He graduated earlier this month as part of the course s pioneer cohort. The course covers fields such as physiology, demography and palliative care in the context of the ageing process. The modules are designed to equip graduates with the analytical, leadership and managerial skills needed to head eldercare organisations. Having interacted with classmates from different backgrounds, Mr Tiwari said he now looks at eldercare in a new way. For example, he now no longer thinks of nursing homes as simply providing residents with food, lodging and activities. We look into the design of the building. We must make sure (the nursing home) is very therapeutic. We must make sure it is barrierfree, he said. The academic knowledge he picked up has also boosted his confidence and comes in useful when he has to conceptualise and write proposals for new programmes. Ms Eunice Tan, a fellow graduate of the programme, agreed that the course is useful for those working in the sector looking to take their skills to the next level. Prior to enrolling in the programme, Ms Tan, 45, had attended courses such as those offered by the Social Service Institute to learn more about eldercare services, but felt that such courses only scratched the surface of eldercare. All these courses lack continuity and there are a lot of limitations because these courses (last only) one or two days, three days at most, she said. She had been looking at online correspondence courses on gerontology when she heard that UniSIM was offering a Master of Gerontology programme. I (felt) that a local university would be able to bring out the local (perspective) and it would be more relevant to my job, she said of her decision to enrol in UniSIM. Working and studying at the same time allowed her to bring her work experience into the classroom. At an aged-care centre where she had been working, Ms Tan noticed an improvement in the memory, emotions and health of elderly dementia patients after they attended the centre s structured programme. We have clients that, in the beginning, when they first joined us, they had to use a walking frame. But over the years, they can walk (unassisted) because we have maintenance programmes, she said. She used these observations in her dissertation on the benefits of structured programmes for elderly with dementia in day-care centres. Her dissertation won her the Henry Lim Best Dissertation Award. The programme also opened doors for Ms Tan. She received job offers even before she graduated, two of which came from her lecturers, who were keen on her joining the organisations they worked at. She eventually joined the Alzheimer s disease Association (ADA) as she had learnt that the ADA would be working on developing a residential facility for dementia patients. Having done a project in class on group homes, Ms Tan was keen on applying what she gleaned from the experience at the ADA. Ms Tan, who became involved in social work in her teens, feels that the social service sector should do more to recruit local employees by tapping those who want to make a mid-career switch, rather than bring in the needed manpower from overseas, because locals are better at relating to the elderly culturally and linguistically. She cited the various courses available, such as those offered by Tsao Foundation, for those who want to enter the social service sector. These courses are very good because they even have an attachment component. They actually attach (the students) to hospitals, homes, nursing homes, community hospitals, she said. Mr Tiwari, meanwhile, said he was heartened by the increasing communication between the Government and the social service sector, as he felt it bodes well for future developments. For the last two years, I ve found the Ageing Planning Office very dynamic and it has also been person-centric, he said. I ve never seen this dialogue previously, but now our opinions are sought. NTUC THIS WEEK Friday, November 29, 2013 Learning To Communicate Like A Leader OVER 100 participants were captivated and picked up practical communication skills relevant to day to day situations from Christian Chua, the founder of Christian Chua Training Academy, Success Coach and Human Behavioural Change Expert, on 5 October This workshop was jointly organised with U Associate partner Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) and was part of a follow-up series after the successful Future Leaders Summit in June where PMEs (Professionals, Managers and Executives) from various leading industries expressed their interest in more learning and development initiatives. The next upcoming workshop, the CEO Fireside Chat, is happening on Wednesday, 15 January 2014, and former NTUC Income CEO and now NTUC Enterprise Group CEO Tan Suee Chieh will be the speaker. Stay tuned for more details on Article reproduced courtesy of NTUC This Week, NTUC Media Co-operative Limited. We got to know this event from our boss. The speaker was very interactive and engaging. We learnt how to read people better, especially on spotting liars! This event is wellorganised, close to perfection! Ms Nur Shahirah Binte Jamal and NTUC member Mariah Binte Hamzah I enjoyed the session as the speaker was humorous and was really generous with his tips. If it s a longer session with a short break in between, it would allow us to ask more questions. Mr Hendro, NTUC Income Sales Executive, SIM member SIM PAGE 13 January December 2013

14 Recognising Our achievers Leaders are made, they are not born Vince Lombardi RED SPORTS Thursday, January 17, 2013 IVP Bball: SIM ease to opening win over SMU by REDintern Tay Jun Wen Score by Quarters SIM vs SMU 1st Q: nd Q: (44-23) 3rd Q: (57-34) 4th Q: (67-49) Top Scorers SIM Ng Hanbin (#27) 21 points Johnson Fu (#0) 12 points SMU Victor Tan (#23) 18 points Nathanael Goh (#20) 8 points Ng Hanbin (SIM #27) trying to block Wee Hui Xiang (SMU #6) as he goes to the basket. Hanbin finished with a game-high 21 points. (PHOTO 1 JOSEPH LEE/RED SPORTS) NUS University Town EduSports Hall, Wednesday, January 17, 2013 The Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) got their campaign off to a winning start when they beat the Singapore Management University (SMU) Over the span of 40 minutes, it was clear that SIM were too formidable for SMU who suffered their second loss of the Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IVP) Basketball Championship. Ng Hanbin (SIM #27), who also plays for the Singapore Slingers, finished with a game-high 21 points while Victor Tan (#23) of SMU stood out with his speed and agility to lead his team with 18 points. SIM s team captain, Ron Teh (#6), felt that the addition of Hanbin was definitely a morale booster for his team. With Hanbin s experience and teammates such as Johnson Fu (#0) scoring 3-pointers with ease he had two in the game it was a comfortable ride for SIM. Said Ron Teh: We are aiming to enter the semi-finals. But it could be difficult with Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) and Republic Polytechnic (RP) in our group. Even after leading SMU by eight points (21-13) at the end of the first quarter, the taller and bigger SIM players were relentless with their accurate long passes and brilliant finishes. By the end of the second quarter, SIM had stretched their lead to 21 points with a lead. It was a tighter third quarter, with SIM outscoring SMU 13-11, but that still gave SIM a 23-point, lead to take into the fourth. SIM were outscored by SMU in the final quarter but they had done enough in the previous three to wrap up a comfortable win. After the game, SMU team captain, Kee Eng Sen (#1), said: We displayed true efforts and did not give up. He added that his personal highlight from the game was to see his teammates playing well together. SIM Roster Lim Yong Teck (#22), Ron Teh Kai Yuan (#6), Wong Kok Yong Dallas (#23), Wong Kar Chuin Jason (#17), Jansen Koay Zhen Yen (#12), Daryl Seah Zee Hian (#9), Raymond Choo Kok Wei (#20), Ong Wei Lin Daniel (#18), Fu Weixiang Johnson (#0), Ng Han Bin (#27), Lueng Wai Ming (#3), Phua Hong Yuan (#11), Ng Kah Siang (#15), Ken Owyon Zhi Xiang (#32), Edwin Low Kwok Heng (#1) SMU Roster Kee Eng Sng (#1), Tan Kok Siong (#3), Ho Ann Sheng (#4), Lee Wei Yang (#14), Goh Jian Liang (#7), Sim Wei Zhang (#9), Ho Ming Xiu (#21), Lee Zhi Shu (#11), Wee Huixiang (#6), Ang Sin Lek (#16), Colin Ang Qin Zhi (#18), Nathanael Goh (#20), Samuel Ngiam Tee Ju (#15), Victor Tan Han Qiang (#23), Eddie Chua Junjie (#24) Having lost to Singapore Polytechnic in their first game, Eng Sen is targeting a win in one of their next few matches. SIM will next play NP on Saturday, January 19th, at 11.30am. For SMU, their next game, also against NP, will take place on Tuesday January 22nd, at 8.30pm. Both games will take place at the UTown EduSports Hall. SIM PAGE 14 January December 2013

15 Recognising Our achievers BERITA HARIAN Thursday, April 4, 2013 Pencapaian Kelas Pertama by Nural Ain Razali DUA anak Melayu/Islam meraih ijazah sarjana muda sains dengan kepujian kelas pertama dari Universiti London (UOL) semalam. Encik Redhuwan Norazmi menggenggam ijazah bidang perakaunan dan kewangan, sementara Encik Mohamed Khairi Zailan menerima ijazah jurusan ekonomi dan pengurusan. Program ijazah sarjana muda SIM- UOL itu dijalankan oleh Institut Pengurusan Singapura (SIM). Menurut SIM, dua pelajar berusia 25 tahun itu antara lebih 2,300 siswazah dalam 12 program sarjana muda SIM- UOL yang lulus tahun ini. Daripada jumlah itu, 104 siswazah lulus dengan kepujian kelas pertama. Encik Redhuwan dan Encik Khairi dua pelajar Melayu/Islam yang tergolong dalam kumpulan tersebut. Malah, kedua-duanya merupakan siswazah ketiga terbaik dalam kohort 2010 hingga 2012 program ijazah masing-masing dan menerima Pingat Gangsa SIM. Mereka menerima ijazah masing- masing dalam majlis konvokesyen di kampus Clementi Road SIM semalam. Saya suka belajar perakaunan dan dapat mencapai kecemerlangan. Kemahiran yang saya ada dapat membantu saya maju dalam kerjaya pada masa depan, ujar Encik Redhuwan, pemegang biasiswa berprestij badan perakaunan Australia, CPA Australia. Beliau kini bekerja sebagai pembantu audit dan berhasrat menimba sebanyak mungkin pengalaman bekerja sebelum melanjutkan pelajaran ke peringkat sarjana pada masa depan. Menceritakan laluan pendidikan beliau, Encik Khairi berkata beliau nakal sewaktu menuntut di Maktab Rendah Yishun dari 2005 hingga Beliau mengaku sering menyusahkan hati ibunya, Cik Salomah Mohamed, 53 tahun, dengan perbuatannya daripada mengabaikan kerja sekolah hingga ponteng kelas. Saya tidak mahu mengecewakan ibu bapa saya lagi, terutama ibu saya. Ramai bertanya apakah saya menyesali perbuatan saya dulu. Ya, saya menyesal, tapi saya percaya sejarah silam itu ENCIK MOHAMED KHAIRI ZAILAN: Menerima ijazah kepujian kelas pertama bidang ekonomi dan pengurusan SIM-UOL dengan Pingat Gangsa SIM. mengajar saya hingga berada di sini, ujar Encik Khairi. Tahun lalu, dua pelajar Melayu/ Islam juga antara pelajar yang lulus program sarjana muda SIM-UOL itu ENCIK REDHUWAN NORAZMI: Menerima ijazah kepujian kelas pertama bidang perakaunan dan kewangan SIM-UOL serta Pingat Gangsa SIM. dengan kepujian kelas pertama. Seramai 2,100 siswazah lulus program tersebut tahun lalu. ASIAONE Thursday, August 8, 2013 His sacrifice for sport by Elizabeth Law LIKE any other Singaporean son, he put his life on hold to serve the nation. For two years when he was serving national service, kayaker Bill Lee, 28, had to put down his paddle and stay out of the water. It was close to three years later, when I was in SIM (Singapore Institute of Management) that a friend asked me to go out for a casual paddle. Once we got into the water, everything felt very natural. Then a kayaker who was training sprinted past me and at that moment, it felt instinctive to chase and try to beat him. That s when I knew I was back. Mr Lee graduated in 2009 with a degree in accountancy and is married without kids. He lives in a condomin- ium in Upper Bukit Timah. South-east Asian Games Pursuing his passion for sport, he has gone on to train and qualify for the Singapore Canoe/Kayak Sprint Team. The team received the green light from the Singapore National Olympic Council and will be fielded in the South-east Asian Games later this year. The team selection will take place this weekend. He took up kayaking almost by chance when he entered Anglo Chinese Junior College. I was a scrawny teenager and I wanted to join some sport to bulk up. But most of the sports like football and track and field had students who were members of the national youth teams, so I thought why not try kayaking, which seemed less competitive. The first time he got into a kayak, he knew this was the sport he wanted. There s just this calm when out in the water, and you ve got all this space to yourself. It s something almost magical, he said. Yet there is a competitive element that has kept him in the sport for close to a decade. I have a very kiasu nature, which also translates to being very competitive so when I was in school, I wanted very badly to win, which drove me to do better and perfect my sport. That same spirit has kept me going since then. Mr Lee has since represented the country twice in international competitions, and the team has come in second place a number of times in regional competitions but that gold medal has proven elusive. We ll keep working towards that, and we think we have a good chance, especially if we go to the SEA Games this year. When asked if he looks forward to standing on the podium while Majulah Singapura plays as the national flag is hoisted, he said wryly: We don t think about it until it happens. For us, it s about bettering our personal timings. It s really to do the best that you can. You can have a lot of expectations but things can happen on competition day and there s just nothing anyone can do about it. Now a canoe/kayak coach, Mr Lee says he earns much less than he would have had he worked as an accountant and had thought of giving up coaching, but realised that this is what he likes best. It s certainly a sacrifice for sport, but it s sacrificing for something that I love, he said. Q&A What qualities make you Singaporean? I m competitive, and also very kiasu. I will go all the way to make sure I m well prepped for anything. How would you describe Singapore to a stranger? It s safe, clean, and the food is awesome. Just visit any hawker centre. What little quirks do you see in Singapore every day? People are always fiddling with their phones! What food do you miss most when you re overseas? Laksa. The one from the East Coast Park food centre. It s the first place I go when I come back from an overseas trip. What are your favourite Singlish phrases or words? Lah, leh and lor. It helps defuse tensions in a conversation. SIM PAGE 15 January December 2013

16 LIANHE ZAOBAO Wednesday, September 11, 2013 情人节跑遍芽笼大学生为妓女送暖 情人节 圣诞节 生日 这些特别的日子, 是否曾想过社会上的弱势群体是如何度过的? 本地青年翁奕杰创立社会企业 Colours Global, 除了在特别的日子里送花 雪糕给性工作者和客工, 也经常组团到贫穷国家粉刷房屋, 捐赠小礼物给当地孤儿, 把欢笑带给他们 邓华贵 / 报道受访者提供照片 他透露 : 我们第二年再回去芽笼的时候, 有些龟公还记得我们, 友善地邀请我们进到屋里送花 还记得那里的女士小姐们接过花时, 都显得雀跃万分, 甚至是向旁人炫耀手中的玫瑰和卡片 看到她们只因小小一朵玫瑰就这么高兴, 也令我非常感动 自掏腰包买雪糕分给客工去年年底, 翁奕杰也趁佳节期间, 带领约 60 人的义工团队前往小印度, 给客工分派了 3000 多支雪糕 问起原因, 他说, 有许多外籍客工离乡背井来到本地, 在烈日下任劳任怨地为国人搭建房屋, 人们却往往对他们不友善, 甚至是瞧不起他们 因此他决定自掏腰包购买雪糕, 免费分发给小印度街上的客工 2011 年, 当消息宣布德士车资将起价时, 他也向父亲借来车子, 和朋友高举 Free Rides ( 免费载客 ) 的牌子, 跑遍全岛免费载送陌生人 回想起那次经历, 翁奕杰笑说 : 有些人起初不敢上陌生人的车子, 但后来消息传开后, 反应就变得相当踊跃 一些人甚至不愿意坐 霸王车, 下车前还想付费! 我告诉他们, 不如用那笔钱请周围年老的清洁工吃饭, 让爱传出去 翁奕杰创办的社会企业 Colours Global, 经常组织义工团到印度尼西亚 菲律宾等国家帮助当地贫困者 去两年的情人节,25 岁的翁奕杰都过在芽笼地带度过 别误会, 他其实是为了在这特别日子里, 专程给社会上较被漠视的一群送上玫瑰花, 传达一丝关怀 乐善好施的翁奕杰在 2011 年创办社会企业 Colours Global, 举办各类义工活动, 在本地各处散播爱心 例如, 他在去年和今年的情人节连同几名义工前往芽笼一带, 给那里的性工作者送上玫瑰花和小卡片, 让她们在这特别的日子里也能感受到来自社会的关爱 翁奕杰回忆说 : 我们第一年到芽笼想要分发玫瑰花给性工作者时, 那里的龟公起初以为我们来者不善, 都带着怀疑的眼光看我们 后来向他们解释清楚我们来访的目的后, 才允许我们把花传递给那里的女士小姐们 那次的活动, 翁奕杰和团队一共分发了 300 多朵玫瑰花 由于反应良好, 他们在隔年增加玫瑰数额, 送出了 1000 多朵玫瑰 他们跑遍了芽笼 樟宜 乌节路豪杰大厦一带, 除了分给性工作者, 也送给熟食中心小贩和清洁工 经常组织义工团到外国行善除了在本地行善, 这名华印混血儿也经常组织义工团到印度尼西亚 泰国 菲律宾等国家, 协助当地贫困者粉刷房屋和学校, 为他们的生活增添点色彩 此外, 他也给当地孤儿捐赠小玩具 文具等用品 翁奕杰目前还在新加坡管理学院 (SIM Global Education) 念学士课程, 行善活动所用到的费用大多出自他的个人储蓄, 家人朋友有时也在经费上提供协助 是什么力量, 推动他到不同国家做义工, 多年来自掏腰包行善? 他认真地说 : 我 17 岁那年随同教会组织, 前往泰国和缅甸的边界传教 那时的缅甸还处于军政府统治下, 我很惊讶得知当地有许多平民百姓, 包括小孩, 在大屠杀中丧命 这对我造成非常大的冲击, 因为我从小到大都在安逸的环境里长大, 从未想过现实生活中, 竟然每天还有这样的悲剧在上演着 于是我下定决心, 要凭我所有的能力来帮助弱势群体, 并在世界各地散播温暖 获颁 青年节之星 奖项今年获颁 青年节之星 (Stars of SHINE) 五名得奖者之一的翁奕杰, 希望接下来能和小印度一带的理发店合作, 为客工提供几天的免费理发服务 他说 : 我个人的力量也许微不足道, 但只要我们团结起来, 就能发挥更大的力量, 打造一个更有爱心的社会 SIM PAGE 16 January December 2013

17 Recognising Our achievers RED SPORTS Thursday, September 12, 2013 SUniG Bball (Men): SIM overwhelm SIT to win and clinch title by Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports Scoring by Quarter SIT vs SIM 1st Q: nd Q: 4 34 (8 55) 3rd Q: (20 77) 4th Q: (39 97) Top Scorers SIT Reeve Seah (#5) 13 points (2 x 3-pointers) SIM Ng Hanbin (#22) 20 points (6 x 3-pointers) Phua Hong Yuan (#11) 11 points (3 x 3-pointers) Tan Jin Hong (#83) 11 points Hanbin (SIM #22) rises above the defence for the layup. Hanbin finished with a game-high 20 points, including six three pointers. (PHOTO 1 LIM YONG TECK/RED SPORTS) NUS University Town, Thursday, September 12, 2013 Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) pulled off a convincing victory over Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) in the Singapore University Games (SUniG) Basketball Championship. SIM completed the 2013 SUniG in dominating fashion, winning all their games to take home this season s championship. SIM moved the ball well in the opening quarter, setting up multiple open looks that led to a 16 0 run. SIT looked visibly intimidated by their physically imposing counterparts, and committed multiple turnovers through sloppy ball handling. After a time-out, SIT players increased their offensive intensity through several drives to the basket but they simply could not convert. With just under three minutes to play, SIT s Reeve Seah (#5) converted one of his free throws to halt SIM s run. In the dying seconds of the first quarter, Phua Hong Yuan (#11) nailed a long three to help maintain SIM s lead at In the second quarter, SIM employed a full court defensive press that generated multiple steals, leading to easy points on the break. SIM s defence contained SIT s offensive flow while they went for 34 points to end the half leading After the break, Reeve Seah (SIT #5) took control of the ball and helped open up SIT s offence, allowing SIT to get several open looks at the basket. The SIT bench erupted upon a three-pointer by Reeve (#5). Not to be outdone so easily. SIM s Ng Hanbin (#22) carried the offensive load with four straight threepointers. Hong Yuan (#11) added a three-pointer of his own to keep SIM ahead. SIM s offensive barrage compensated for the lack of defence and kept SIM ahead at at the end of the third. Hanbin (#22) nailed another threepointer to start the final quarter. SIT maintained their composure and put up an impressive offensive display. With Reeve (#5) leading the offence, SIT moved the ball well and found themselves making easier uncontested baskets. On the contrary, SIM soon found themselves unable to connect on open shots. SIT took advantage of the situation and went on to pour in 19 points in the quarter. With four minutes remaining on the clock, SIM regrouped and utilized a full court defensive press to contain SIT. Raymond Choo (#20) fueled the offence with two consecutive threepointers and a long jumper and led SIM to a 17 0 run to seal the game. SIM s captain Leung Wai Ming (#14) commented: Like every game, team spirit, encouragement and communication was excellent and this game was no different. We are physically stronger and we had more bench depth but defensive rebounding is our primary weakness in the whole tournament. Even though SIT s players were physically smaller, they managed to grab several offensive boards and had easy second-chance baskets. Wai Ming s counterpart, Liao Zuliang (SIT #10) said: We didn t play our best basketball game. We were simply outplayed and out-hustled by SIM. We couldn t build up any momentum for the game. There s still a lot of room for improvement. Since IVP till now, there s a lot of changes to players and coaches but one fact remains, we had too little trainings. Prior to SUniG, we had less than 10 training sessions with coach Steve. We will begin training earlier and we will definitely be eyeing to qualify for IVP next year, added Zuliang. In the upcoming Institute-Varsity- Polytechnic (IVP) Basketball Championship, the top three teams of the SUniG Basketball Championship will face the top three teams of the POL-ITE Basketball Championship in a new roundrobin format. With the completion of the SUniG Basketball Championship, the teams that qualify for a spot in the IVP games are SIM, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and National University of Singapore (NUS). SIT Roster Jeremy Liang (#1), Lim Kok Yeow (#2), Lin Kelun Melville (#3), Kenny Yeo (#4), Reeve Seah (#5), Edward Goh Wei Wen (#6), Sim Chun Quan (#7), Pang Yong Sheng (#8), Kok Boon (#9), Liao Zuliang (#10), Victor Goh (#11), Gan Hian Jiun (#12), Benjamin Liew (#13), Jeramy Sng (#14), See Chin Keong (#15) SIM Roster Chen Zhihao (#0), Edwin Low (#1), Dallas Wong Kok Yong (#5), Phua Hong Yuan (#11), Lim Yong Teck (#13), Leung Wai Ming (#14), Ong Wei Lin Daniel (#18), Choo Kok Wei Raymond (#20), Ng Hanbin (#22), Koay Zhen Yen Jansen (#23), Zhou Zhen Jie (#34), Woo Tian Wei (#45), Gordon Ho (#46), Tan Jin Hong (#83), Owyong Zhi Xiang (#91) SUniG Men s Final STANDINGS 1st SIM 5 wins 0 losses (5 0) 2nd NTU 4 1 3rd NUS 3 2 4th SMU 2 3 5th SIT 1 4 6th SUTD 0 5 SIM PAGE 17 January December 2013

18 TAMIL Murasu Friday, October 18, 2013 berita harian Friday, October 18, 2013 Mengapa pilih UniSIM? B AGI dua anak Melayu ini, meskipun berdepan dengan pelbagai masalah peribadi, mereka tetap cekalkan hati, tabahkan diri dan korbankan masa, semata-mata untuk menggenggam segulung ijazah sarjana. Namun tidak seperti segelintir yang menimba ilmu tambahan semata-mata kerana mahu pertingkatkan prospek kerjaya, mereka ada sebab tersendiri mengapa memilih menyambung pengajian ke peringkat sarjana di satu-satunya universiti swasta tempatan, Universiti SIM (UniSIM). Apakah pendorong tersebut? SIM PAGE 18 January December 2013

19 leading thoughts and trends Setting trends I Defining tomorrow THE business times Wednesday, February 13, 2013 Better business conditions in Q4-12: BT-UniSIM survey GDP growth for first quarter of this year forecast at 2.2 to 2.5 per cent by Nisha Ramchandani SINGAPORE Business conditions improved in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the latest BT-Uni- SIM Business Climate Survey, which forecasts GDP growth of 2.2 per cent to 2.5 per cent in the first quarter of this year. The number of firms reporting a contraction in sales in Q4 held around the same level as Q3 while new orders improved across the board. But more firms especially large and foreign ones saw lower profits, with more posting a profit decline of up to 10 per cent, revealed the quarterly survey ahead of final GDP figures for Q4-12 due to be released later this month. The 161 firms polled in January reported that Q4 business activities picked up as the economy grew 1.1 per cent year-on-year and 1.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter, going by the official advance estimates. Currently in its 18th year, the survey s forecast of GDP growth of 2.2 per cent to 2.5 per cent in the first quarter of this year, implies a pick-up in growth and a stronger expansion than in the same quarter a year ago, when GDP growth worked out to 1.5 per cent. The forecast is in line with that of Mizuho Corporate Bank, which sees GDP growth clocking 2.4 per cent in Q1-13. The improvement in the purchasing managers index (PMI) for January, if maintained, corresponds to a pickup in Q1 GDP, noted senior economist Vishnu Varathan. Singapore s PMI for January rose to 50.2, crossing the 50-point mark that signals an expansion. However, United Overseas Bank (UOB) expects GDP growth of 1.7 per cent in Q1-13 and 2.5 per cent in Q2-13, before gathering pace to 3.8 per cent in Q3-13 and 4 per cent in Q4-13. Our manufacturing industries are still bogged down by the weakness in the electronics clusters. We see a turnaround by the second half of the year, spilling over to the services sectors as well. In fact, our North Asian neighbours have been performing well over the past months and although lagging, our manufacturing activity will pick up very soon, said UOB economist Francis Tan, cautioning, however, that there are downside risks from external factors. According to the survey, firms are also less pessimistic about business prospects over the next six months, with 45 per cent expecting things to get worse or much worse, versus 59 per cent in Q3-12. Thirty-nine per cent expect things to remain the same while 17 per cent said business prospects could get better or much better. However, companies aren t out of the woods yet, given that the overall net balances for the four leading indicators of the survey sales, profits, orders and business prospects remain in negative territory. The net balance, or the difference between the proportion of positive and negative responses, for overall sales in Q4-12 rose one percentage point to -23 per cent while that of orders improved by 14 percentage points to -20 per cent. The stabilisation in sales could be due to a pick-up in activities in China in the last 2012 quarter, survey director Chow Kit Boey said. Profits could also be lagging behind business activities, which would account for the overall net balance for profits falling by nine percentage points to -35 per cent. With about three in five respondents engaged in business abroad, firms on the whole reported less gloomy business prospects in Singapore compared with overseas. Small firms remained the most pessimistic of the lot compared with large firms as well as foreign companies and local ones as they saw the worst performance in indicators such as sales, profits and business prospects. In a departure from previous quarters, the construction sector is no longer perceived as presenting the best business prospects for the next six months, possibly due to the manpower crunch and recent round of propertycooling measures. However, it was still the overall top performer in Q4-12 for indicators such as sales and profits. Instead, the transport and communications sector is seen as offering the best business prospects, likely due to a strong performance for orders/new business, especially in the case of large and local firms. Spending on the public transport sector such as expansion of the MRT network tends to boost demand for the land segment while airlines are benefiting from the robust stream of tourists from the region making their way here. In the latest business expectations survey on the manufacturing sector by the Economic Development Board, the transport engineering cluster was the most upbeat, with all segments projecting a higher level of activity for the first three months of Meanwhile, the BT-UniSIM survey also showed manufacturing emerged the top performer among small firms in Q4-12 for sales, profits, orders and business prospects, while the financial and business services sector is perceived by foreign firms to present the best business prospects in the next six months. SIM PAGE 19 January December 2013

20 Today Friday, February 15, 2013 Productivity and employment growth Mind the short-term trade-offs by Randolph Tan The main concern for businesses is whether, in the economic upgrading ahead, good productivity performances will outweigh poorer ones to make up for the cut in foreign manpower employment. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG DESPITE the differences of opinion about the extent to which future growth should be driven by foreign manpower infusions, there is broad consensus on at least one point productivity gains will have to play a much larger part in future growth. Given the record to date, it is natural to be concerned about whether productivity gains can be raised to the level required, and how soon this could occur. Since the computation is done on a per worker basis, would curbing reliance on foreign manpower produce the gains required or are there other conditions as well? How soon will the improvements be manifested? If we use real output per worker as the measure of labour productivity, then Singapore s growth performance deteriorated significantly after Using the World Bank s World Development Indicators (WDI) database, among the 121 countries for which data is available, Singapore s ranking plunged from 15th in the 2001 to 2005 period to 85th in 2005 to In terms of number of places dropped, we were only outdone (or under-performed!) by Bahrain (which dropped 76 places), Iceland (77) and Kuwait (82). Interestingly, all are also high income countries. In addition, Kuwait and Bahrain also have high rates of dependence on foreign manpower. While Iceland did not have the same extent of dependence on foreign manpower, its rate of immigration in the period 2005 to 2010 was one of the highest in the world. Yet, even if we consider only high income countries, our ranking in terms of productivity gains dropped from second to 21st out of 44 countries between the same two periods (2001 to 2005 versus 2005 to 2011). LITTLE ROOM TO MANOEUVRE Despite this rather dismal picture, Singapore s overall performance has been far from poor. Over the entire period from 2001 to 2011, Singapore s average annual productivity growth actually out-performed many other prominent economies, such as the United States, Japan and Australia. This comparison is not meant to be conclusive, but rather to illustrate the fact that a country s productivity performance may not be even. This is especially so during periods of rapid structural transformation. In Singapore s case, such a lack of uniformity in our productivity performance is likely to have been exacerbated by the lack of physical room to manoeuvre. Take our system of underground cables and pipes as an illustration. While it has provided a neater layout to our urban environment, the disruption to traffic gets bad when whenever there is a need to dig up roads to gain access for maintenance. Without the luxury of as much room to manoeuvre as a larger country would have, there is a need to prioritise the use of our facilities during the periods of transformation, during which time aggregate productivity will take a hit. It is less an issue of space, than of the degree of interruptions relative to the available space. REAL OR APPARENT CONFLICT? In a statistical comparison using the WDI data for all countries over the last two decades for which data is available, I found a significant negative relationship between productivity performance and volatility in employment growth. In Singapore s case, the volatility in our employment growth has been higher than most. So, the apparent conflict between employment growth and productivity is really an issue with the frame of reference. The latest news on US employment pretty much sums up the same conundrum we are facing: At the same time the jobless claims are falling to near fiveyear lows, signalling the improving employment situation that has been eluding the US since the global financial crisis, there are also reports its aggregate non-farm productivity is falling. Of course, if things are going well, productivity should not continue falling and would eventually improve hand-in-hand with steady jobs creation. Conversely, if things were going bad, the jobs creation should eventually hit the brakes. So, it takes time a period of consolidation before the full picture emerges. In the meantime, it may not be as simple as changing course mid-stream in order to bring about an improvement. Indeed, we should take a measure of comfort from the fact that in Singapore s case, the productivity performance has been patchy and not uniformly dismal. The main concern for businesses and policy makers is whether, in the continuing economic upgrading ahead, the good performances will outweigh the poorer ones by a large enough margin to put us sufficiently ahead to make up for the cut in foreign manpower employment. THE TOUGH EXPANSION PATH What then are the prospects for an improved performance? To consider this question, we should look into what exactly is driving the continuing creation of jobs that is leading to the diminution of average labour output. Firms should not need increasing amounts of manpower if they were continuing along a stable scale of operations. If their demand for manpower is increasing without any expansion in scale, then obviously, there is inefficiency in manpower use. Is it simply a case of hoarding of low-cost manpower? That would have been a credible explanation if not for the increase in levies since If it is not a problem of inefficiency, then the other possibility is that companies have embarked on an expansion path for which they require increasing infusions of manpower in a variety of specialisations which they cannot fill with the indigenous labour pool alone. For companies planning to expand regionally or globally, the dynamics of cross-border operations may make it impossible for businesses to put a sudden stop to their hiring without a period of adjustment. In the worst-case scenario, if the expansion is suppressed in the wrong way, the ability of the economy to create jobs may be impaired. The prospects for stable productivity gains to power future growth may elude us even longer. Associate Professor Randolph Tan is Associate Professor, Business at SIM University, School of Business. This is the first of a three-part series on productivity issues. SIM PAGE 20 January December 2013

21 LEADING THOUghts AND TRENDS Today Monday, February 18, 2013 The productivity push Is productivity really a guarantee of growth? by Sundaram Janakiramanan THE Singapore Government is pushing for increased productivity in businesses in order to drive economic growth and has designed various schemes to do so. But would trying to boost productivity really increase the competitiveness of companies, and what would need to be in place first? And can this strategy of productivity increase to grow the economy be sustained over a long period? I argue that the productivity push may well succeed in the short run if it is conceived properly. However, it cannot be sustained over the long term, mainly because of the inherent limits to which productivity can be raised. The idea of growing productivity to grow the economy is based on the premise that for the same input, the output will be larger and hence, total output in the economy will increase, which would, in turn, lead to a growth in the economy. However, some conceptual issues need to be considered here. DIFFICULT TO MEASURE First of all, productivity is a multi-faceted concept that includes productivity of capital, labour, equipment and management, between which there is interplay. This means the productivity of a business can increase only if there is a subsequent increase in each of these components. There needs to be sufficient capital to purchase equipment using the latest technology, with a trained workforce that is able to use the equipment efficiently and with the full support of management. Only then we can talk about increased productivity. If any one of these is lacking in an organisation, total productivity will not increase. Secondly, it is difficult to measure productivity. In the case of the manufacturing industry, it may be possible to come up with a measure of productivity as the ratio of total units produced and the number of man hours expended. But even in this situation, there is an interplay between production equipment and labour. Should there be improper maintenance of equipment or any unexpected malfunction, production may slow down, even if the workers are doing their job efficiently. Thus, labour productivity also depends on the ability of the maintenance people to keep the equipment running without problems. In service industries, it is almost impossible to set a standard of performance. Consider the case of a bank teller, who is responsible for processing customers. How do we measure her productivity? Is it by the number of customers processed in a day? Probably not, because each customer has different needs and it may take a longer time to process some customers and a very short time to process others. The same applies in the case of restaurants and retail shops. Management also plays an important role in the service industry. How much authority do frontline personnel have in processing customer requests? Do they need to keep getting the approval of their supervisor for most requests? The interplay between management and labour, hence, has a bearing on productivity. Another important aspect management should consider is how to reward well-performing workers. And unless such a reward scheme is equitable, it could lead to trained workers switching jobs, which would require hiring new employees and having to train them all over again. GET CONDITIONS RIGHT In other words, businesses can improve productivity only if all of the following are in place. Firstly, companies need to introduce equipment with the latest technological advances. While the Government, under its Productivity and Innovation Credit scheme, offers tax write-offs for the acquisition of prescribed automation equipment, among other things, it could provide more subsidies for cutting-edge equipment. Such investments require that companies have additional capital available. Secondly, businesses need to hire and retain employees who possess knowledge of the operations with the appropriate salary package and performance bonuses. Thirdly, to have a better pool of knowledgeable employees in the first place, the tertiary educational system should be modified so that it becomes a requirement for polytechnics and universities to establish direct and strong links with the industry. This will ensure that students are provided an education that includes both academic and practical education. This is one area the Ministry of Education could look into. Next, there is a need to provide context-appropriate training to workers in order that assigned tasks can be completed more efficiently. The Government can incentivise this is by providing subsidies to companies for organisation-specific training. Currently, training programmes are organised on a more general level applicable to all organisations within the industry. But equipment and management practices differ across organisations. Lastly, management policies need to be formulated such that they allow workers more autonomy when it comes to decision-making. OFFER SOMETHING NEW When all these measures are instituted, the idea of enhancing economic growth through increased productivity would be a viable option. However, even so, this would only be effective as a growth strategy for the short term, until all businesses are operating at maximum efficiency. In the long run, there is a limit to which productivity can be increased. Once the labour force is producing the maximum amount of units working at the maximum operational hours, production cannot be increased any further unless more employees are hired. So, if all companies are operating at maximum efficiency, there can be no increase in productivity. The only avenue, then, in which businesses can truly grow in the long run will be through innovation that is, with the introduction of new product and service offerings. Professor Sundaram Janakiramanan is Professor of Finance at SIM University s School of Business. This is the second in a three-part series on productivity. In the manufacturing industry, labour productivity depends on the proper maintenance of equipment, even if the workers are doing their job efficiently. SIM PAGE 21 January December 2013

22 TODAY Tuesday, February 19, 2013 Small and medium firms How SMEs can jump productivity hurdle by Tan Khay Boon SMALL and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) form the backbone of an economy as they contribute a large proportion of the GDP and employ the largest number of workers in the economy. Yet when encountered with a major policy shift, they are also the most vulnerable party. The tightening of the foreign labour inflow in Singapore hit SMEs hardest. Unlike multinational corporations (MNCs), SMEs do not have the financial muscle to offer high wages or invest in sophisticated technology, nor the flexibility to relocate production elsewhere. In spite of the tax and other incentives offered by the Government to boost labour productivity, the response of SMEs has been lukewarm. This is understandable as SMEs are typically already overwhelmed with the dayto-day operational challenges and do not have the time nor resources to tackle the longterm productivity issue. More concerned with the pressing issue of high business costs, some SMEs have requested the Government to delay further increases in the foreign workers levies and to remove S-Pass levies. But while there may be some tweaking of policy, the Government has made it very clear there will be no U-turn. So, the old practice of bringing in more foreign workers to meet production targets is no longer feasible. This leaves increasing labour productivity as the only way to survive and grow. The million dollar question is how? LESS TIME TAKEN Contrary to the belief that boosting productivity is costly, some forms of productivity enhancement are achievable at a reasonable cost, yet the long-term benefits can be tremendous. The critical factor is a mindset that is receptive to changes in the work process. SMEs may begin with scrutinising the workflow and identifying processes which can be redesigned so that scarce labour resources can be focused on higher value-added activities. The IT revolution has led to the invention of much hardware and software that can help firms be more effi- cient in managing information. For instance, in the healthcare industry, the kiosks at Woodlands Polyclinic for patients to enter their health information prior to seeing doctors have resulted in shorter waits. It also allows the doctors to spend quality time with patients on diagnosis and treatment. In the education industry, the use of software such as Respondus at SIM Global Education has reduced the time taken to set up an online quiz from four hours to just 30 minutes so that instructors can focus on designing quality course materials. FROM HOTEL TO FLOWER BEDS As for the core activities in the work process, SMEs can explore better ways of performing these activities, such as through machinery or technology. An investment outlay is inevitable, but part of the cost may be reduced through the appropriate SPRING Singapore schemes as well as tax rebates. The long-term benefit lies in the reduction in manpower needed, which is a boon at a time of high labour cost. In the hotel industry where personalised service is expected, lack of manpower is a major issue. The use of mechanical bed lifters and motorised trolleys at Rendezvous Grand Hotel makes it easier for housekeepers to make the bed and move the trolleys around. This not only saves time but also gives better protection to the senior workers in housekeeping. The technology need not be a cutting edge one, as landscape firm Blooms & Greens can testify. It introduced a self-made automation system to water the plants at its 4-hectare nursery. The result is fewer workers and a shorter time needed to cover the same area. ECONOMIES OF SCALE Another source of efficiency can be obtained through economies of scale making use of existing resources to produce slightly different products. One example is Golden Bridge Food Manufacturing, which initially focused on producing pork offerings such as Chinese waxed sausages, Taiwan sausages and pork floss, but later introduced halal canned luncheon meat to serve the Muslim market. Having an innovative product ride on existing resources to serve a new market may be crucial for survival in a highly competitive industry. Cost savings can arise from exploiting the economies of scale that is, the reduction in costs with bulk purchase of inputs, economised storage space and transport equipment, the division of labour and utilisation of machinery, and so on. Due to Singapore s small domestic market, SMEs will have to consider exporting to reap the benefits of economies of scale. In this respect, the Government can help them gain entry into foreign markets. To support the more productive measures, workers must be trained and employers must be prepared to allow the workers time to undergo training. SMEs usually have a small training budget, but there is assistance available such as the Workforce Development Agency s support scheme for Continuing Education and Training courses. Suitable training courses can be designed through tieups with institutions and the Government can play a facilitator role. The latter can also support SMEs quest for productivity by providing more grants and vouchers, and by simplifying the application procedures. Finally, creating a pleasant working environment helps to boost productivity. Remuneration apart, employers need to give their staff recognition to boost morale. Offering flexible working hours and opportunities to explore their potential can have a great impact in making employees more productive. Dr Tan Khay Boon is a Senior Lecturer with SIM Global Education. This rounds up a series on productivity. LIANHE ZAOBAO Thursday, February 21, 2013 学者 : 从长远来说应通过培训和教育等方式助月入最低群体增加收入 统计局公布的 2012 年住户收入主要趋势 报告显示, 计算通货膨胀后, 收入最低 10% 受雇居民住户去年的实际平均人均工作月入比 2011 年少了 1.2% 杨丹旭 / 报道 收入者的实际收入显著增高长之际, 收入最低的住户平均人均实际月入去年却出现负增长 受访学者指出, 政府的经济援助能帮低收入者应付短期生活需求, 不过从长远而言, 应通过培训和教育等更加可持续的方式, 协助这个群体提高收入 统计局昨天公布的 2012 年住户收入主要趋势 报告显示, 计算通货膨胀后, 收入最低 10% 受雇居民住户 (resident employed households) 去年的实际平均人均工作月入比 2011 年少了 1.2% 如果计算通货膨胀, 扣除了自住型住房的估算租金 (imputed rental), 这个群体去年的实际平均人均工作月入只微增 0.8%, 低于 2011 年时的 8.4% 相较之下, 收入最高 10% 受雇居民住户去年的收入涨幅在各收入组别中最高, 实际平均人均工作月入增长了 5.1% 如果在计算通货膨胀时扣除了估算租金, 这个群体去年的实际平均人均工作月入增幅则达到 5.6% 不过报告指出, 与其他组别相比, 收入最低 10% 受雇居民住户, 平均每个住户中受雇人数较少, 很大比率的人从事兼职工作或是年满 65 岁的年长者 新加坡管理学院全球教育高级讲师陈启文博士受访时说, 政府的税收和补贴等措施能适 当缩小收入差距, 不过更关键的问题在于 协助长期处在低收入阶层的人提升收入水平, 让收入差距不至于扩大以至造成社会不稳定 陈启文指出, 高收入人群往往能在科技发展和生产力提升的环境下受益 在竞争激烈的环境下, 具有更高能力的人能获得更高的收入增长 相反, 低收入者因为没有受过太高教育和培训, 很难搭上科技发展的顺风车 ; 他们同时也面临外籍劳工的竞争和被资本取代的压力 低收入群体向来是主要的社会援助对象 报告显示, 去年住在一房式和二房式组屋的居民住户人均获得平均 6138 元政府补贴, 住在公寓的住户人均只获得平均 460 元政府补贴 去年的财政预算案, 政府宣布派发永久的消费税补助券 (GST Voucher), 协助中低收入家庭应付消费税所带来的负担 下周一出炉的新一年财政预算案将如何提携弱势的低收入群体将是各方关注的焦点 陈启文说 : 更多补贴能帮他们 ( 低收入者 ) 解决眼前需求, 不过提供培训和教育机会, 从而提高他们的技能才是更可持续的 华侨银行经济师林秀心受访 时也强调向低收入群体提供教育和技能培训的重要性 她说, 收入最高 10% 群体的收入快速增长是 全球化和知识型经济 的体现, 因此新加坡需要在为低收入者提供教育和终身技能培训上做得更多, 以提高他们的受雇能力和薪金 新加坡国立大学社会学系副 教授陈恩赐则希望, 政府在新的财政预算案中能继续通过更多津贴措施协助低收入者, 同时也给出更多奖励, 鼓励他们提高技能和生产力, 更重要的是帮助低收入者提高他们的子女的社会流动性 yangdx@sph.com.sg SIM PAGE 22 January December 2013

23 LEADING THOUghts AND TRENDS THE STRAITS TIMES Wednesday, February 27, 2013 Reactions to Singapore Budget 2013 Walking a tightrope on foreign workers by Randolph Tan For The Straits Times THE primary thrust of Budget 2013 in addressing manpower, productivity and wage relativities is very much a continuation of a series of measures initiated in the aftermath of the 2009 recession. Singapore s Budgets have never been shy about venturing into the bedroom or the boardroom, but the range of economic measures in this one will affect business operations to such an extent that we will see the impact at the places we work, eat, shop and live in. On manpower, this Budget is the fourth successive one to raise levies on foreign workers, and the second in succession to tighten their Dependency Ratio Ceilings. To many observers, it was inevitable. By setting a target to slow foreign manpower inflows significantly by 2020, the Government was already committed to imposing further tightening measures. On the other side of the productivity equation, it is the fourth successive year that refinements are being introduced to the Productivity and Innovation Credit scheme to improve its accessibility. With the introduction of the Wage Credit Scheme, it is the third time that the Government is funding an innovation to shift wage relativities in favour of groups of Singaporean workers. Although the earlier levy increases would have run their course by the middle of this year, the last Budget had already warned of further levies if needed. So from a policy standpoint, it is hard to fault the coherence of the message. The graduated increases in levies since July 2010 are not something one should expect businesses to welcome, but there can be no mistaking the direction or the need to prepare for the new labour market reality. Appreciated or not, the policymakers are merely doing what no one else can in a free market economy. The levy increases price in the future limits to manpower growth that businesses will ultimately have to confront. By doing so, the long-term prospects for companies will be better than if they were left to be taken by surprise. The approach of this Budget is palpably different from those of previous Budgets. The measures are stronger and more insistent. The deadline is also clearer: The reductions in use of low-wage manpower have to be achieved within the next three years. This clarity will be helpful for businesses in planning their adjustment strategies. Nonetheless, the tone of this Budget betrays some impatience that the hiring appetite of businesses has persisted despite the combination of quantitative and price restrictions. If I have any concerns with the Budget, it is that the changes should not be precipitous. More than the changes themselves, it is the pace of change in areas such as restructuring and manpower use that has given rise to issues such as crowding and made productivity gains elusive. A less hurried pace of change in the past would have afforded us more time to adjust. If the pace of increase in foreign manpower in the last seven years or so has stressed Singapore society, then the pace of change as it moves towards reduced reliance should also be cautiously managed. While the need for stronger measures on manpower and productivity is easy to understand, it is another thing to expect that they will quickly produce the outcomes wished for. One only has to look at many of the developed economies to see that policy action alone does not There is no guarantee that too sharp a fall in reliance on foreign manpower will not impair the generation of jobs. So Singapore is on a tightrope as it moves forward. easily lead to job creation, or to productivity gains. Our conundrum could be worsened if these two were to be viewed as contradictory. I am sure that is not a belief anyone holds, let alone policymakers. But the reality is that the policy will depress the first in the hope of urging the second. One of the main reasons cited for the United States inability to quickly regain the millions of jobs it lost during the Great Recession is uncertainty. We should not underestimate the effect that too uncertain an environment could have on businesses, because any damage may not occur in degrees. There is no guarantee that too sharp a fall in reliance on foreign manpower will not impair the generation of jobs. So Singapore is on a tightrope moving forward. Job losses are to be expected, and the pain of transition will be real. That is a very dangerous tightrope to walk in too a short time. The best way to ensure success is for everyone involved to walk it hand in hand, and to make sure both businesses and workers have enough time to adjust. stopinion@sph.com.sg The writer is an associate professor at the School of Business, SIM University. SIM PAGE 23 January December 2013

24 GLOBAL-IS-ASIAN Issue 16, Jan Mar 2013 Spectrum Analysing Key Household Income Trends 2012 by Tan Khay Boon The unexplained omission of both non-labour income and households with no labour force participation and non-labour income presents a less than representative picture. Intuition suggests that the Gini coefficient may, in fact, be larger than what was reported. SINGAPORE has been embroiled in debates over income inequality issues in the past few years, not unlike other countries in the aftermath of the Great Financial Crisis. In the decade to 2012, the income gap as measured by the Gini coefficient has widened from 0.454, unadjusted for government taxes and redistributive transfer, to 0.478, with a higher figure demonstrating worsening income gaps. Even redistributive taxes and transfers failed to close the gap, with a coefficient of in 2002 widening to in Furthermore, the gap between the bottom and top 10 percentiles has exhibited greater divergence and demonstrates the need for policies to address deepening inequality. The Department of Statistics released the Key Household Income Trends 2012 report in February, indicating that the reported Gini coefficient, a measurement of income distribution in which a smaller number means more equal distribution, was before government taxes and redistributive transfers and after. In 2011, both values were lower at and respectively. Median monthly household income from wages increased in both nominal and real terms for 2012, and presents a significant increase in incomes across all deciles relative to the previous years. Between 2007 and 2012, the annualised real income change of the bottom 11th to 40th percentile has been increasing, with a decreasing trend of the 41st to 90th percentile. If this continues, the income gap between the two quartiles may eventually converge. In other words, income inequality may narrow. Yet, it seems unclear what factors and how each contributed to this marginal improvement. If policymakers and analysts were to better understand the underlying causes for the rise in income inequalities, a greater breakdown of the reported statistics would be very ben- eficial in the recommendation of corrective measures, especially for the lower income groups. Two pieces of statistics can further illustrate this. In 2012, the bottom and top 10 percent of households saw a nominal income increase of 4.3 percent and 9.6 percent respectively but Singapore s reported annual inflation stood at 4.6 percent, erasing the gains for the worse-off in society. While all income deciles would be affected, the impact of inflation is more marked on the lowest decile than the highest, as they spend a disproportionately bigger share of income on goods and services which make up the consumer price index. Adjusting for inflation and the proportion (weights) of expenditure, real income actually fell by 1.2 percent for the bottom 10 percent income stratum, but still increased by 5.1 percent for the top 10 percent income stratum. Another statistic to consider is imputed rent, an item in the CPI basket. Vegetables in a market in Singapore s Little India district. While Singapore s use of regressive transfers and progressive tax structures has helped mitigate the income gap somewhat, it did not manage to prevent the Gini coefficient from increasing. CREDIT: FLICKR/AARON P SIM PAGE 24 January December 2013

25 Imputed rent is the rental income forgone by the owner in occupying his/ her own accommodation. This effect is very evident to those who do not own, and rent public housing, namely those in the lowest income bracket. If imputed rent is removed from the CPI, a similar calculation will indicate that real income of the lowest 10 percent income stratum actually increases by 0.8 percent while real income of the top 10 percent increases by 5.6 percent. Seen another way, any increase in the CPI, or any one component in it, affects the lowest income decile more adversely than others. The Household Income Trends report acknowledges that households could potentially have non-work sourced income such as capital income that was not included, for instance, rental income, while the reported Gini was computed using only labour income (which is only 42 percent of total GDP in 2011). Capital income comes from investment dividends and rental income earned by households with more than one unit of housing or have spare capacity in their current ones. Incomes from either source can be substantial and are likely to only be accrued to those who have a greater ability to save. The reported Gini is also derived using data from households with at least one working individual. In Singapore, 9.2 percent households are not in the labour market and are excluded from the calculation. They cover the spectrum from households dependent on working adult children, transfers from the government or their pension payouts to those who enjoy accrued savings from capital, rental or other non-labour incomes. The unexplained omission of both non-labour income and households with no labour force participation and non-labour income presents a less than representative picture. Intuition suggests that the Gini coefficient may, in fact, be larger than what was reported. Policy Tweaks Needed An increasing income gap as reported in the Household Income Trends 2012 report can become a source of anxiety if steps are not taken to reduce it. While Singapore s use of regressive transfers and progressive tax structures has helped mitigate it somewhat, it did not manage to prevent the Gini coefficient from increasing. For the lowest decile especially, existing policies such as income assistance in high inflation periods and the expanded use of goods and services tax vouchers are helpful in raising real incomes. Lower public housing rental, greater rebates and subsidies on utilities, healthcare and ways to further this group s ability towards homeownership also go some way towards mitigating current income inequality levels. While the use of government taxes and transfers reduce the income gap to some degree, this merely addresses immediate needs, and does not help raise the long-term earnings potential of the various groups. There is a general positive correlation between higher incomes with technical change and productivity improvements. This is reflected in the managerial and technical skill sets of individuals, notably those who manage domestic enterprises. However, lower income groups are often unable to capitalise on such improvements. Attaining new skills often favours higher income workers as this is the group who can better afford to take time out for retraining. In contrast, older workers and those whose skills have become obsolete will be the most adversely affected. Singapore s policy-makers may do well to formulate policies to focus on making training and education opportunities available and accessible, restructuring local small-and-medium enterprises, widening the safety-net for enhanced risk-pooling through insurance and budgetary financing against external shocks. These policies in tandem may help social mobility. A compelling case can also be made for retirement financing as acknowledged in the 2013 Singapore Budget. These are all steps that would go far towards reducing income inequality in Singapore. Tan Khay Boon is a Senior Lecturer with SIM Global Education. He previously taught at Nanyang Technological University and SIM University, and is a regular commentator in the media on a variety of economic issues. He can be reached at tankhayboon@sim.edu.sg TODAY Saturday, March 1, 2013 LEADING THOUghts AND TRENDS Budget 2013 New hope for closing income gap by Tan Khay Boon THIS year s Budget has been more progressive than previous ones not only are there more opportunities for and help given to the low-income group to move up the ladder, there is also a larger tax liability for the affluent. It may pave the way for reducing the income gap. The Department of Statistics latest key household income trends indicate that although median monthly household nominal and real income increased last year, the Gini coefficient (an income inequality indicator) also trended upwards, even after accounting for government transfers and taxes. Real income of the bottom 10 per cent fell by 1.2 per cent, while for the top 10 per cent, it grew by 5.1 per cent before adjustment of imputed rent. A widening income gap may create societal anxiety and the Budget has made a concerted effort to address the issue. Three schemes in particular are helpful, but there are also concerns. The most prominent is the Wage Credit Scheme, where the Government will cofund 40 per cent of wage increases for Singaporean employees over the next three years. Unlike the Jobs Credit Scheme in 2009 which was introduced across a broad base to save jobs, this scheme is inclusive and targeted specifically at helping the employment of low- to medium-wage Singaporeans. This is most helpful to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which hire most of the workers in the lower-income group. But there are reservations among employers that the scheme only finances the wage increases and may not help to reduce current high labour costs. The other 60 per cent of the wage increase has to come from productivity gains for the firms to stay competitive, and there is no certainty that restructuring will be successful in generating sufficient revenue or cost savings to finance this. After all, incorporating advanced technology and machinery into work processes needs time, and workers also take time to change their mindset and acquire new skills. And what about those firms which try hard but are yet unable to attract Singaporean workers, and have no choice but to rely on foreign workers whose levies have increased significantly? Are downsizing, relocating or ceasing operations the only options? Some assurance from the Government that this scheme may be made more generous and extended beyond 2015 would help address anxieties. WEALTH TAX EFFECT The second scheme is to increase the tax liability of the rich in the form of higher property and car taxes at the top end. It is natural to expect the top 10 per cent of income earners to contribute more tax revenue. The usual concern is whether this will drive them out of Singapore, along with their assets, talent and contacts. To what extent this wealth tax will change the consumption and investment behaviour of the rich remains to be seen. But it is unlikely the rich would move their assets abroad as Singapore has no excise duty or capital gains tax; income tax remains competitive and corporate tax is low relative to other developed economies. Its attractiveness as a safe place to live and raise children also remains. While revised car taxes do not affect the lower or middle income, the curbs on car loans effected this week will. Even though it is in borrowers interest to repay loans early, the cut in repayment period from 10 to five years means a severe trade off with other expenses for households that need a car. The larger down payment is a constraint for even young managers and executives. While it is difficult for the Government to determine who needs a car more, some tweaking of the restrictions, to target luxury cars and allowing leeway for households with children and elders, would be helpful. The third scheme aims to increase social mobility and raise hope for the low income. Transfers in the form of GST (Goods and Services Tax) vouchers and rebates are an immediate help but do not help them climb the income ladder. The best way to break the vicious circle of poverty is still through education, which opens the way to higher-paying jobs. The Budget enhances subsidies, assistance and bursaries to enlarge the education opportunities for children in low-income households. The fact that low-income earners can pin their hopes on the next generation is an important confidence booster. Progressiveness is a strong theme in Budget Although it offers no minimum wage law nor a blanket pay increase for the lower-income, it pledges more opportunities for better-paying jobs to be taken by Singaporeans. And with more wealth tax revenue for redistribution and enhanced social mobility for the children of the lowincome, there is new hope the Gini coefficient may shrink in the future. Dr Tan Khay Boon is a Senior Lecturer with SIM Global Education. Originally published in Global-is-Asian Issue 16 by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Find all issues of Global-is-Asian at school-magazine-global-is-asian/ SIM PAGE 25 January December 2013

26 The straits times Saturday, March 9, 2013 Boosting wages to boost productivity by Seet Min Kok For The Straits Times MAJOR wage restructuring exercise took place in the 1980s (the A so-called high wage policy ), while another one is now occurring. But there are key differences. This year, in the recent Budget proposal, a new wage restructuring scheme for the period was unveiled. This Wage Credit Scheme (WCS) involves the Government s coverage of 40 per cent of the pay increases of Singaporean workers who earn a gross monthly salary of up to $4,000 over the next three years. Labour chief Lim Swee Say said last Saturday that the pace of implementation of the WCS will be pivotal to the success of the entire wage restructuring programme. He cautioned that too fast a pace, like what happened in the 1980s, would cause firms to fold, leaving workers without jobs. The key objective of the wage restructuring programme is to enhance the productivity of workers by inducing firms to pay them higher wages. What is the link between wage increases and worker productivity? There is empirical evidence to suggest a positive relationship between wage increases and the productivity of workers in firms. Economic theory, underlined by efficiency wage models, offers several explanations for the wage-productivity nexus: Workers paid higher wages incur higher costs of losing their jobs hence inducing them to work harder, that is, they are more productive so as to keep their jobs; Higher wages can encourage more workers to queue up more eagerly for the higher-paying jobs thereby enabling the firm to select better, more productive workers from a larger pool; and n Workers who are paid higher wages are less likely to quit, thus reducing the firm s turnover and cutting down the costs of hiring and training new workers. In a way, the high wage policy implemented by the Government over was also aimed at enhancing worker productivity. At that time, the objective was to encourage firms to move out of low value-added activities to higher value-added ones that required firms to be staffed with higher skilled and more productive workers. Nonetheless, there are three significant differences between the policy and the wage restructuring. First, in the high wage policy implemented over , the National Wages Council recommended a 20 per cent across-the- board wage increase per annum, including contributions to Central Provident Fund accounts and to the Skills Development Fund. In contrast, the wage restructuring exercise is more aimed at helping firms ease their costs of hiring the relatively lower to middle-skilled Singaporean workers earning below a certain income level ($4,000). Government subsidy of the wage increase allows firms in the private sector to assess, at the margin, how much more they can afford to pay their workers in line with productivity improvements. This is preferable to a direct wage subsidy to workers or employers, which might not be linked to workers productivity gains. Secondly, in line with the Government s objective in the recent Budget proposal to build a more inclusive society, the wage restructuring exercise underlines an important redistributive element in the Budget. The WCS, which offers government financial support for subsidising the wage increases of mid- to low-income Singaporean workers earning below $4,000, provides an added incentive for employers to raise the wages of these employees in order to raise their productivity. With the WCS benefiting nearly 70 per cent of all Singaporean employees, the mid- to low-income groups whose monthly incomes are below $4,000 will stand to gain more than the higher income workers from the wage increases. On the other hand, firms which hire Singaporeans whose incomes are above $4,000 do not enjoy any government wage subsidies. Hence, employers have less incentive to raise the wages of Singaporean workers who earn above $4,000, compared to those earning below $4,000. The fact that the Government s copayment of 40 per cent of the wage increases of Singaporean workers earning below $4,000 is funded using tax revenue also reflects the redistributive element of the Budget. This should help to narrow the income gap between the rich and poor in Singapore s society. Thirdly, the current economic environment today is radically different from that which prevailed during Over the period, the Singaporean economy grew at a rapid annual rate of 10 per cent. In contrast, the ongoing euro zone debt problems and sluggish growth in the United States economy will likely dampen the Singapore economy s growth prospects over the next one to two years. The sub-par economic growth will hold down firms revenues and profits, thereby hampering their ability to afford substantial wage increases for workers. Taking these three differences into consideration, the pace of wage restructuring this time round is expected to be relatively sluggish, unlike the accelerated wage increases seen following the implementation of the high wage policy. With this slower pace, the expected productivity gains will likely take time to bring about tangible benefits for firms and for the overall Singapore economy. On a positive note, the more targeted approach in the wage restructuring coupled with its slower pace of implementation suggest a smaller risk of a sharp acceleration in wages across the whole economy and a lower risk of Singapore ending up as an overly high-cost economy. stopinion@sph.com.sg The writer is senior lecturer at SIM Global Education and a council member of the Economic Society of Singapore. The straits times Monday, April 22, 2013 Free rides: Flexi-work is key to success Experts say travel habits can change if bosses agree to stagger work hours by Jermyn Chow TRANSPORT analysts are optimistic that the Government s upcoming year-long experiment to offer free train rides would help ease the city s morning peak hour crunch. This is because the authorities are also encouraging bosses to stagger work hours. Last week, it was announced that, starting June 24, commuters will pay nothing if they exit 16 MRT stations in the city before 7.45am. They get a 50 cent discount between 7.45am and 8am. But a straw poll by The Straits Times found that nearly 60 per cent of commuters would change their travel habits only if they got to finish work earlier. That is the key, said Nanyang Technological University adjunct associate professor Gopinath Menon. He believes perks must go with efforts to get employers to stagger their working hours, and encourage staff to travel before the 8am to 9am crunch. He also noted that a campaign in the 1970s to stagger work hours in the civil service and private sector did not take off. Things might be different now because there is a carrot to entice people to switch and travel earlier, said Prof Menon, pointing to the free trips. Currently, seven organisations with a combined staff of more than 10,000 are part of the Government s pilot Travel Smart scheme to motivate staff to change their travel habits. Dr Park Byung Joon, who heads the master s programme in urban transport management at SIM University, believes flexible work hours can become the culture with the Government in the lead. Some 14,000 civil servants who work in the 40 or so public agencies around the CBD can take advantage of the free train rides. Flexi-working arrangement in just a few to a dozen companies will not have a significant impact, said Dr Park. But if it works well for those companies, other companies can be encouraged to offer a similar work arrangement. Another plus is the 7.45am cut-off time to get the 100 per cent discount. National University of Singapore transport researcher Lee Der Horng called it generous, and that it complements the lifestyle some are adopting here. Most young parents have to send their children to school before 7.30am and many commuters are also chang- ing their routines like getting up earlier to exercise before they go to work, he said. Melbourne tried a similar scheme, but peak-hour traffic in the Australian state was reduced by just 2 per cent. One reason was that it required commuters to end their trips before 7am. Transport analyst Graham Currie, who studied the Melbourne scheme, said it would have been more popular if the cut-off time was extended to 7.30am. While the free travel scheme here applies to only 16 stations in the city, such as City Hall and Outram Park, other early travel perks, such as a chance to win a $200 cash prize each month, are run across all stations. Ms Doreen Lai, who can save up to $90 a month with the free travel scheme, is willing to get up earlier. But it all boils down to her also getting to leave work earlier. Said the 25-year-old analyst: So long as I can end work early, I wouldn t mind having an earlier start. jermync@sph.com.sg SIM PAGE 26 January December 2013

27 LEADING THOUghts AND TRENDS TODAY Wednesday, March 27, 2013 A behavioural economics view Integrating foreigners isn t a lost cause by Zhang Jianlin If to avoid being perceived negatively is innate to human nature, then spelling out consistently and constantly what the expected behaviours are could well help foreigners adjust and integrate in this country. ON A recent trip to present a research paper in Tokyo, I was surprised to not hear a single mobile phone ringing or a commuter talking loudly on the subway. Despite the train coach being notoriously crowded, the quiet was deafening. Just as I was starting to wonder why the Japanese were behaving so considerately towards others, I heard announcements, first in Japanese then in English, over the sound system that all mobile phones must be switched to silent mode inside the coach. What can we learn from the Japanese subway management to help our foreign friends better integrate in Singapore? Our Government has in recent times been sounding the refrain that foreigners whom Singapore welcomes to its shores must do their part in learning and adapting to our culture. Will this be a call in vain? From a behavioural economist s view, I believe not. It is in one s self-interest not to deviate from the social norms of the society we live in. The assumption that man is rational and selfinterested is Economics 101. Indeed, it is what distinguishes economics from other social sciences such as sociology. While social scientists have long frowned upon such a simplistic view, it is only recently that behavioural economists have also challenged the validity of this assumption. THE GENEROUS DICTATOR? A simple way to test this assumption is by running a dictator game experiment. In this game, one player, known as the dictator, is asked to allocate any amount of his money to an anonymous recipient. According to the common assumption, standard economic theory predicts that the dictator would give nothing to the recipient. Over the past 30 years, researchers across the globe have conducted countless dictator game experiments. The outcome, as summarised by Professor Colin Camerer of the California Institute of Technology, showed that, contrary to expectations, the majority of dictators gave away between 20 per cent and 30 per cent of their money. The finding puzzled many economists. Borrowing ideas from neighbouring sciences in particular psychology, behavioural economists like Professor James Andreoni of the University of California San Diego sought to offer the explanation that people gain a warm glow when they sacrificed their own material benefit for the benefit of others. According to Professors Ernst Fehr and Urs Fischbacher of the University of Zurich, we feel compassionate towards those who are worse off and giving to them helps to manage this feeling and improve our own happiness. Fundamentally, therefore, even giving is still a selfish act. Recently, competing explanations have also been proposed. One school of thought argues that giving meets people s innate desire to avoid appearing selfish. Together with Professor Yohanes Eko Riyanto from the Nanyang Technological University, we conducted an experiment to prove or debunk the existence of this negative image avoidance. We asked recipients to write a message to dictators after having received a token sum of money from them. By default, the message would be given to the dictators for free. However, the dictators could pay the experimenter to stop the message from being passed back to them. One might argue that the recipients negative impressions probably did not matter much to those dictators who chose to give little in the first place. But this was not the case. THE DISAPPROVAL OF OTHERS The dictators spent about 43 per cent of their own money that could have been earned from participating in the experiment to prevent the expected negative messages from reaching them. Even though they could simply get the messages for free and refrain from reading them, the mere thought of receiving something negative propelled them to give up about half of their money to ensure the messages did not get to them at all. In other words, the self-interested incentive to avoid knowing the disapproval of others was strong. The recent unabated debate about locals vs foreigners hinges on the assumption that there exists a common set of social norms and culture unique to Singapore. If to avoid being perceived negatively or at least avoid knowing that one is being viewed negatively is innate to human nature, then spelling out consistently and constantly what the expected and desired behaviours are could well help foreigners adjust and integrate in this country. Even in a mature and homogenous society such as Japan, reminders of clearly defined expectations of behaviour are repeatedly given to people so as to induce the desired manners. The Government and Singaporeans alike can do their part in defining what is considered Singaporean, and what is not, and roll out programmes to systematically communicate this message. While this may not be an exact science, going by behavioural economics, there is a chance that Singapore might just be successful in its integration efforts. Zhang Jianlin is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at SIM Global Education. ZAOBAO SUNDAY Sunday, May 5, 2013 新加坡华语电影节 虽然没有新加坡电影参展, 在首届新加坡华语电影节两场座谈会上, 透过本地电影人的参与, 让我们清晰地听到新加坡电影创作人的声音 符诗专学人视角月底五月初, 新跃中华学术中四心与新加坡电影协会合办了一连十天的首届新加坡华语电影节 从动念要合办 选片 敲定片目 定场地 邀电影人 宣传 到开幕, 这个过程前后用了六个月的时间 对一个研究华语电影的人来说, 能够筹办一个华语电影节, 借此机会与华语电影银幕前后的电影人请教 交流, 无疑是进一步了解这个文化工业最直接的方式 此外, 这次电影节许多大小事宜, 由电影协会副主席李富楠协调并操盘, 除了让本次电影节少走许多弯曲的上坡路, 也让我见识到电影事业中, 发行和放映这两个重要环节在本地实际操作的情形 关于电影, 人们习惯性地会把焦距集中在制作, 而忽略后面这两个环节 其实一部电影作品在完成后, 是否能够展现在观众眼前, 关键在发行和放映是否到位 就此而言, 新加坡电影协会这个自 1958 年成立的团体, 多年来为许多原本不可能在本地上映的电影, 创造了一个放映的管道, 是衔接电影创作人和观众的桥梁, 更是打 开国人电影视野的文化推手 新加坡电影协会是个由爱看电影的人所组成的团体 可是和其他爱看电影的人不一样的是, 这群人不满足于主流院线所提供的作品, 而主动地去寻觅有诚意 有想法, 却苦于无法在本地发行 放映的作品 这些作品虽然只放映极少的场次, 可是时间久了 放映的作品多了, 无形中却也为本地电影人提供了额外的创作养分 对绝大多数的电影创作者而言, 观赏电影和创作电影是相辅相成的同一件事 不懂得欣赏他人作品, 只一味闷头创作的电影人, 电影创作的路只怕走得再辛苦也不会太长久 倒是懂得观赏而不创作的电影人, 可以从事许多创作以外而跟电影有关的事 : 发行 推广 评论 教育 研究或干脆做个轻松自在的观众 这些都是在创作之外, 电影文化的重要组成部分 电影协会对本地这个部分电影文化的贡献, 是有目共睹的 新加坡华语电影节原则上, 沿袭了电影协会这种以非主流院线电影为主轴的精神 记忆中这应该是本地大学第一次参与筹办, 以华语, 以及包括两岸三地在内的大中华区电影为对象的影展 在所选出的十部作品中, 中国及台湾各有四部剧情片, 另有两部则是来自香港的纪录片 另一个选片的大方向则是电影, 必须是在近一两年在原产地推出 不曾在本地院线上映过的作品 这样的选片原则, 好处是让本地的观众能够看到华语电影的不同风貌 本地主流院线的华语电影以类型电影为主, 其中动作片又是重中之重 这些不同风貌的华语电影, 可以让我们看到华人世界里的人生百态, 不至于老是在银幕上看到杀气腾腾, 拼个你死我活的画面 可是, 以本地首映作为选片的原则之一, 造成了本届新加坡华语电影节没有新加坡电影参展的情况 在敲定片目时, 其实早已警觉完成制作的新加坡电影, 大都已经以不同的方式在本地上映了 这个缺憾看来只能期许在下一届, 会有本地电影选择以新加坡华语电影节作为首映平台来加以弥补 虽然没有新加坡电影参展, 在首届新加坡华语电影节两场座谈会上, 透过本地电影人的参与, 让我们清晰地听到新加坡电影创作人的声音 4 月 28 日在艺术之家举办的 华语电影的本土风和普世价值 : 一场台 港 新电影人的对话 座谈会, 在本地纪录片导演邓宝翠的主持下, 演而优则导的庄米雪与台湾制作人李烈 香港导演陈安琪说起创作电影的艰辛时, 竟然发现三个不同地方的三个电影人, 都曾经为了筹集资金拍片而押房子 卖房子, 以及片子拍完后却又要为发行 放映所苦的共同经验 至于在第二场题目定为 艺术与商业之间 的华语电影编导论坛上, 本地导演韩耀光 蔡于位 陈哲艺和中国导演王竞 郝杰将在交流中, 探讨新中两地电影创作的异同, 以及在电影创作的过程中, 艺术与商业的分界在哪里? 对这项活动有兴趣的读者, 不妨在今天下午 2 时 30 分到旧国会大厦艺术之家 (The Arts House) 听一听, 感染一下首届新加坡华语电影节的气息 ( 作者是新跃大学新跃中华学术中心副主任 ) SIM PAGE 27 January December 2013

28 TODAY Monday, April 22, 2013 Education in Singapore Private vs public? Let s move beyond the dichotomy by Andrew Yeo Zhi Jian CONVERSATION with an acquaintance on the A merits, pitfalls and future of education in Singapore surfaced some insights into the common insecurities we faced as students, he being from a local university and I from a private one. As we began comparing our journeys to where we are now in life, I started wondering about the necessity for the public-private distinction. Since the inception of the Private Education Act in December 2009, Private Education Institutions (PEIs) offering education leading to the award of a diploma or degree have been required to register with the Council for Private Education (CPE). This tightening of regulations has largely accomplished its two intended effects. Firstly, the new rules have forced PEIs to improve on both their infrastructural and academic services. As a result of this, the second and more important effect has been a beneficial and better-rounded experience for students both academically and in terms of their student life. Despite the raising of academic standards, a corresponding shift in employers attitudes and indeed that of the community towards private degree holders has been slow to achieve. As such, it would be useful to address several misconceptions prevalent among individuals and organisations. A FALSE DICHOTOMY The first and most polarising issue is the false dichotomy between public and private education. The mere mention of legitimising private degrees and I mean this in the truest sense of the word, which is a full recognition of the degree on equal terms as public degrees is usually met with raised eyebrows. The sentiment on the ground, one already made tense by competition with foreign talent, is also one reluctant to add private degree holders into the already large pool of competitors. However, this dichotomy is a false one because legitimising the private degrees of Singaporeans does not necessarily herald a larger pool of competitors in the job market. In fact, the eradication of this public-versus-private-qualification distinction and a renewed focus on the relevant occupational competencies in its place also remove the need to bring in foreign talent who supposedly possess competencies that Singaporeans are thought not to have. A zero-sum mentality has to be avoided; the divide between you (public) and me (private) must give way to a larger appreciation of us. DE-HOMOGENISING PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS Secondly, the homogenisation of private schools is insensitive to both students and the governing structures within such institutions. For example, does it not make sense that if the behaviour of a student in a private school is found wanting, the onus should be on the students of that school to rally together to better the image of their school, instead of students from private education in general being cast in the same tainted light? On an organisational level, the different degree programmes offered by foreign universities provide different levels of faculty involvement with their main campuses as well, and so it is once again erroneous to assume that even all the degrees within the private institution are similar in nature. Here, the CPE should begin a large-scale survey to Our education and degrees are not an end in itself but a means to fulfil longer- and short-tem wants like a seamless transition into the job market. PHOTO: NTU not only assess faculty expertise level but also other umbrella concerns, such as student academic development and student life development, which should encompass institutional accessibility to resources such as internships (global and local), the availability of exchange programmes with foreign universities, the number of student clubs and the various other factors that make each of our educational sojourns so memorable. SOCIAL LEVELLING Thirdly, among private education students are many who did not make it to our public universities due to a lack of maturity in their younger days and those who had to juggle work and school in their polytechnic/junior college days, leaving them less time to study. I identify with the group of students in the former category but have many friends and acquaintances who belong to both. Despite the differences in our backgrounds, we, along with any student public or private in Singapore, share the same concerns and turn to education as a stepping stone and, to many extents, as a social leveller. The private education student, however, faces many impediments at the institutional level. For one, Edusave is not available to fund the already costlier private degree. Transport fare subsidies are also not extended to private education students. Far from saying that private students are competent and public students are not, this is a call for a renewed focus on the importance of competence over qualification. Also, private degree students looking for meaningful internships have a harder time securing such positions as companies are required to pay Central Provident Fund contributions to these students, a regulation that public degree students do not face. The cumulative effect of these circumstances is social inequality among students as young as 19. COMPETENCE, NOT QUALIFICATIONS Our education system has to shift from this publicprivate dichotomy to one that places competency for the occupation at the forefront of consideration. It does a competent private student no good to enter the workforce dejected at public perception. Far from saying that private students are competent and public students are not, this is a call for a renewed focus on the importance of competence over qualification. Logically, the occupational chances of a student should not be decided at the pre-university level but during the course of study in his/her tertiary institution. Human resource practitioners must brainstorm ways to assess skill sets beyond the superficial, and be less dismissive of individuals who might lack the qualifications but possess the tools required for the job. This can usually be measured in the form of writing samples, portfolio presentations and even fair job probation periods. In turn, a greater appreciation and recognition of the role human resource practitioners play as gatekeepers to their companies must happen. Socrates once described education as the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel. Let us look beyond the public-private dichotomy and remember that education and the degree we receive is not an end in itself, but a means to fulfil both longer-term ambitions and shorter-term wants, such as a more seamless transition into the job market. Andrew Yeo Zhi Jian is a final year sociology student at the University at Buffalo s programme at the Singapore Institute of Management. He will further his studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science at the end of the year. SIM PAGE 28 January December 2013

29 LEADING THOUGHTS AND TRENDS ZAOBAO SUNDAY Sunday, May 26, 2013 理财锦囊 因利益冲突 股票分析报告 难权衡 不同分析员针对个股提出的建议往往不尽相同甚至相 反 这会使投资者无所适从 投资者究竟要如何从众说纷纭的分析员报告中辨真 章 本报请新跃大学 SIM University 商学院财务课 程副主任兰德哈瓦博士和汇丰银行零售银行与财 富管理主管保罗 阿罗史密斯指点迷津 让理 财专家为你排忧解难 韩宝镇 投资者 我 一向依赖分析员的报告来选股 不同的分析员不时有相左的意 见 为同一只股票定出的目标价也不一样 不同分析员的评断可 能有很大差别 一个建议 买入 其他的则建议 持有 或 卖出 事后我发现 有些股票从来都不会高过分析员列出的目标价 有些则 远远超越了目标价 我想知道 分析员的看法与建议对我的投资决定 能起到怎样的引导作用 投资者不应只阅读分析员报告 由于分析方法不同 目标价准确度有异 兰德哈瓦博士 Dipinder S Randhawa 阿罗史密斯 Paul Arrowsmith 司在有关领域中的竞争力 研究与开发能力和管理专 长 后 作 出 知 情 决 定 informed decision 这个领域或存在利益 冲突 兰德哈瓦博士 投资者可以在详 细阅读分析员报告和公司年报 以及了解该公司在有关领域中的 竞争力 研究与开发能力和管理 专长后 作出知情决定 随 着基金管理行业在 过去30年的快速发 展 金融公司聘请的分析员 越来越多 和任何领域的情 况一样 分析员的能力参差 不齐 而 明星 分析员受 到投资者密切关注 学历不 足或不太合格的分析员吠影 吠声的情况 在这个行业中 不在少数 不幸的是 投资者要如 何善用分析员的建议 并没 有明确的策略 投资者可 以在详细阅读分析员报告 和公司年报 以及了解该公 SIM 分析员的建议有多准 确 在我看来 卖方的评 级 sell-side rating 总是 倾向于 买入 这反映 出这个领域中存在着利益 冲突 一个常见的例子是 投资银行也提供利润丰厚 的股票经纪服务 其取悦 客户的心态 造成巨大的 利益冲突 这是因为 投 资银行如果发出负面的研 究报告 将可能造成它失 去客户和利润丰厚的经纪 业务 你想知道分析员的报 告对你的投资可以起到多 大的引导作用 我认为 分析报告提出的最终建 议 是整份报告中用处最 小的其中一部分 一份好 的研究报告 当中的其他 研究发现 将能够让潜在 投资者作出知情决定 所幸 分析员多年来 都受到法律条规的严密监 督 初步证据显示这能够 促使分析员有更良好的行 为 分析员报告无法降低 投资风险 分析员的报告无法降 低投资者面对的风险 风 险并不仅取决于投资者所 持有的股票 而在于投资 组合是否多元化 你可以将分析员的研 究报告 配合其他报告一 起阅读 你也可以看一看 披露声明 disclosure statement 以了解分析 员和他所分析的公司之间 是否存在利益冲突 以及 查看公司过去的表现和分 析员之前盈利预测的准确 度 这些资料都可以找 到 但需要投资者花一些 时间和精力 查看分析员的表现纪 录对投资者有利 不过 在有效市场中 过去的情 况并不能预示未来 正如 苹果 Apple 在上世纪 90年代初的表现无法预见 到接下来的大动荡 而苹 果今日的表现也无法准确 地预测它在2015年的股 价 如 果投资者想更多地 了解自己有意投资 的股票 那么分析员的研 究报告是一项不错的参 考 报告中的建议是根据 分析员的研究作出的 不同的分析员如何进 行研究和解读研究结果 会造成他们的意见有很大 差别 这主要取决于分析 员采用的研究方法 包括 定量 quantitative 与定 性 qualitative 分析 定量分析的是公司的 财务数据 如股本回报率 return on equity 而 定性分析则审视带动公司 业务的因素 公司基本面 及其在现有经济局势下的 盈利能力 有关股票定价 的估值模式 valuation model 也是研究方法的 主要组成部分 不同分析员预测的目 标价准确度有所差异 分 析员会测量自己预测的准 确度 这将决定他预测未 来12个月股价的能力 分 析员采用的不同分析方 法 会考虑到不同的因 素 一名分析员对自己研 究的公司所处的领域越熟 悉 他的研究报告或目标 价预测将越准确 目标价准确度 与股票特定风险背道 而驰 目标价的准确度 跟 个别分析员本身的乐观看 法和股票的特定风险之 间 存在着背道而驰的关 系 股票的特定风险可由 股票的波动性和市账率测 量出来 而目标价的准 确度却跟每一份报告 的仔细程度 以及分 析员所属投资银行 的规模和声誉 有着同步并进的关系 必须注意的是 你应 该根据自己的风险承受力 和想要获得多大回报的心 态作出投资决定 而不是 仅仅依靠可能具有主观性 的目标价 由于分析员和 他所分析的公司之间可能 存在利益冲突 因此你不 应该将分析员列出的目标 价和评级 当成是自己唯 一的投资建议 你应该详细查看公司 的财务报表 财务报表很 容易从年报中取得 里面 有相关的历史数据和关于 公司表现的资料 有些公 司会举办季度投资者说明 会 为股东和机构投资者 提供关于公司发展方向及 策略的最新消息 参与者 将能够深入了解该公司 当前的政治与经济局 势 可能影响到公司的表 现和某个领域的盈利能 力 因此投资者能够掌握 这类消息是极其重要的 例如 当经济表现不佳 时 一些防御性领域像保 健和公用事业 总是会表 现得比周期性领域来得 好 阿罗史密斯 由于分析员和他所分析的公司之间 可能存在利益冲突 因此你不应该将分析员列出 的目标价和评级 当成是自己唯一的投资建议 PAGE 29 January December 2013

30 THE EDGE SINGAPORE Monday, June 10, 2013 Low-cost long-haul carrier AirAsia X taps capital market, AirAsia brand for expansion by Michelle Teo AZRAN OSMAN RANI, CEO of AirAsia X, readily admits the low-cost long-haul carrier made a big mistake when it first started flying. The mistake wasn t choosing to fly long haul to Europe; rather, it was the fixed-back shell seats and individual inflight entertainment systems on its first aircraft. Passengers could not get the seats to recline while the TV screens and connecting cabling, which were hardly used, weighed an extra two tonnes and required more fuel to fly. The plane was quickly retrofitted and the fiasco ended up as a US$15 million write-off. Speaking at a lecture organised by the Singapore Institute of Management recently, Azran puts the experience down to part of the steep learning curve that Air Asia X, as the first low-cost long-haul carrier in Southeast Asia, had to climb very quickly. If you re doing something new, you can t get everything right. Majority-owned by AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes through stakes held under partnerships and the airline group AirAsia Bhd, AirAsia X launched in November 2007 with a flight to the Gold Coast in Australia from Kuala Lumpur. The following year, it launched the ambitious KL-London flight. By that time, the only other long-haul budget airline to fly from Asia to London, Hong Kong-based Oasis, had succumbed to crippling fuel prices and gone into liquidation. Early last year, AirAsia X restructured its route network to focus on mediumhaul destinations. It scrapped flights to Europe and India, even though flights to New Delhi and Mumbai were becoming gross margin profitable, according to Azran. AirAsia X then focused on flying between KL and a select number of cities in Australia, China, Japan and South Korea. Today, it flies to 14 destinations, including to Nepal and Jeddah. We wanted to take those planes [from New Delhi] and put them into seven times [weekly] Sydney; move the capacity from Mumbai and add it to Japan, Azran explains. The strategy is, pick a few markets Australia, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and become market leaders there, in terms of number of flights and destinations. After extensive adjustment to its product and business model, the carrier is now preparing to tap the capital markets for expansion its US$300 million ($374 million) IPO in Kuala Lumpur is scheduled for next month. Going to market Europe and India cost AirAsia X dearly, leading the carrier to sustain pretax losses in FY2011 and 1HFY2012 of RM96.6 million and RM29.1 million respectively. But its performance in 2HFY2012 made up for those losses, according to its February 2013 state- Today Monday, May 27, 2013 Employee productivity What do engagement surveys really assess? Commentary by David Cohen DOES an increase in employee engagement scores lead to an increase in productivity, or is the converse true? A recent Forbes article, Why Employee Engagement?, states that increased engagement scores are linked to improvements in everything from retention, customer service revenue, profit and shareholder returns, to service, sales, quality and more. You would think a little effort in improving employee engagement would cure just about anything in the workplace. Couple this line of reasoning with statistics from reputable consulting firms that indicate only 31 per cent of employees are engaged and 17 per cent are actually actively disengaged. Even when engaged, only 70 per cent say they have a good understanding of how to meet customer needs. This reinforces the notion that focusing on engagement scores leads to improvements in everything about the business. No wonder companies put in so much effort to create engagement programmes and activities. There is nothing wrong with employers trying to improve productivity by providing staff with rewards and recognition, not to mention other goodies like development and autonomy, and the perks of babysitting, exercise programmes and the like. While all are helpful, you still have to ask, how do these efforts impact productivity? The questions asked in employee engagement surveys tend to focus the blame for low engagement on matters external to the employee. The assumption is that employees are engaged, or not, because of their perceptions of their boss, their work environment or what they receive from the employer rather than what they themselves contribute. VALUING CONTRIBUTIONS While the company might want to make an employee feel as though someone is doing something for them, engagement is actually internal to the individual. Does the employee find meaning in the work that they do and the contribution they make? Contrast the difference in engagement level when an employee does his or her routine job, with when they volunteer to take on a task or try to do something for the greater good. In my research, I find that engaged employees always take pride in the contribution they make to the company. For example, an employee at a car part supply company remarked that her friends did not like being with her when the new car models hit the road because each time she saw a car with their part, she got excited. Another employee at a different company takes great pride in the item they manufacture because it makes a significant contribution to the country s economy. Such people are engaged not because of the things the company does for them or how their bosses act, but because of the intrinsic value they feel they contributed to the success of something beyond themselves. They would not leave their job for more money or perks because they love their work. Interestingly, in the second example, engagement scores for that company were quite low because the survey asked faulty questions. In my view, scores are good indicators of what people think the firm is doing for them not necessarily how they feel about what they are doing for the company. OFFER MEANINGFUL WORK I believe that companies should stop focusing on what can be done to make employees more engaged through external efforts. They should focus more on providing meaningful work or helping employees find meaning in the contribution they make. Employee engagement does result in bigger profits because enthusiastic employees stay, contribute discretionary effort and feel that their contribution is meaningful beyond their own job. Leaders and managers need to: Focus on two or three key examples of how the work they do contributes to something bigger. Communicate this message initially to employees who are committed and engaged, then ask them to influence others with similar feelings. Create a sense among employees that they have passion and pride in what they do. Executives should share their passion for work, and identify times when success energises the company and infuses positive momentum. These efforts will help turn the focus of employee engagement away from what the company does for staff and back on what the staff does for the company. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr David S Cohen, Adjunct Professor, Schulich School of Business, York University. He will be facilitating seminars on succession planning and interviewing skills in July for SIM Professional Development. SIM PAGE 30 January December 2013

31 LEADING THOUghts AND TRENDS ment. The airline said it carried 2.58 million passengers during the year, or 2.2% more than in FY2011. This should be an incentive for potential investors. According to its draft prospectus exposure, AirAsia X is offering million shares in total. About 44% of the proceeds will go towards the repayment of shortterm borrowings. Another 22% will be set aside for capital expenditure. The airline currently has 13 widebody A330s, with five more to be delivered this year, and another seven in Half of its fleet is on an operating lease, while the other half is on a finance lease. The airline also has 10 of Airbus newest jet, the A , on order. The twin-engine aircraft, expected to join the fleet by 2018, will be configured to seat 452 passengers and allow the carrier to fly long haul. AirAsia X flew to London and Paris on the fuel-guzzling four-engine A340s. Even though we re more than doubling our capacity, we don t intend to add a single new country [to our route network], Azran says. Instead, AirAsia X will work on increasing the frequency to existing destinations, such as Kuala Lumpur to Sydney or Taipei, to twicedaily. There is still a lot of demand, especially when Singapore has eight to 10 flights a day [to these cities]. AirAsia X will also expand toother cities within these countries, particularly where the main AirAsia brand is already established. In China alone, there is Xiían, Chongqing and Wuhan that we can add to. The thing that s different from the first five years of our existence is that most of these cities already have an AirAsia entity flying into it, Azran says. Not only is the brand more established in a country such as China, but they are also used to airasia.com and buying tickets using the Internet. So the conversion rate from a new route to a profitable route should be much faster. The carrier will explore joint ventures to set up secondary hubs in key Asian cities, again focusing on where AirAsia has already set up a base. One reason is to capitalise on feeder traffic from AirAsia s short-haul services; Azran says about 40% of the carrier s passengers last year were on connecting flights. Without a brand and feeder network, we would not be where we are today. Industry analyst CAPA Centre for Aviation noted in April that the airline was close to establishing an affiliate in Bangkok, from where it carries a large number of passengers to its four Australian destinations. Serving Australia from Thailand directly is logical given the success AirAsia X has had in Australia, its most profitable market by far. And, AirAsia X could soon return to India, where it withdrew flights to New Delhi and Mumbai due to what Azran calls structural issues. Airport and handling costs were high and a 280% fee hike was introduced in April Demand was also affected by Malaysia s removal of visa-on-arrival facilities for Indian visitors. Still, Azran believes the country holds tremendous potential as a destination, and following the launch of AirAsia India, a domestic airline joint venture with Tata Sons, an international operation could follow. According to Indian aviation regulations, a domestic carrier must be in operation for five years before being eligible to start overseas flights. Breaking barriers Low-cost carriers (LCCs) have done much to create demand for air travel, and Azran is proud of the impact AirAsia X has made. He says the number of passengers to Melbourne and Taipei from Malaysia grew some 90% and 87% respectively after the launch of its flights. Separately, Azran recounts how the low-cost terminal in KL did not have a transfer desk until the airline persuaded the airport authorities to allow it to set up a makeshift counter for passengers connecting from AirAsia s short-haul flights. In the process, it earned ancillary revenue, at a 90% profit margin, from the facility. The airline has been finding new ways to earn income from existing inventory, and many ideas come simply from observing customers. While booking a flight, for example, passengers can take a chance on having a row of seats to themselves, for a fee. If those seats are eventually taken up, their money is refunded. One can also pay more to sit in the Quiet Zone at the front of the cabin, where children are not allowed. The airline also keeps a tight lid on costs. He says the amount of water for flushing toilets carried on each flight is carefully calculated as every kilo saved is money. Additionally, inflight meals, which full-service airlines tend to spend more on by over-catering and manually assembling the trays, are pre-booked to order, with perhaps a few extra, and delivered in single packages. According to Azran, AirAsia X s cost per available seat kilometre (CASK) is 3.7 US cents. Fuel accounts for 48%. In comparison, a full-service Middle East carrier s CASK averages 8.2 US cents, with 40% going to fuel, and a European carrier s is as high as 14.6 US cents. Despite his success, Azran had no airline experience before becoming CEO of AirAsia X in July After completing an electrical engineering degree and a master s in management science at Stanford, he returned to Malaysia to work for management consultants McKinsey & Co before joining satellite broadcaster Astro. A savvy social media user, Azran took to Twitter after the recent Malaysian election to criticise a local newspaper s seemingly racist editorial stance. The furore that erupted saw AirAsia X s chairman, Rafidah Aziz, who is a former leader of the women s wing of Umno, Malaysia s largest political party, distancing herself from Azran s comments. Azran has declined to comment about the incident, and has not retracted his tweet. In any case, Azran has a big task at hand. He is taking to the road with Fernandes to promote the airline s IPO, noting that conclusion of the Malaysian elections early last month has brought investors back to the market. And, he is on a mission to demonstrate that long-haul flights are not beyond LCCs. It has nothing to do with the distance or the longhaul model, he tells The Edge Singapore. He says AirAsia X s decision to halt flights to Europe was due to the poor demand for travel out of the continent, owing to the global financial crisis and subsequent recession, and the situation being exacerbated by the high taxes that the European authorities then decided to impose. We re not the only ones to have pulled out of Europe. If full-service carriers could make money flying to Europe and we couldn t right now, then it s a structural issue with our business model, he adds. The reality is, everyone s losing money flying to Europe. The only difference is, I think we have to be more nimble with our capacity and capital allocation. Indeed, the secret to operating a successful LCC, Azran says, is not about sticking to the attributes of the traditional LCC model such as being just a short-haul, point-to-point carrier with no on-board frills. Profitability is a function of market leadership, not whether you re long haul or short haul, he says. It s being the lowestcost [player]. Reproduced by permission of The Edge Publishing Pte Ltd., Copyright 2013 The Edge Publishing Pte Ltd. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Profitability is a function of market leadership, not whether you re long haul or short haul Azran Mr Azran Osman Rani shared about how he transformed AirAsia X into a global business at the CEO Conversations organised by SIM Professional Development which was held on 31 May SIM PAGE 31 January December 2013

32 The straits times Monday, June 17, 2013 How Singapore aviation can find its second wind by Koh Pak Keng For The Straits Times A worker getting a hands-on session on how to install fan blades on an aeroplane engine by a Rolls-Royce representative at the Seletar Aerospace Park. The local aviation industry needs to move away from its dependency on the maintenance, repair and overhaul market. SINGAPORE S aviation industry has consistently done well in the last two decades, expanding at an annual compounded growth rate of 10 per cent. But the growth and success of this industry did not happen by chance, especially when the domestic market is non-existent. To stay ahead of the curve in the region, we need to think beyond the next decade and seek out new growth opportunities. We need to move up the industry s value chain. Last year, the industry registered a record output of $8.7 billion, making it one of the pillars of the economy. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) initiative to open up Singapore s aviation market has resulted in more than 30 open skies agreements, which have increased aircraft traffic tremendously (total annual movements soared to 324,700 in 2012). It has inevitably translated into the birth and blossoming of the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) market. With the recent development of the 320ha Seletar Aerospace Park, the industry is poised to continue its stellar growth into the near and mid-term future. However, we need to move away from our dependency on MRO-related work, as the cost-sensitive aviation industry seeks cheaper MRO alternatives in the region like the Philippines or Malaysia. Developing capabilities in three key areas namely, technology, manpower and small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) support should be explored. A 2010 study commissioned by the Association of Aerospace Industries Singapore indicated that 95 per cent of the industry s revenue was from MRO work, with the remaining 5 per cent coming from the manufacturing of new original equipment manufacturer (OEM) components. The proportion of OEM activity is projected to increase to only 9 per cent by Significant progress has been made to bring in OEM firms such as aircraft engine powerhouses Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney to set up design and advanced manufacturing facilities in Singapore. Technology capability PRODUCING aviation components usually involves a series of special processes such as anodising, heat treatment, non-destructive testing, thermal spray coating and welding. These very technical processes require highly skilled workers. Nadcap (National Aerospace and Defence Contractors Accreditation Program) is the global cooperative accreditation programme which certifies whether an organisation meets the stringent requirements to perform one or more of these special processes. Singapore Aerospace Manufacturing is one of the few local companies which is Nadcap-certified to perform a series of special aviation industry processes. It has also been fabricating engine cases and mounts for General Electric and Pratt & Whitney for the past 10 years. To meet the demands of designing and producing new OEM components, more resources are needed to help local enterprises develop such capabilities. The CAAS Aviation Innovation Programme under the Aviation Development Fund can assist by providing up to $2 million for new innovative projects. More companies should be encouraged to use this resource. Manpower capability CAAS, in partnership with the Singapore Workforce Development Agency and the industry, has been working closely with the five local polytechnics in aligning the curriculum of the aerospace-related diplomas so that the training of licensed aircraft engineers can be more effective and efficient. This is the right approach in addressing the industry s current and future manpower demands. However, to prepare the industry for the leap into more value-added design and advanced manufacturing activities, we must redesign some of our diploma and undergraduate curricula to support this type of work. The courses should address the design, repair development and component production work that meets the standards of a CAAS-approved Singapore Airworthiness Requirement Part 21 (SAR-21) organisation. A SAR-21 organisation is authorised by CAAS to design and modify aircraft components and introduce new repair procedures. The company must demonstrate its technical competency and sound quality assurance system for certification. ST Aerospace, which does passenger- to-freight aircraft conversion for FedEx and DHL, is an example of an SAR-21-approved organisation. SME development THE Economic Development Board has done a great job attracting the likes of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company and Eurocopter to Seletar, which is intended to cement Singapore s position as the region s aviation hub. The Seletar Aerospace Park s potential cannot be underestimated as Asia s future air traffic growth is expected to outpace that of the rest of the world and Singapore is well positioned and equipped to capture the business opportunities arising from this trend. There is an urgent need for the relevant government agencies to work with local SMEs to develop high-value technical services that can support these global aviation companies. SMEs such as JEP Precision Engineering and Wah Son Engineering are examples of local companies which can fabricate high-precision aviation components. However, there needs to be a national strategic push by the CAAS, supported by Spring Singapore, in identifying and addressing this capability shortfall, which is compounded by a lack of readily available specialised training. A one-stop solution for all aviationrelated business could see Singapore strengthening its industry s value in the region. Productivity can also improve if we have more SMEs capable of delivering these high-value technical services. The local aviation industry has done remarkably well to stay ahead of the competition in recent years. A lot of that was due to our policymakers foresight over the past decades. It is time to throttle on and leave the competitors further behind in our trailing wake. stopinion@sph.com.sg The writer is head of the Aerospace Cluster and Aerospace Systems Programme at SIM University, and a former design engineer with General Electric Aviation. SIM PAGE 32 January December 2013

33 LEADING THOUghts AND TRENDS The Business Times Wednesday, June 19, 2013 Why S pore s 2013 outlook may not be so rosy by Tan Khay Boon THE June 2013 survey of professional forecasters showed that the Singapore economy is expected to grow only by 2.3 per cent in 2013, down from the original 2.8 per cent from the previous survey. It is natural to expect the growth to be slower for the whole year in view of the tepid 0.2 per cent growth in the first quarter of 2013 and with external conditions remaining challenging. The positive news is that inflation will be subdued and the economy is expected to grow much stronger at 3.8 per cent in However, a closer analysis of the Singapore economy may indicate a less optimistic outcome in First, let us consider the issue of inflation. A lower inflation benefits the economy in that it encourages consumption, investment and exports which contribute to GDP directly. The good news is that oil and commodity prices are trending downwards and hence the lower energy and food prices will help to move the core inflation downwards. However, the bulk of the headline inflation is contributed by accommodation and transport costs. The most recent bidding price of the residential site at Fernvale Close at Sengkang beat market expectations and the launching price of J Gateway condominium was a record for the Jurong East area. Additionally, the COE price actually rose across all categories in the first tender of June With abundance of funds at historically low interest rates, investing in property is considered a good hedge against inflation. Without further cooling measures to control the huge appetite of developers as well as car and house buyers, it is uncertain whether inflation can edge further downwards. Next, consider the external environment. Singapore s economy is export-driven and its economic growth is heavily dependent on the health of its major trading partners, such as China, the United States and the eurozone economies. While the official China PMI rose marginally to 50.8 in May 2013, the HSBC China PMI actually slipped to 49.2 in the same period. With more and more trade disputes between China, US and the EU, it is increasingly difficult for China to rely on exports trade for growth. As for the US, the unemployment rate actually rose to 7.6 per cent in May 2013, which reduced its appetite for imported goods. The EU will continue to be caught in a recession and the greatest fear is that the austerity measures will generate instability when it bites into the livelihood of the EU residents. In the foreseeable future, Singapore s manufacturing sector is likely to continue to underperform. The uncertainty in the external environment has inevitably led to a greater dependency on the domestic economy, such as construction and services, for growth. While the huge infrastructure projects and vibrant property market may continue to render support in the construction sector, the slower growth in the tourists arrival will have a dampening effect on the retail trade. This is not helped by the recent TripAdvisor survey that Singapore is now the most expensive Asian city to spend a night for travellers. The strong performance of the financial service sector is mainly due to the quantitative easing by US and Japan which generated a boom in the stock market. In this aspect, the Singapore economy is caught in a dilemma. Any positive development in the US economy may lead to Federal Reserve reducing the quantitative easing, thereby affecting the financial sector businesses. However, any prolonged negative development in the US economy will continue to drag down the demand for Singapore manufacturing output. In fact, the recent optimism in the world economy is triggered by the quantitative easing in major economies such as the US, UK and Japan. But quantitative easing is not a cure to all the economic woes. Providing cheap credit may not translate into sustainable growth if there is no linkage to the real sector and the huge amount of cheap funds may lead to asset inflation. There is also a limit to which an economy can generate growth through quantitative easing when the interest rate is approaching zero. To achieve sustainable growth, an economy still requires new investments, more production and job creation. This is the reason why Abenomics requires three arrows (quantitative easing, fiscal stimulus and investment promotion) to stimulate the growth of Japan. To conclude, the expected growth of 2.3 per cent in 2013 and a higher growth in 2014 in the Singapore economy is hinged on an improvement in the China and US economies as well as stability in the eurozone economies. If China is successful in transforming its economy from export driven to consumption driven, and the quantitative easing in US leads to a stable real sector growth, then Singapore will have more reasons to be optimistic. It is unclear whether Abenomics will be successful in stimulating growth in Japan. Its success will help boost further confidence of the trade sector the Singapore economy. The writer is a senior lecturer, SIM Global Education. TODAY Thursday, June 27, 2013 How shoppers can play a role Consumers can influence firms to engage in sustainable farming practices: Experts by Woo Sian Boon SINGAPORE With greater awareness and more information available, consumers can play a bigger role in influencing palm oil companies to engage in sustainable clearing practices, said experts, although some of them noted that consumers are too far down the supply chain and it may be a long time before their efforts bear fruit. The Consumers Association of Singapore, for one, is studying how it can play a greater advocacy role on this issue, said its President Lim Biow Chuan. If we can signal strongly to the companies that buy palm oil (to manufacture their) products that we are extremely unhappy and they are risking the wrath of consumers, then they can signal to the palm oil companies, he said. Products which contain palm oil include chocolates, cookies, soap and shampoo. With the haze having engulfed Singapore last week and still blanketing parts of Malaysia as a result of illegal forest fires in Central Sumatra, environmentalists and business associations have called for the enforcement of legislation against slash-and-burn tactics and support for whistle-blowing to exert pressure on palm oil companies to clean up their act. The Singapore Manufacturing Federation, for instance, issued a statement earlier this week urging their members not to have business transactions with errant organisations and their subsidiaries. Singapore Environment Council Executive Director Jose Raymond felt consumers have full capabilities to exert pressure on companies and enact changes in market trends and consumption patterns. Given more information, they can avoid products from companies involved in causing the haze, he said. He pointed out that many products certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil as being made from sustainable palm oil are available in major convenience stores. According to Ms Guan Chong, a marketing lecturer at SIM University s School of Business, a recent survey found that 48 per cent of 1,000 respondents indicated it was important for a trusted brand to be environmentally-friendly in its business practices. This shows that Singaporean consumers are also playing an active role in advancing sustainability through their lifestyle choices and buying decisions, she said. Mr Lim stopped short of calling for a boycott of errant companies, noting that it might affect the livelihoods of some who may not be quite involved. However, Professor Ang Peng Hwa from Nanyang Technological University s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information believes that a consumer boycott can effect change. He started the Haze Elimination Action Team in 2007 in his own capacity to raise funds for an educational effort against slash-and-burn tactics in Indonesia s Jambi province. It has been revived to mobilise anyone in the region interested to join; to mount an education campaign for farmers; to boycott companies identified as offenders; to raise funds for the above effort. Said Prof Ang: I am hoping that we can target the brands and products of the offending companies. It is alien to us in Singapore because we have not done it, we see ourselves as moderates and we prefer to leave things to the Government to solve. However, Senior Marketing Lecturer Siok Kuan Tambyah from the National University of Singapore Business School cautioned that consumers are at the bottom of a long chain, which may cause their power to be diffused. Vigilance and the monitoring of business practices take time and effort, and sometimes consumers are not prepared to invest their personal resources, she said. In this instance, it will help if third-party agencies are willing to step in to be the watchdogs. SIM PAGE 33 January December 2013

34 The straits times Thursday, July 4, 2013 Mum, manager, MBA With convenient course schedules and a supportive network, it is possible to balance studies with work and family STARTED my Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) programme when my daughter I was one month old. With the help of a supportive partner and employer, it was both manageable and essential to my career advancement. Based on my experience as a mother/student and as the director of an EMBA, here are some tips for women who are looking to upgrade their credentials but may have some reservations: Management needs you There is a slew of research about the positive effect female leaders have on an organisation. Firms with more gender-balanced boards have significantly higher return on shareholder equity. Women are now responsible for 85 per cent of all consumer purchases. And economists predict that the impact of women on the global economy over the next decade will be at least as significant as the population of China, if not more. It is truly a business imperative for organisations to bring in more female leaders. There are a number of ways to get more women into senior management, but one of the most comprehensive is through an MBA education, given the skills, confidence and network it provides. Investment that pays According to the EMBA Council, a salary increase on completion of an EMBA is nearly guaranteed. In fact, the most recent EMBA Council report shows students quoting an average salary increase of 23 per cent after graduation. Beyond the financial benefits, graduates report increased confidence, ability to think and manage strategically, and a deepened understanding of business fundamentals. These benefits are especially needed for women who still statistically earn less than men and are still under-represented at the highest levels of organisations. For women, time is especially critical In my three years recruiting EMBA students in Singapore, the primary concerns of women applicants are typically timing and schedule. Mothers tend to apply when their children are in school as they are relatively independent and able to understand, and even appreciate, that mums have to study too. In addition, the course schedule is also a critical priority. An attractive MBA programme for many women would be one that does not require time away from work or international travel, and where students have Sundays off. This format allows women to keep their careers and families on track while they study. Any working professional considering an MBA or EMBA should look closely at the schedule and talk to alumni about what to expect in terms of time commitment and how they managed. You can do it Economies, organisations and families all benefit from women being able to advance in their careers. One of the most proven avenues for career advancement is through additional education. However, deciding to return to school is a difficult decision for anyone as it involves an investment of time and resources for the student and the family. The best we can do is support our friends, colleagues and spouses in this life-changing experience. Will it be easy? No. But being a mother and a manager isn t easy either, and women have been handling those roles with grace for years. I think more women could be up to the challenge of an MBA with a little encouragement and the knowledge that the returns will far outweigh the challenges. Article by Easter Weiss, M.Ed, MBA. She is the program director for the University at Buffalo Executive MBA available in Singapore through a partnership with SIM Global Education. TODAY Friday, July 12, 2013 Global Innovation Index 2013 Do more to increase S pore s innovation output, say experts Exploring commercialisation and creating support system for start-ups are two ways to go about it by Ng Jing Yng SINGAPORE With the Republic sliding out of the top three in an international innovation ranking, experts here agree that more should be done to increase innovation output, such as by exploring commercialisation even in the early stages of technology development, and creating a support system for start-ups to sell their products. They, nevertheless, stressed that Singapore s drop from third to eighth place in the Global Innovation Index 2013 following a change in the methodology to place more emphasis on innovation output was not a cause for great concern and that being ranked one of the more innovative countries in the world was testament to the efforts that have been put in place. The index, which was released earlier this month, was produced by INSEAD, the World Intellectual Property Organization and Cornell University. It measures 142 countries using 84 indicators, including innovation output, the quality of universities, availability of microfinance and venture capital. Examples of innovation output include creativity on the Internet, licensing trademarks under the Madrid system, patents, research and development as well as trade-related items. Singapore had previously held third place for two consecutive years. SIM University School of Business Dean Lee Pui Mun said: In any kind of annual ranking, there will always be movement up and down from year to year... and as innovation goes, it is a dynamic environment... You do not expect others to sit still. As long as we stay within the top 10, it means our fundamentals are OK and we are moving in the right direction. Associate Professor Lee was, however, concerned about the Republic s relatively low innovation output given the amount of investments. Apart from making sure the education system produces a workforce that embraces change, quality and perceptive thinking, there is a need to further strengthen the commercial support for start-ups. For example, we could have a kind of product incubator hub, which may be in the form of a mall in a good location where start-ups can rent space cheaply to market or sell their products, said Assoc Prof Lee. This concept can also be replicated in major regional cities with the support of the government through its government-linked companies. Once proven successful, it will attract investments, funding, and they can venture out on their own. Pointing out that Singapore retained its No 1 ranking for innovation input, Adjunct Associate Professor Neo Kok Beng from the National University of Singapore Business School said the country should continue to step up efforts to turn the translational work into impactful innovations and subsequent commercialisation on a global scale. He said: Commercialisation can occur at any stage of technology development. It is not necessary that all innovations must be at the bleeding edge. We should also explore early-stage commercialisation in technology development through disruptive innovation, whereby developing technologies are turned into innovations for unserved or new markets. To achieve this, Singapore would require a new breed of technology-market-savvy innovators to be equipped with the methodologies and tool kits to identify and evaluate opportunities and gaps in the market. Adding that the drop in Singapore s ranking should not be taken seriously, Professor Chiu Chi-Yue from the Nanyang Business School pointed out that theoretically, countries that have not established its research and development infrastructure would have greater temporal variations in innovation performance in the short run. Based on his own research, an ethnically-diverse population speaking the same language provides more opportunities for intercultural stimulation and learning. And in that regard, Singapore could be well-placed to promote innovation, he said. SIM PAGE 34 January December 2013

35 LEADING THOUghts AND TRENDS ZAOBAO SUNDAY Sunday, July 28, 2013 实况报道技术专才与服务零售业都有职业高峰成功不分职场 国际劳工组织两个月前发表的 2013 年全球青年就业趋势报告 勾勒出一幅悲观的就业市场前景 : 今年全球将有 7340 万名年轻人失业, 人数接近 2009 年经济危机时的高峰 青年失业率居高不下不仅困扰中东和北非等发展中地区, 欧洲现在的失业人数也超过 500 万人 对比国际趋势, 新加坡近年来的就业情况恰恰和国际趋势相反 ; 人力部今年初公布的职缺数据显示, 截至去年 9 月的过去一年里, 本地的工作空缺增加 4.4%, 达到 5 万 6400 个 尽管大专学府和工艺教育局近年来极力引进更多元化的课程以培养出具备不同技能的职场生力军, 但人职匹配度还有待提高 新加坡要实现蓬勃且多元化的就业市场须克服哪些挑战? 人力资源专家 经济学者和教育领袖接受本报访问, 分享观点看法 力部的数据说明, 本地就业市场的人职位空缺横跨白领和蓝领职位 市场对服务和零售员工需求最大, 这两个领域的职缺占了总职缺的 24%; 紧跟其后的是辅助专业人士和技术人员 (17%) 专业人士 (15%) 清洁工劳工和相关从业员 (13%) 工匠(8%) 等 受访的人力资源顾问指出, 个别领域人员短缺的原因不尽相同 以服务和零售业为例,GMP 集团企业服务部副主任吴坤豪认为这个领域面对人员短缺的情况会持续 ; 这主要是因为人们普遍上觉得这一行长远来说, 薪水福利不佳 职业不会受到很高的认可 个人发展前景也不明确 此外, 尽管本地开办的应用课程类别不少, 但许多领域都缺乏技术专才如护 士 物理治疗师和技术人员等 在吴坤豪看来, 一般人对这些工作没好感, 觉得耗体力 要服侍别人, 收入也不高 他说 : 本地学府非常了解新加坡经济需要什么, 缺乏什么, 但学生毕业后要从事什么行业是学校无法控制的 比如说, 工程系学生觉得银行业更具魅力, 学校不可能阻止他在毕业后到这个领域觅职 司凯利服务 (Kelly Services) 新加坡总经理赫尔有类似观点 他说 : 人们更向往白领工作, 因为他们大多对其他专业领域欠缺认识, 不知道这些工作能为他们带来什么样的机会 社会不尊重技术专才新加坡的理工和工艺教育制度时常获得国际认可, 但长久以来, 本地并没有系统化地培养出工艺大师, 社会更没有形成尊重工匠及技术专才的风气 对比医生 律师 会计师等白领专业, 手工艺和技术领域对年轻求职者的吸引力不大 副总理兼财政部长尚达曼去年在肯特岗论坛上指出, 如果蓝领工人对自己的工作不感到自豪, 社会不尊重蓝领阶级, 新加坡就不能算是真正的发达国家 他以德国小型企业为例说明, 这些公司在规模上虽无法媲美大公司, 但却拥有国际竞争力, 对蓝领员工做出投资, 不断提升他们的技能 德国 Mittelstand 模式受推崇德国的 Mittelstand( 中小型企业 ) 模式近年来受到推崇, 被观察家视为德国能持续保持低失业率的原因之一 经济合作与发展组织 (OECD) 显示, 德国目前失业率为 5.4%, 是欧洲失业率最低国之一 新加坡管理大学李光前商学院人力资源与组织行为学教授曼克夫教授是德国人 他分析 Mittelstand 的成功因素时解释,Mittelstand 并非一朝一夕形成的领域, 其历史可以追溯到中古世纪下旬就开始系统化发展的学徒制度 在这个传统底下, 德国拥有一批兼备杰出实践和理论技能的工艺大师 (master craftsmen), 他们不但推动各领域的创新发展, 也培训和启发新一代的人才 这是新加坡目前还缺乏的 另外, 德国也有专门的研究院 (Fraunhofer Institutes) 与企业密切合作, 将新科技商品化 文 / 陈能端 nengduan@sph.com.sg 图 / 梁锦泉 陈伟权博士 : 德国职业教育与新加坡工教院和工院最大的不同在于, 德国多年来实施工读教育模式 曼克夫教授认为, 只要拥有高超技能, 行业的生产力 薪酬和社会地位就会随着上升 他说 : 在德国的技术和职业教育制度下, 处于社会低层者只要拥有资格和相应的理想就能提升自己 业界能聘请受过良好训练的人才, 有关生产力和留住人员的问题也会相应减少 陈伟权博士 : 取长补短较实际新加坡管理学院全球教育学术处处长陈伟权博士指出, 德国职业教育与新加坡工教院和工院最大的不同在于, 德国多年来实施工读教育模式 参与这类计划的学生每个星期会拨出几天的时间到企业工作, 剩余时间上课, 提升他们在专门领域的特长 由于国情不同, 新加坡若要复制德国的经验需要大量的社会改造, 并不合适 陈伟权觉得更实际的做法是学习别人的长处, 并通过调整他国制度的优势来改进新加坡培养工匠和技术专才的现状 新加坡会否出现 过度教育 2013 年全球青年就业趋势报告 提到, 有迹象显示发达经济体的年轻人更可能接受 过度教育 (overeducation) 2002 年至 2010 年之间, 介于 15 岁至 29 岁的发达经济体年轻人接受过度教育的情况增加了 1.5 个百分点 过度教育指的是由于中等 高等教育快速增长, 毕业生开始超过劳动力市场的实际需求, 最终从事与学历不匹配的工作 随着新加坡科技学院和新跃大学将转型为本地第五和第六所公立大学, 到了 2020 年, 接受政府津贴大学教育的同龄生比例将达 50% 加上每年到国外大学和通过私立学校考取文凭的学生, 新加坡未来的劳动力生力军将普遍持有大学学历 政府当初宣布通过增加学额拓展升大学渠道时, 就有人担心这可能会导致就业市场出现不平衡 詹道存教授认为新加坡高等教育更多元的景观, 将有助于培养拥有多元技能的未来劳动队伍 詹道存教授 : 开拓大专多元教育新跃大学董事会主席詹道存教授是南洋理工大学创校校长, 曾掌舵南大超过 20 年, 是本地高等教育资深工作者 他受访时指出, 要确保大学生能学以致用并在职场上发挥所长的关键在于开拓大专教育的多元性 詹道存说 : 大学提供更多课程和培训选项, 毕业生就能往不同的领域发展 比如科技学院传授应用型教育 管理大学偏向管理商业知识 科技设计大学着重高科技研究 国立大学和南大则推广综合性的高等教育 新加坡的策略就是确保每所大学都拥有特质, 与众不同 到头来, 我们当然希望就业市场能够有足够的机会, 让拥有不同专才的学生投身服务 改变心态才能消除偏见吴坤豪认为, 若要使毕业生的期许和企业的需求更匹配, 各行各业应该花更多心思树立正面的形象, 介绍工作晋升制度 与此同时, 中小学也可以加强职业辅导, 让学生从小就能认识不同行业的发展潜能, 长大后能对成功的定义有更深层次的认识, 了解美好的生活不单单是通过收入来衡量 他说 : 我们需要重新思考教育体制和改变心态, 才能消除人们对某些行业的偏见, 以及培养更成熟 不只是为追求金钱而做出工作选择的劳动队伍, 让他们了解, 一旦精通某种技能, 高收入也会随之而来 在詹道存看来, 新加坡人普遍的务实心理导致多年来大家更崇尚物质和经济成果 比如高收入者一般被视为成功的典范, 但杰出的运动员 音乐家或艺术家等相对上没有获得同等的赞誉 他寄望人们能进一步思考成功的定义, 不要只把成功等同于经济成果 他说 : 最终, 我们应追求的不应该是经济成果 (economic good), 而是社会成果 (social good) 因为只有当我们取得良好的社会成果, 人民才会真正开心 SIM PAGE 35 January December 2013

36 THE EDGE SINGAPORE Monday, July 29, 2013 Reinvent your organisation WHEN the article First fire all the managers (Harvard Business Review, December 2011) appeared, it stirred a debate. Why? It is a serious story about a serious company, with several hundred employees, a leader in its industry that has flourished for 20 years without managers. I m not suggesting you fire all your managers, but I am suggesting you look at how your business is organised. Otherwise, you might miss significant advantages. A moment s reflection shows why this is so. The traditional organisation is just over 100 years old. It was set up to recruit and train rural workers to become cogs in emerging factories. In the absence of any other, the military model was more or less adopted. Our current business language is full of fossil words that prove this. We still recruit, train, appoint, promote, retire or fire. These are all military words. And the person who runs it all is called the chief executive officer. Rural workers are still being recruited to factories in some places, but not in Singapore. It forces us to ask: Is the old model still the best for a world-class company in a worldclass country? Things are different. We now compete for well-educated talent who have choices, and who think work should offer more than money. Their shopping list includes words like meaning and autonomy! I stumbled across this opportunity by accident. I set up business in Singapore 20 years ago. I couldnít afford employees and certainly not in several countries. So, I formed relationships with others we called affiliates. This happened in Singapore, then Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, China and so on. My substitute employees loved their autonomy. This encouraged innovation. We were soon doing fine. Then I discovered they liked being in a community. I had to learn the new role of hosting meetings. We worked on product improvement and marketing together. Moreover, we built trust, which helped enormously when we sold regional deals. Then the affiliates began to compete to host meetings in their country. This shared the leadership, and business prospered. We were getting better. During SARS and other crises, it turned out our model was extremely resilient because we all shared in the ups and downs. Many larger companies went bankrupt. Not being able to employ people had forced me into a model (which we now call the networked organisation) that was collaborative, leader-full and resilient. Not bad for a default option! These are qualities traditional organisations lust after. Then came a revolution that transformed our business. For some time we had collaborated informally with Everett: Leaders need to be more like hosts than commanders similar businesses in our industry. On reflection, this activity had turbocharged our business. For example, our biggest affiliates came this way. So we got serious about this and called it N2N, for network-to-network-networking. Now we were getting better at getting better! What has this to do with Singapore and Singapore organisations? The networked organisation (NO) is only one of many variants that have emerged. One spectacular example is The Morning Star Packing Company, featured in the HBR article already mentioned. I call it an SMO, a self-managed organisation. Then there are VOs (volunteer organisations like Linux, Apache, Wikipedia), COs (community organisations like The Hub), and ROs (results-only workplaces like Best Buy. Each is differentiated by the way it is organised. All show that leaders can now be architects of collaboration. There s a caveat, of course. To attract and engage today s talent means leaders need to be more like hosts than commanders. Hosts of what? Conversations are a good start. Then meaning and ambitions follow naturally. It is not enough to hide behind the podium showing PowerPoint to rows of troops. This uses the auditorium as an indoor parade ground. It sends a strong message about power, control and keeping quiet. How comfortable will we be sitting in a circle saying, I m not sure I know the answer to this yet, so I d love to hear your ideas? Singapore has unique advantages in Asia. These include the opportunity to embrace a daring new area of innovation our organisations. And it behooves our institutions to stimulate debate on how to reinvent them. Ken Everett, chairman of Ken Everett International Pte Ltd and N2NHub Pte Ltd, is the author of Designing the Networked Organisation. He will be speaking on the Architectures of Collaboration at SIM on July 30, 7pm. All participants will receive a copy of his book. For enquiries and registration, please jacquelinelow@ sim.edu.sg or call TODAY Monday, July 29, 2013 Reinventing the outdated organisation Are you a commander or collaborative host? by Ken Everett WHEN Dr Gary Hamel s article appeared in the Harvard Business Review in 2011 exhorting companies to First, let s fire all the managers, it stirred debate. It was a serious report about a serious company leading food processor The Morning Star Packing Company which had several hundred employees and has flourished for 20 years without managers. I am not suggesting that organisations fire all their managers, but I am suggesting that they look at how their business is organised. Otherwise, they might miss significant advantages. A moment s reflection shows why this is so. The traditional organisation is only over 100 years old. It was set up to recruit and train rural workers to become cogs in emerging factories. In the absence of any other, the military model was more or less adopted. The current business language is full of fossil words that prove this. We still recruit, train, appoint, promote, retire or fire. These are all military words. And the person who runs it all is called the Chief Executive Officer. Rural workers are still being recruited to factories in some places, but not in Singapore. It forces us to ask: Is the old model still the best for a world-class company in a world-class country? Things are different. We now compete for well-educated talent who have choices, and who think work should offer more than money. Their shopping list includes words such as meaning and autonomy. I stumbled across this opportunity by accident. SHARED LEADERSHIP I set up business in Singapore 20 years ago. I could not afford employees and certainly not in several countries. So, I formed relationships with others we called affiliates. This happened in Singapore, then Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, China, and so on. My substitute employees loved their autonomy. This encouraged innovation. We were soon doing fine. Then, I discovered they liked being in a community. I had to learn the new role of hosting meetings. We worked on product improvement and marketing together. Moreover, we built trust, which helped enormously when we sold regional deals. Then the affiliates began to compete to host meetings in their country. This shared the leadership and business prospered. We were getting better. During the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and other crises, it turned out our model was extremely resilient because we all shared in the ups and downs. Many larger companies went bankrupt. Not being able to employ people had forced me into a model which we now call the networked organisation that was collaborative, leader-full and resilient. Not bad for a default option! These are qualities traditional organisations lust after. Then came a revolution that transformed our business. For some time, we had collaborated informally with similar businesses in our industry. On reflection, this activity had turbo-charged our business. For example, our biggest affiliates came this way. So, we got serious about this and called it N2N, for network-tonetwork-networking. Now, we were getting better at getting better! FROM COMMANDERS TO HOSTS What has this to do with Singapore and Singapore organisations? The networked organisation or NO is only one of many variants that have emerged. One spectacular example is The Morning Star Company. I call it an SMO, a self-managed organisation. Then, there are VOs (volunteer organisations such as Linux, Apache and Wikipedia), COs (community organisations like The Hub), and ROs (resultsonly workplaces such as Best Buy). Each is differentiated by the way it is organised. All show that leaders can now be architects of collaboration. There is a caveat, of course. To attract and engage today s talent means leaders need to be more like hosts than commanders. Hosts of what? Conversations are a good start. Then meaning and ambitions follow naturally. It is not enough to hide behind the podium showing PowerPoint to rows of troops this uses the auditorium as an indoor parade ground. It sends a strong message about power, control and keeping quiet. How comfortable would we be sitting in a circle saying, I m not sure I know the answer to this yet, so I d love to hear your ideas? Singapore has unique advantages in Asia. These include the opportunity to embrace a daring new area of innovation: Our organisations. And it behooves our institutions to stimulate debate on how to reinvent them. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ken Everett, Chairman of Ken Everett International and N2NHub, is the author of Designing the Networked Organization. He will be speaking on the Architectures of Collaboration organised by SIM Membership Services on July 30, 7pm. SIM PAGE 36 January December 2013

37 LEADING THOUghts AND TRENDS the straits times Monday, July 29, 2013 At work with Fiona Chan Flat hierarchies have potholes too Pros include speed, flexibility; cons include lack of consistency, promotion by Fiona Chan IN THE utopian folklore of the perfect 21st century workplace, urban myths abound. There s the legend about the company that lets all its workers work from home and on their own time; another about the boss who always leaves early and urges everyone to do the same. Then, of course, there s the fable of the flat hierarchy. For many young workers especially, this is their idea of the perfect organisation: one with fewer bosses and managers, and where everyone gets a dose of responsibility and empowerment. In theory at least, the concept is an attractive one, especially for those of us who have sacrificed nights and weekends slogging through revisions and instructions from various layers of bosses on a project only to discover on Monday morning that the overall big boss has decided to go in a completely different direction. Flat hierarchies are easiest to implement in start-ups where there are usually fewer workers and each has to take on a wider range of duties or in individual divisions within an organisation. But flat structures are also famously present across some large companies, such as Google, Facebook or Apple, and have been widely credited with enabling these firms to attract and retain employees. That should be no surprise, given that management issues are a major reason why employees resign from an organisation, says Mr Ken Everett, an IBM marketing alumnus and professional training consultant. Without managers, rewards are not dependent on position. They can be based on one s contribution and not be tied to a title, said Mr Everett, who will be speaking tomorrow at a seminar at the Singapore Institute of Management. Singaporean workers in particular are suitable candidates for flat hierarchies as they are ready-made for autonomy, Mr Everett told The Straits Times. They are well-educated and value self-directed work and learning, while at the same time, still conscious of the importance of community, he said. Young people here like their counterparts elsewhere are also very aware of the shortcomings of traditional business, Mr Everett added. This is a huge opportunity for Singaporean business leaders in my view: to design attractive new workplaces with less hierarchy, he said. The best talent will flock to join. Indeed, the advantages of flatter organisational structures, which eliminate much of middle management, have been widely touted. Fewer tiers of authority can result in greater flexibility, faster problem-solving and lower costs, advocates say. These benefits are manifested in real-life examples of staff empowerment, such as America s Southwest Airlines, a budget airline that gives its employees the freedom to implement the company s policies in their own way for instance in deciding how to placate a difficult customer. This decentralised decision-making has helped the airline to raise its employee-retention rate, reduce the number of customer complaints, and consistently rank among the top companies to work for in the United States. But flat hierarchies also have shortcomings, which are equally well-documented. For one thing, having workers make their own decisions can bring about inconsistency if different employees handle customer complaints in different ways. Flatter organisations are also less effective for workers who have problems being self-motivated and need more direction from the top, while diffused responsibilities could result in missed deadlines and slipping targets if no one is tasked with keeping an overall eye on processes. Of course, there is also one major problem with reducing hierarchical layers: fewer opportunities for promotion. Flat organisations are great for lower-level employees who want to feel a sense of belonging and importance to the organisation but even they expect to rise through the ranks eventually except, there may not be any ranks left. fiochan@sph.com.sg THE BUSINESS TIMES Thursday, August 1, 2013 All that fuss about QE in the US: Here s why by Seet Min Kok Lots of dough but little growth: QE has caused the US monetary base to increase by over 200% in the past few years, with the broader measures of money supply rising by 20-40%. But US GDP growth has been lacklustre at around 2-3 per cent over the past few years. THE issue of when the quantitative easing in the United States might end has kept Asian financial markets (including Singapore s) on a roller-coaster ride over the last few months. In May, Asian financial markets sold off on the back of comments by US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that quantitative easing might be scaled back. However, recent remarks by him that quantitative easing might not end soon has sparked an Asian stock rally, with Singapore s benchmark Straits Times index (STI) posting its largest one-day gain in one-and-a-half years following the announcement. What exactly is quantitative easing? Why does it have such a major impact on the Singapore and other Asian financial markets? What are the economic and financial implications when it ends? Quantitative easing is a form of central bank operation in monetary policy. In 2007, when the US subprime mortgage crisis threatened to undermine the stability of the global financial system, the Fed printed large quantities of money to buy back mortgage-backed securities so as to restore the US mortgage market. Later, the Fed continued printing money to buy longterm government bonds to keep bond prices up and long-term interest rates down. This form of central bank operation in monetary policy, called quantitative easing (QE), differs from the usual open-market operation in monetary policy, where the central bank prints money to buy short-term Treasury bills. Quantitative easing is aimed at holding down longterm interest rates, thereby stimulating investment and consumption and hence GDP growth in the economy. QE has caused the US monetary base to increase by over 200 per cent in the last few years, with the broader measures of money supply rising by per cent over the same period. Economic theory, as expressed by the quantity equation, can help to throw light on the linkages between money supply and output growth in the economy: M x V = P x Y Given the quantity equation, the strong growth in money supply (M) should translate into a rise in output (Y) if the transactions velocity of money (V) and the general price level (P) are generally constant. The transactions velocity of money, which measures the rate at which money circulates in the economy, is usually taken to be constant in the longer term. Nonetheless, despite the three successive rounds of quantitative easing which resulted in strong doubledigit growth in money supply (M), the expected strong rebound in US output (Y) did not materialise. US GDP growth has been lacklustre at around 2-3 per cent over the last few years. Inflation With output growth remaining sluggish, the quantity equation suggests that the sharp rise in money supply resulting from quantitative easing would have translated into price increases, implying that inflation would have worsened. While the US inflation rate picked up marginally, inflation accelerated more substantially in Asian economies, including Singapore. This could be attributable to the large amount of liquidity generated by US quantitative easing, which has partly flowed into Asia, thereby generating inflationary pressures in Singapore and other Asian economies. Correspondingly, Asian stock and property markets were buoyed by the ample liquidity and easy credit conditions resulting from US quantitative easing. So what happens to the economy and financial markets when quantitative easing ends? When QE ends, the Fed would scale back its bond purchases, implying that US monetary growth should slow substantially. The restriction in money supply would cause global interest rates to rise. As Singapore is a small open economy, domestic interest rates are expected to rise in tandem with the rise in global interest rates. The rise in interest rates will hurt the stock and bond markets, and likely lead to a downward correction in property prices in Singapore and Asia. With higher interest rates, consumption and investment would be dampened, thereby holding down GDP growth in Singapore and the region. On a more positive note, the slower growth prospects coupled with higher interest rates should help to alleviate inflationary pressures in Singapore and the regional economies. Thus, the issue of when the Fed might end its accommodative policy of quantitative easing is of critical importance to policymakers and financial markets. With the current US unemployment rate well above the per cent level consistent with full employment in the American economy, continued fiscal drag from the ongoing eurozone crisis and the larger-thanexpected slowdown in China s GDP growth, the odds of an end to US quantitative easing in the second half of 2013 are low. Nonetheless, going into 2014, if the pick-up in global economic prospects materialises, the Fed would in all probability want to end quantitative easing sooner rather than later so as to hold down inflationary pressures and keep inflation expectations at bay. The writer is a senior lecturer at SIM Global Education, and a council member of the Economic Society of Singapore. SIM PAGE 37 January December 2013

38 THE SUNDAY TIMES Sunday, August 4, 2013 Mr Azran, who first made his mark in management consulting and business development before heading the team that launched AAX in 2007, says: When I do something, I want to be very good at it. It s just how I am. Wong Kim Hoh meets... Azran Osman-Rani Serial optimist seizes the day AirAsia X CEO conquers challenges with determination and a dose of luck by Wong Kim Hoh BARELY two years ago, Mr Azran Osman-Rani was a 40-year-old who could not swim. But that small detail was not going to derail his plan to complete a triathlon. So the seasoned runner who has finished about 15 full marathons went out to hire not one, but three swimming instructors. The first one taught me how to put my head under water, blow bubbles and not panic, says the chief executive of AirAsia X (AAX), the Malaysian budget carrier s long-haul airline. The second taught him how to swim in open water, and the third a former national swimmer helped him conquer the terror which engulfed him when he attempted his first triathlon in March last year. I hyperventilated because I was jostling with so many people, and there were all these giant ships. And when I looked down, the water was really deep, he says. But he survived, not just to tell the tale but to complete four more triathlons. Last month, he placed 27th among 215 male participants in the 40 to 49 age category in the Port Dickson International Triathlon. And this December, he has his sights set on an Ironman event where participants must complete a 3.86km swim, a km bicycle ride and a 42.2km run in Western Australia. When I do something, I want to be very good at it, says Mr Azran, who was in town recently to give a talk organised by the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) Professional Development. It s just how I am. This determined streak and a big dose of serendipity explain his colourful career. I never practised a day of engineering, says the electrical engineering graduate of Stanford University in the United States. Instead, with a master s in management science from the same university, he made his mark first in management consulting and business development before heading the team that launched AAX in The airline which flies to 15 destinations across Asia, Australia and the Middle East started with one aircraft but now has 15. Revenue grew from RM230.7 million (S$90.2 million) in 2008 to almost RM2 billion last year. Last month, it raised RM998 million in Malaysia s biggest initial public offering (IPO) this year. Carpe diem Latin for seize the day sums up his attitude to life. Opportunities would come, and I would just grab them, says the disarmingly bald-headed honcho who wears his self-assurance like a sharp suit. My parents gave me a big advantage. I grew up in an environment where I was allowed to speak up and talk and be exposed to adults, says the eldest of three children of two former university professors. They never told me I could not do things. Wired with a strong distaste for rote learning and the humdrum, he heeded the advice of some of his university seniors to join a consulting company after graduating from Stanford in the mid-1990s. They told me that I would not be stuck doing the same thing, but different projects in different industries, says Mr Azran. His younger sister is a research analyst, while his brother is a Petronas executive in Uzbekistan. After graduating in the mid-1990s, he joined consulting firm Booz Allen SIM PAGE 38 January December 2013

39 LEADING THOUghts AND TRENDS Hamilton in Singapore and later, McKinsey. Those were heady days in Asia. His job let him work in various countries and sectors, from banking and telcos to oil and gas. In 2001, he uprooted his wife a former broadcast journalist and political researcher and baby boy, moving the family to Seoul, and was so buzzed by the vibrant mergers and acquisitions scene there that he asked for a permanent transfer. But intervention came in the form of a phone call from McKinsey in Singapore. The company needed him for a project in Malaysia, to turn the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange renamed Bursa Malaysia into a public listed entity. He developed a close relationship with Bursa s former executive chairman Mohammed Azlan Hashim, who then offered him a job to handle business development at the exchange. He threw the national service card at me, and said, By the way, you re also getting a 50 per cent pay cut. He signed up, even though the pay cut meant settling for a tiny Proton Wira. Sometimes, it s not about the pay or the job but the people you work with, he says, describing Datuk Azlan Hashim as someone who amazed him with his dedication and passion. Not long after the latter left, Mr Azran left too, for satellite broadcast operator Astro, which had just raised RM2 billion during its IPO in I didn t know anything about technology, media and entertainment, but people had enough faith in me so I jumped, he says, adding that the company wanted to go global and start businesses in Indonesia, China and India. If he was looking for a challenge, he got it. In Indonesia, for instance, besides negotiating shareholder agreements with business partners, I had to hire 450 people, start five Indonesian cable channels, launch a national sales and distribution network and build a broadcast centre in 10 months. Licensing and shareholding issues resulted in a messy, drawn-out legal battle between Astro and Lippo in Indonesia, which is still not resolved. One of the saddest things I had to do was to wind down the business I had built and retrench more than 400 people I had hired. In 2007, another phone call came. This time, AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes wanted him to help start a standalone, long-haul budget carrier. It was a challenge both risky and daunting because this was a sector with a less than sterling history. Failures include Britain-based Laker Airways which went bankrupt in 1982 and, more recently in 2008, Oasis Hong Kong Airlines. The opportunity to make his mark in aviation was, however, too tempting to resist. But even before he could strap himself in, things got bumpy. When we started in 2007 and made some orders for airplanes, a lot of banks were willing to lend us money because there was a lot of liquidity, and aircraft financing generally tends to be a lucrative business because it is secured on assets which are global. But the financial crisis of 2008 saw the collapse of the banking system. The people who were courting us ran away, he says. For one year, AAX worked with only one aircraft. Without planes, you are not going to grow or survive, he says. Fortunately, it managed to wrangle a pitch with an export credit agency in Europe. Together with Air Asia s founders, Mr Fernandes and Datuk Kamarudin Meranun, he flew to London. I made the presentation. It was the pitch of a lifetime because if they didn t buy it, we were screwed. Game over. He must have made a convincing case because the approval came, albeit an agonising six weeks later. Since then, he and his team have beavered away at making AAX work. He sums up the challenge thus: You ve got to somehow find a way to have a much lower unit cost than the big boys. Among other things, the airline did it through agile aircraft rotation and scheduling planes to maximise their use. We get 16 or 17 hours more a day Turbulent market I remember the morning of the pitch. We were on a train, and I picked up one of those free subway tabloids. The story on the front page was of XL Airways or Zoom Airlines going bust. I told myself: This is a bad omen. How do you pitch a business which is unproven to bankers? MR AZRAN OSMAN-RANI, on the day he had to make a pitch to a European credit agency for funding for AirAsia X Benefits of networking You just have to start at ground level; you spend the whole night on a plane with engineers asking questions like: What is this? Why are you doing this that way? There is an advantage to having worked in McKinsey. You have a network of people you can call up and say: Hey, tell me about the airline industry what are the issues? Talking to them gives you a lot of ideas. MR AZRAN, on his early days at AirAsia X for buying the same brand-new plane. That gives us 30 per cent more use. We arrive early in the morning, we fly back early in the morning. We also have more than 30 per cent more seats so even when I m priced at 50 per cent less, in one year, I get the same kind of revenue, he explains, adding that the aircraft also makes money through fuel management and sales of food and beverages. There were costly missteps along the way. Specially commissioned reclining seats failed. Video screens fitted on all seats made the planes heavier, burning up more fuel. These exercises meant writing off a hefty US$15 million (S$19 million). There were other bumps such as the cancellation of services to London and Paris because of soaring taxes and higher fuel prices. Europe went into a recession and everyone was losing money on flights to Europe. When you operate in a market which is no longer working, you have to be disciplined and deploy the capital to where the market works. The tough decisions we made are the same ones which have allowed us to go on our listing, he says. Now a father of three boys aged five to 14, he describes his management style as very hands on, very visible and accessible. Besides having an open desk, he also removes the power distance by making himself available to employees on social media, from Facebook to WhatsApp. Then there are the weekly and monthly forums with employees to talk about issues and ideas. I m a huge believer in diversity, whether ethnic or gender. Diversity by definition will bring conflict, but if you can unleash its power, it can be very powerful, he says, adding that women make up half his management team. If I don t do anything about it, engineering will be predominantly Malay and finance will be primarily Chinese. You ve got to say: Ok guys, this ain t working. I want to see different ethnic groups working and partying together. And if you have a problem with it, then you do not belong to this team. Mr Azran was recently flayed by Utusan Malaysia after he criticised it for being racist. The Malay-language newspaper had railed against the Chinese for deserting the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition during the country s general election in May. He declines to comment on the attacks but says: I m not out to change or influence big national policies but in my sphere of influence here at AAX, I m going to show how to make diversity work. Mr Azran smiles when asked if the country s racial politics makes him sad as a Malaysian. I m a serial optimist. If you tell me a situation is tough and difficult, I m going to imagine I can overcome it. When I couldn t swim, I imagined myself blowing bubbles under water. Now, I m swimming kilometres in the open sea. kimhoh@sph.com.sg SIM PAGE 39 January December 2013

40 TODAY Thursday, August 15, 2013 Stereotypes and the older workforce Rehiring at same pay is just the first step by Kang Soon-Hock THE Public Service Division s (PSD) recent announcement on rehiring its junior officers when they reach age 62 at their existing pay, and with certain senior officers experiencing only a small pay cut, is welcome news and a move in the right direction. This development sets an important tone with regard to the rehiring of older workers not only for the public but also the private sector (though four in five unionised companies surveyed by Singapore s labour movement were ahead of the public sector in re-employing at the same pay). More importantly, this sends a strong counter to the ageist view which associates an employee s advancing age with an assumed decline in productivity. The stereotype of the older worker as slow, inefficient, unwilling to change, not well educated, and unable to learn new skills continues to be with us. Such images may have flashed across our sub-conscious when we either experience first-hand poor service provided by an older worker or hear about it from others. What is the general profile of the older worker in Singapore? According to the Ministry of Manpower s (MOM) statistical profile released in February 2007, among those aged 50 and older, most received less than secondary education. Many were no slouches and tended to work long hours. A large proportion of those employed were in lower-skilled jobs; a bulk were in the service sector, specifically in administration and support services and hotel and restaurants. Since 2007, however, the demographic profile of the older worker in Singapore has undergone quite a transformation. According to the 2011 Report on Labour Force, there has been a significant decrease in the proportion of those with below-secondary education. The proportion of those with a degree, conversely, increased compared to in The trend of bettereducated older workers will continue with the ageing of subsequent cohorts of baby boomers, those born between 1947 and Importantly, labour force participation rates rose among those aged 55 and older, both men and women. This is significant as it underlines a willingness to continue to work. The trend continues in the latest edition of the report, which noted that 66 per cent of residents aged 55 to 64 were working or actively seeking employment. The number of older workers will continue to increase. While the move to not reduce older workers pay upon re-employment is a positive step, there are other areas that will need to be addressed with their continued employment. First, employers need to be mindful that workplaces are multi-generational by nature. With the rehiring of older workers, employers have to be sensitive to the concerns that may arise among their younger employees over, for example, their career advancement in the company. One way to assure them is to reassign re-employed older workers to positions where they are viewed not only as valuable assets but also as mentors to younger team members. Building a sound in-house reassignment strategy would allow companies to tap not only the experience but also the vigour of its multi-generational teams. Having in place a clear, transparent work reassignment strategy would help reduce the number of flashpoints, with less potential for disputes or the reinforcement of ageist stereotypes. In short, in order for the rehiring process to continue to be successful, such aspects need to be addressed. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr Kang Soon-Hock is Head of Social Science Core at the School of Arts and Social Sciences at SIM University. TODAY Friday, August 16, 2013 Gaps in the hard and soft infrastructure Creating an age-friendly Singapore requires more care by Kalyani K Mehta WHILE it is romantic to envision a global city with all the qualities attractive to both young and old, it can be a nightmare for the urban planner who has to think of managing with scarce resources such as land, finance and manpower, for a small island like Singapore. It is well known that Singapore is one of the most liveable cities in the world, but is it age-friendly? Significantly, the World Health Organization s Age-Friendly Cities framework highlights the social aspect of communities, and not just barrierfree or accessibility features. On the same note, the International Longevity Centre lists the main characteristics of sustainable lifetime neighbourhoods as: Social cohesion and sense of place, housing, innovation and cross-sectoral planning, built environment, social inclusion, and services and amenities. In any discussion of age-friendly communities, the physical, social and recreational aspects have to be given equal importance. Defective kerbs and loose flagstones are high risk factors for falls among both young and old. I have noted while travelling abroad that small but thoughtful modifications to the environment go a long way to enabling seniors to be independent and mobile. The availability of benches along street pavements is a major factor, and public toilets and accessible shops with friendly sales operators also can make a great difference. In our heartlands, risks to the lives of young and old are prevalent, due to the lack of consideration among car and bus drivers for pedestrians. The overhead bridges are marathon uphill challenges for pregnant women and elders. I know of one elderly gentleman who suffered a heart attack when he arrived at the top of an overhead bridge! And, with an ageing population, we need more traffic junctions with pedestrian crossings and disabled-friendly technology. SHIFTING MINDSETS: THE VALUE OF SENIORS Together with the brick and mortar infrastructure, there needs to be an inculcation of a caring and considerate (C&C) societal infrastructure. A mindset change has to occur with our demographic shift from youthful to ageing population; this is critical to the nation s balance and integration. The C&C attitudinal shift has to be in all segments of society family, community, workplace, playground, recreational and tourist spots, ticket booths and hospitals. It is hypocritical to state that we respect our elders but, in reality, we may be ignoring their input on decisions and issues that impact them. The various media channels tend to depict older citizens as needing care, but it is surprising that we tend to forget that they give lots of care too. Social research has shown that, at the young-old stage, seniors are giving financial, social and physical support and care to their family members at both ends of the spectrum that is, their ageing parents as well as their near-adult children. When they have grandchildren, they chip in to supervise foreign maids or provide care directly. According to the National Survey of Senior Citizens 2011, 29 per cent of seniors with grandchildren care for them. And 41 per cent of spouses provided care to an ill spouse. These are not factored as economic contributions, hence they tend to be overlooked by policymakers and economists. There are mixed messages juxtaposed in Government press statements sometimes, when Singapore is promoted as a nation of opportunities for ambitious and highly-driven young adults yet, at the same, time its population is ageing. The public and stakeholders should note that an ageing population is not necessarily a burden to society. The older population is very diverse in almost every aspect financial, health, social, physical, education, religion and personality. To generalise about a group of people amounts to stereotyping. SMALLER HOMES, BETTER CARE As an affluent nation, Singapore is well-positioned to improve social and healthcare provisions for its people. It is good that a public consultation is underway for enhancing nursing home standards. This is an arena that, in my opinion, requires urgent attention. As the demand for nursing homes increases, the quality of holistic care and response to patients needs must improve, particularly with the changing characteristics of our ageing cohorts the seniors of the future will expect better professional care, and so would their families. There has been a lag in the professionalisation of the gerontology or eldercare service sector in terms of the training requirements of staff. It is imperative to ramp up locally available courses in gerontology, nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, social work and counselling. As services and institutional facilities expand, the Government has to also step in to ensure standardisation of care and programmes. Lack of minimum competency standards for example, a Certificate in Ageing/Gerontology for staff of Senior Activity Centres puts Singapore in poor light when compared with other developed countries. Compared with other nations, it is also noticeable that our nursing homes are still designed in a hospital-like fashion. In Japan, there has been a trend towards group homes and small-scale care houses, and such housing adaptations are being made in European countries such as Denmark and Holland, where research shows that residents place much value on the cosy and comfortable atmosphere of smaller physical facilities compared to a large nursing home that accommodates 100 to 200 residents. Large institutions cater more to the need for efficiency and custodial function of the administration, but less to the social and physical needs of the residents. The trend in institutional facilities in developed nations is to provide client-centric care and this is the direction Singapore should also take, to be an age-friendly city. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Associate Professor Kalyani K Mehta is Head of the Gerontology Masters Programme at SIM University. SIM PAGE 40 January December 2013

41 LEADING THOUghts AND TRENDS TODAY Thursday, August 29, 2013 Rise of affluent baby boomers Economic opportunities in an ageing population by Seet Min Kok In the next 10 years, the more affluent retirees from the baby boomer generation will likely provide demand for a wide range of goods and services commensurate with their improved standard of living. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG FROM the perspective of economic policy, the ageing population in Singapore poses significant challenges. The old-age support ratio which measures the ratio of residents aged 20 to 64 to those aged 65 years and over has trended downwards from 13.5 in 1970 to 6.7 last year. As fewer people are working and paying taxes, the Government would have to look for alternative sources of revenue to fund the public expenditure on healthcare, particularly as it has signalled that the State s share of healthcare bills will increase. At the same time, the Government will have to set aside a larger slice of the fiscal budget to subsidise the poor and needy among the growing numbers of seniors. Increased expenditure might require taxes to be raised, which could undermine the incentive to work and invest in the economy. But while the economic challenges are significant, the ageing population offers a myriad of opportunities for businesses. Take Sweden for example, where total healthcare expenditure accounts for nearly a tenth of gross domestic product. The Swedish healthcare industry is largely driven by the needs of its elderly and ageing population. Pharmaceuticals and medical services markets are anticipated to expand steadily over the next five to 10 years. While Scandinavian countries such as Sweden have strong pension systems providing support for citizens rising healthcare needs, in Singapore, rising affluence and the improving educational profile suggest also higher consumer expectations among the ageing population. Data from the Census of Population indicates that the median household income has increased at an average rate of 3.2 per cent per annum over 2000 to More households have also been upgrading their housing over the last decade as the proportion of those staying in condominiums and private flats increased from 6.3 per cent in 2000 to 11 per cent in 2010, representing a larger source of monetisable assets. Over the next five to 10 years, the more affluent retirees from the baby boomer generation will likely provide demand for a wide range of goods and services commensurate with their improved standard of living. Such demand in the silver economy ranges from pharmaceutical products and private healthcare services, to apparel and footwear tailored to the needs of seniors. Moreover, the higher educational profiles of the retirees from the baby boom generation also means that they are likely to demand a comprehensive range of financial and insurance services (above and beyond the new MediShield Life) which would meet their individual needs in wealth management. SHOPPING CARTS WITH MAGNIFYING GLASSES How have companies benefited from the growth of the silver economy in countries with ageing populations? Take the case of Japan, which has more than 30 million people who are aged 65 and above. Many companies in Japan are taking advantage of the rising market opportunities generated by the seniors. The NTT DoCoMo company, the country s largest wireless carrier, has launched a smartphone targeting older customers who need larger fonts and more simplified steps for sending s and taking pictures. The retailer Aeon runs a supermarket that has a medical centre and provides shopping carts with magnifying glasses for seniors. Even the travel industry in Japan is benefiting from increased travel expenditure by the country s rising number of retirees in the population. Notwithstanding the demand from more affluent retirees in Singapore who would provide support for the silver economy ranging from healthcare and apparel to financial and tourism services, there are two critical factors which might restrict the spending power of the silver consumer and slow the growth of the silver economy in the near term. First, in contrast to the more affluent seniors, there is a group of Singa- poreans who are falling through the cracks in government support provided for the poor and underprivileged. As the spending power of this group of retirees is likely to be limited when they retire, they might not provide as much stimulus to the expansion of the silver economy as Singapore s population ages. Second, unlike Japan which has a large pool of seniors numbering more than 30 million, the development of the silver economy in Singapore, with fewer than one million seniors, would take some time before firms can enjoy economies of scale in mass production for the silver market. Thus, on the supply side, the lack of short-term cost competitiveness in large scale production for the silver economy could limit its growth in the near term. Even so, while the growth of the silver economy would take time for firms to realise its full potential, companies which are positioned to identify the specific niches of demand for targeted groups of retirees will stand to gain as the demographic trends evolve over time. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr Seet Min Kok is a senior lecturer at SIM Global Education. He is also a Council Member with the Economic Society of Singapore. SIM PAGE 41 January December 2013

42 THE STRAITS TIMES Saturday, September 14, 2013 Make everyone s dollar count by Cheong Suk-Wai Senior Writer THE BIG IDEA: Creating value for many, not just for money Business don Vijay Govindarajan argues that the time has come for companies to compete for business by coming up with better goods and services for the poor, who form the largest pool of consumers. This is contrary to Western R&D efforts, which tend to think up new products mainly for the rich just because they have more purchasing power. But Professor Govindarajan says that in a world of scarcer resources, innovating to improve the lives of the poor makes better business sense because: That way, companies can sell more to both the poor and the rich, and so increase their sales significantly; When people are forced to produce the best results with very little money, that often disciplines them to focus on creating the most practical solutions; and Such reverse innovation is genuine corporate social responsibility, unlike the lip service many companies pay to the vague notion of sustainability. Companies should start making things for the poor instead of just the rich to enjoy greater overall returns and be better global citizens, says expert MOST people accept that they would have to part with hundreds of thousands of dollars to own a car, have open-heart surgery or donate artificial limbs to landmine victims. But in the past 10 years, some Asians have found nifty ways to provide all of the above for a fraction of the cost, yet with lasting quality. So it is that India s Tata Group produced the Tata Nano car, which can be had for US$2,200 (S$2,800). Indian heart surgeon Devi Shetty has perfected a process of operating on heart patients en masse such that each patient need pay only US$3,000, not the usual US$140,000. And a Thai doctor who goes by the name of Dr Jay has found a way to melt down used plastic yogurt containers to make prosthetic limbs, each of which costs US$30, instead of the usual US$40,000 for a titanium one. These yogurt carton limbs are also so much lighter and hardier than more expensive prostheses that its users can squat, sit cross-legged and sprint comfortably in them. All these high-value, low-cost breakthroughs are what American business don Vijay Govindarajan calls reverse innovation. It is up to us to unlock value for consumers at the lowest cost possible, he says. Prof Govindarajan, 63, was in town a fortnight ago to deliver the Singapore Institute of Management s annual management lecture. The former chartered accountant and Harvard Business School don now teaches international business at Dartmouth College in the United States. From 2008 to 2010, he was also concurrently industry icon General Electric s (GE s) first professor in residence and chief innovation consultant. During his time at GE, his reverse innovation was to help its engineers design a brick-sized, batteryoperated portable ultrasound machine to treat even the poorest people in remote areas. Besides GE, this quiet don has spent the past 33 years advising giants such as PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble. Among his seven books is Reverse Innovation (2012), written with colleague Chris Trimble and critically lauded globally. Asked why he calls Asian-driven innovation reverse, he says he is merely trying to describe the growing phenomenon of poorer countries trumping richer ones in impactful innovation. But might that not suggest that Asian innovation is backward? He says: It could, unfortunately, connote that. If you can come up with a better phrase, I d be happy to use it! For too long, he notes, countries and companies with deep pockets have committed premium resources and top talent to innovation projects. People would develop for those who could buy the product and the innovation would trickle down to the rest of society only after the rich had it. But, he points out, they cannot rely on such a strategy to sell goods and services to emerging markets because there is a difference between selling to a man who has $10 in hand and 10 men who each have $1 to spend. So it is high time they discarded the prevalent, wasteful notion of innovation, he says. We seem to have lost our way whenever we think about innovation, he muses. We keep saying we ve got to spend more money to innovate effectively and then overshoot our performance by giving consumers product features they don t need. He laments, for example, the staggering amount of waste in many American hospitals, which look like five-star hotels with their restaurants and lounges that have nothing to do with actually curing or caring for patients. The way out of this is to cut costs to the bone where it does not serve the customer, he says. But he absolutely rejects the notion that consumers who have $1 to spend should be given poorer-quality products because they are, well, poor. It is even more imperative that they have very good quality stuff, he points out. Indeed, they themselves would insist on quality because what they buy needs to last a long time. Besides a commitment to quality, he says companies must stop using hard logic on consumers who are less well-off and instead seek to understand their specific needs. For example, he recalls how a leading cereal maker thought it was enough to innovate for the Indian market by putting dried banana and mango slices in its cereals. But, he notes, if the manufacturer had made the effort to understand that market better, it would have learnt that Indians like their breakfasts hot and so were pouring steaming milk on the cereals, turning all of it into unappetising mush. But such failure is only natural for companies that have been hugely successful, he says. When you re successful, you tend to go into self-preservation mode... because you can see what you d lose if you damaged the present. So Microsoft, for example, is not going to do anything that will destroy the profit machine which is its Windows platform. That leads it to innovate by doing only those things which will support what it s doing today. Microsoft and other companies should really be doing the following: First, dedicate a team to managing their present business; Second, appoint a leader who is able to forget past glories and focus everyone s attention on a big, meaningful vision. In Microsoft s case, he says, the vision used to be founder Bill Gates vow that everyone would have a personal computer. As for leaving the past behind, he says an example would be the global education industry, which must discard the model that has a professor in a classroom lecturing students; and Third, appoint a small team to imagine the future and carry out disciplined experiments to test how viable and sustainable these imaginings are. Such experiments should be frequent, small-scale and lowcost, and this team must talk regularly with the first team above, so both are in the loop. That is why he says search engine giant Google was wise to shut down its innovation department earlier this month, because breakthroughs don t come from an isolated few. He reckons Singapore should do more of such experimentation. He says: Singapore today can actually afford to try some new things because even if they don t work, its economy is strong enough to absorb these, compared with poorer economies which could really go downhill if their experiments fail. suk@sph.com.sg SIM PAGE 42 January December 2013

43 LEADING THOUghts AND TRENDS Vijay Govindarajan on... HOW WASTEFUL INNOVATION IS I have a Mercedes-Benz car which has 200 features in its navigation system. I use only one. I may not be the most sophisticated driver around, but even the most sophisticated drivers would not need all of the other 199 features. WHAT INNOVATING IS LIKE It s like running a marathon you don t do it in one breath, but focus on running 400m at a time until you overcome the entire distance. WHY MOST PEOPLE FIND IT HARD TO EXECUTE STRATEGY The discipline of execution is not something that is difficult to understand, but it is difficult to do because it is tough and dull to move people to realise your strategy. Prof Govindarajan absolutely rejects the notion that consumers who have $1 to spend should be given poorer-quality products because they are poor. It is even more imperative that they have very good quality stuff because what they buy needs to last a long time, he says. THE BIG IDEA IN HISTORY: Value for money THE point of reverse innovation, also known as frugal innovation, is to make high-quality, easyto-use things that the poor can afford. This makes good business sense because there are more poor than rich people on the planet. So in theory, companies practising reverse innovation can sell more of their products, which makes up for thin profit margins. While frugal innovation is said to have stemmed from a 1950s engineering notion that a customer should only be given what he or she absolutely needs, The Economist in 2010 credited Asians for thinking up and championing such innovation. India, especially, has scores of frugal innovators who say they are inspired by the simple ways of Mahatma Gandhi. Today, the basket of Asian goods from such innovation includes a US$70 (S$89) fridge made by India s Godrej & Boyce; a US$300 single-storey house partly innovated by Indian multinational Mahindra & Mahindra after Professor Vijay Govindarajan launched a worldwide competition to design and build lowcost housing for earthquake-struck Haitians; and an US$800 battery-operated electrocardiogram machine made by an Asian arm of General Electric Healthcare. Frugal innovation has caught on worldwide in the past five years because many have been made poorer by global financial crises. Most Western manufacturers, however, think such innovation mocks their expensive R&D efforts. But as The Economist s Schumpeter columnist noted in 2010: Standing still is not an option. Whether or not Western firms sell frugal products in the West, Asian firms will. Dr Vijay Govindarajan shared about his groundbreaking work on Reverse Innovation to a crowd of almost 400 at the 32nd SIM Annual Management Lecture. THE BIG IDEA IN ACTION: Know when to save and when to spend SINGAPORE-BASED technopreneur Daryl Arnold agrees with Professor Vijay Govindarajan s call to create as much value for as many customers as possible on a shoestring budget. British-born Mr Arnold, 41, calls reverse innovation bootstrapping and says it is a very effective exercise because it constrains things so much that innovators have no time for politicking or thinking negative thoughts. They have time only for stuff that can make things happen. He adds: Why waste money when you don t know whether your innovation is going to fly or not? Mr Arnold, a bachelor, is the founder and chief executive of Newton Circus, a three-year-old technology company here which comes up with fresh solutions and services to enhance everyone s well-being. It also links like-minded people such that they can set up social enterprises and other community-building ventures. Among other things, he and his 15 colleagues are working on apps to help diabetics manage their condition better, and also finding work for single mothers and the elderly. At the start of any serious innovating effort, he says, those in it are driven by lots of passion, a hunger for solutions and a certain craziness. What you come up with will not be easily understood; nobody will queue up for it. He cautions, however, that a company cannot take bootstrapping too far. After you ve done the first round of innovating, it doesn t get easier; you have to work twice as hard to prove to others that your innovation is not a fluke. At that point, you need to stop the bootstrapping and get proper resources to take it further, he stresses. For example, when he started his project Up Singapore about a year ago, he had only about 25 volunteers signing up for it. Up Singapore crowdsources ideas from people WHY HE HAS MADE THE UNITED STATES HIS BASE SINCE THE 1980S That s because I could see myself declining intellectually if I stayed in India then. EX-PRIME MINISTER LEE KUAN YEW He s such a great leader because while he didn t know exactly what would happen 50 years after Singapore s independence, he could imagine the future and had a dream that everybody could get excited about. HIS PATERNAL GRANDFATHER AND MENTOR KRISHNA MACHARI I sense his presence with me all the time. Maybe he s here now and about to tell me, This interview was good but you could have done these three things better! in the street on such concerns as what sort of smart city they would like. But word spread about the value he and his colleagues were trying to create, and he now has more than 2,500 volunteers from all walks of life helping him run workshops and hackathons to gather and work on ideas for better living. With the project gaining such momentum, he is hoping to collaborate with relevant government agencies and big companies to test how viable the innovations are, and also have them endorsed by reliable social institutions. He says: The good news is that, increasingly, big government and big business are saying to start-ups like us, How can we partner you better? SIM PAGE 43 January December 2013

44 THE STRAITS TIMES Thursday, September 19, 2013 Doc Talk The happiness formula by Dr Joel Yang MANY people are instigated to actively seek happiness only when things do not go well. Otherwise, most people would be satisfied to continue life as it is. People also often advise one another to be happy. Yet, it is actually quite difficult to just flick on some mental or emotional switch and suddenly be happy. We first need to understand that we are socialised to focus more on the negative aspects than the positive ones. Take, for instance, the recent haze and the outpouring of negative comments across Singapore. We never focused on the daily fresh air that we were blessed with until the smog came along. When put in neutral or uncertain situations, we commonly jump to negative conclusions, discount the positive ones and imagine worstcase scenarios. Recall the last time your boss called you into his office. Thinking you were about to get a pay raise was probably the last thing on your mind. Happiness, as conceptualised by the American psychologist, Dr Martin Seligman, can be simplified into three dimensions pleasure, engagement and meaning. While pleasure, such as laughter and positive emotions, is one aspect of happiness, holistic happiness encompasses being involved with life with a sense of purpose, which can ultimately bring about a sense of fulfilment. COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS Pleasure may be understood as the frequent experience of positive emotions. One way to enhance this is to learn to count your blessings. To practise this, you can write down three things that you feel blessed for in your life, every day. This is a helpful exercise, especially when things are going well and we tend to take our blessings for granted. Blessings that are easily overlooked include our family, friends, employment and good health. When nothing seems to be going your way, it may be hard to do this exercise. But persisting with this exercise can foster a deeper sense of appreciation for the small blessings in our lives. Engagement in life refers to the depth of involvement in one s life. Happiness in this sense is not dragging your feet through the day, every week day, looking forward only to the weekend. The use of one s signature strengths is one way to allow for greater engagement in life. Try to recall past instances when others have complimented you, for example, on your creativity. Seek out opportunities to utilise those identified strengths where you can, such as by offering to help a colleague design something. Slowly, you will find yourself more engaged and positively reinforced in the things that you do. Being aware of one s signature strengths also allows one to make a significant contribution, and be more actively involved in work and life. VALUES SHOW THE WAY FORWARD Finally, the most important ingredient of happiness is arguably to find meaning in one s life. This means purposefully associating what one does to something larger than oneself. While this may not necessarily bring immediate satisfaction, it allows one to feel directed in one s actions and fosters meaning. The first step to building meaning in your life would be to reflect on your values and goals. Values help to show the direction forward, like a compass. They help you to think about where you want to be and what needs to change to get you there. Goals then allow you to apply these values in a tangible manner. Be clear about your values and goals and actively work towards them. For instance, young parents may complain about their baby keeping them up all night, but they continue to nurture their child. This may be because the couple value their family and set the raising of a healthy, well-loved child as their goal. During the haze, there were reports of individuals and groups who reached out to those needing help by distributing masks and herbal tea. Some even offered their homes to those who needed temporary shelter. These are fine examples of extending oneself in a meaningful way, focusing on others. As we develop more meaning in our lives, we will weather well the hardships that we inevitably face along the way. Research consistently tells us that people without any mental illness are not subjectively any happier with life. Just because one is not clinically depressed, or does not have an anxiety disorder, does not mean that one is happy with life. Happiness is measured through subjective well-being, by asking people to rate their satisfaction with life and the amount of positive and negative experiences they have. We can all play an active role in enhancing our own happiness levels and should not wait until we are feeling blue to do so. Cultivating happiness not only helps the individual, but also fosters better families and societies. joelyangww@unisim.edu.sg Dr Joel Yang heads the Master of Counselling programme at SIM University, overseeing the academic coursework and managing the counselling practicum for students. He is trained as a clinical psychologist and previously worked at the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital. He has taught undergraduate positive psychology courses and conducted several positive well-being workshops. SIM PAGE 44 January December 2013

45 BERITA HARIAN Friday, October 4, 2013 Skim bantuan pemerintah berguna namun... LEADING THOUghts AND TRENDS SYARIKAT-SYARIKAT kecil dan sederhana (SME) di Singapura mendapati skim-skim bantuan pemerintah amat berguna, namun permohonan bagi mendapatkan skim itu agak sukar. Lebih tiga suku daripada 170 SME yang ditinjau Institut Pengurusan Singapura (SIM) mendapati skim-skim bantuan itu amat berguna. Tetapi, mereka mendapati sukar menentukan skim mana yang paling berguna dan relevan kepada syarikat. Malah, cara permohonan bagi skimskim itu juga merumitkan. Dalam tinjauan itu, didapati sekitar 40 peratus syarikat menggunakan perundingcara bagi membantu mereka bermohon bagi skim itu. Kebanyakan responden bagaimanapun mendapati perundingcara agak mahal dan tidak menyediakan nilai kerana mereka (perundingcara) tidak sedar semua skim yang sedia ada dan tidak dapat mengusulkan skim sesuai bagi syarikat, ujar kenyataan SIM yang mengeluarkan dapatan tinjauan itu semalam. Tinjauan itu dijalankan Julai lalu berdasarkan soalan dikirimkan kepada SME melalui e-mel dan perbincangan kumpulan fokus. Antara skim-skim bantuan yang digunakan syarikat termasuk pinjaman, geran, insentif cukai serta pembiayaan ekuiti seperti kredit Produktiviti dan Inovasi (PIC), baucar Inovasi dan Keupayaan (ICV) dan Geran Promosi Kesihatan di Tempat Kerja. SME sedar akan kepentingan inovasi dan produktiviti tetapi menghadapi cabaran dalam menggajikan dan melatih pekerja. Majoriti SME di Singapura bersetuju produktiviti ialah kunci bagi membaiki daya saing perniagaan. Mereka juga sedar bahawa produktiviti boleh mengurangkan kos menjalankan perniagaan dan meningkatkan kepuasan pelanggan di sini, ujar laporan itu. Kebanyakan SME ditinjau berkata mereka telah melaksanakan beberapa aktiviti inovatif dalam syarikat seperti membaiki proses, memasang program sofwe yang baru dan membaiki cara produk dihasilkan atau khidmat disediakan. Dalam tinjauan itu, separuh daripada responden lebih gemar menggajikan pekerja setempat, manakala 14 peratus memilih pekerja asing. Namun, 80 peratus SME menghadapi masalah menggaji pekerja kerana pelbagai sebab. Antaranya, jumlah pekerja setempat agak terhad, jangkaan gaji tinggi dan mereka mempunyai sikap yang kurang memuaskan. Kurangnya sikap yang baik lebih terserlah dalam sektor perkhidmatan, manakala sektor pengilangan menghadapi masalah mengenai kurangnya pekerja yang sanggup bekerja overtime, ujar kenyataan SIM. Mereka juga menghadapi masalah menggajikan pekerja asing disebabkan kuota pekerja asing yang dikurangkan dan kos levi yang tinggi. SME sedar akan kepentingan inovasi dan produktiviti tetapi menghadapi cabaran dalam menggajikan dan melatih pekerja. Majoriti SME di Singapura bersetuju produktiviti ialah kunci bagi membaiki daya saing perniagaan. Mereka juga sedar bahawa produktiviti boleh mengurangkan kos menjalankan perniagaan dan meningkatkan kepuasan pelanggan di sini. Laporan SIM yang menunjukkan SME sedar akan kepentingan inovasi dan produktiviti THE BUSINESS TIMES Friday, October 4, 2013 SMEs prefer S poreans, but they are hard to recruit by Vivien Shiao HALF of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) prefer to hire local workers, but the majority say they face difficulty in hiring them. According to a survey by the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) that polled 170 SME owners and managers, the small local talent pool, high salary expectations and complacent attitudes were some of their top challenges when it comes to hiring locals. As a result, 14 per cent said they prefer foreign hires, while 35 per cent of them were neutral. Chan Chong Beng, president of the Association of small and medium-sized enterprises (ASME), told BT that the statistics coincide with their findings. Mr Chan: Hiring Singaporeans removes cultural and language barriers which is important for internal communication and sharing of ideas. PHOTO: ARTHUR LEE Most SMEs are looking primarily to hire local Singaporeans. Hiring Singaporeans removes the problem of communication and cultural and language barriers. This is extremely important for internal communication and sharing of ideas on businesses as well as external communication with customers, clients and suppliers, he said. The survey also revealed that the majority of SMEs agreed that productivity is the key to improve business competitiveness as well as to lower the cost of doing business and increase business satisfaction. The most highly preferred method to raise productivity was improvement of processes and procedures, followed by changing the mindset of management and workers and training of workers. Most SMEs also saw the need for innovation, but the two biggest impediments were the high cost of introducing new technology and the training of workers to implement it. Over three quarters of SMEs surveyed said they had utilised the various government assistance schemes and found them useful. These schemes include loans, grants, tax incentives, equity financing and non-financial assistance to help start a business. However, SMEs said it was difficult to determine which schemes were most relevant to their companies, and that the paperwork involved was tedious. Sundaram Janakiramanan, professor of finance programme at SIM University, suggested several ways for the government to resolve this issue. Have consultation with various industry sectors to understand the major issues the particular sector faces and devise schemes that would help that particular sector, he said. He said there should be strict guidelines as to who can offer consulting services with respect to processing the application for schemes. SMEs can also access free business advisory to help them start, sustain and grow their businesses through a network of SME Centres, under the support of Spring Singapore. The one-stop SME Centres provide services including business diagnosis, advisory on government schemes and capability workshops vshiao@sph.com.sg SIM PAGE 45 January December 2013

46 THE STRAITS TIMES Wednesday, October 9, 2013 Most firms expect costs to rise: Study More companies looking to venture abroad, boost productivity to cope by Yasmine Yahya Business outlook 74% expect rising business cost 40% foresee shrinking profit margins 84% plan to boost productivity 63% venturing overseas for new markets, cheaper production bases Cyclect Group CEO Melvin Tan (right) with the company s business development manager Tan Ee Wei (left) and director Marcus Tan. Manpower is a bigger headache for Cyclect than business costs. The company is looking to hire more staff but has been finding it difficult to find talent. ST FILE PHOTO RISING business costs continue to pose a challenge for companies here, and rising numbers are looking to venture abroad or boost productivity to cope. In a survey of 516 companies by the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI), 74 per cent of respondents said they expected business costs to rise in the year ahead. Only a third of the companies said they expected their profit margins to rise this year, while about 40 per cent said they expected their profit margins to shrink. Some 63 per cent of the firms polled said they are now looking overseas for new markets and lower cost production bases an increase from 52 per cent last year. But a big majority are also embracing productivity, an approach advocated by the Government. Eighty-four per cent said they have put in place measures to lift output, including sending staff for training or automating their processes. And 57 per cent were tapping government assistance schemes to lift productivity, up from 50 per cent last year. Separately, a study by the Singapore Institute of Management published last week found that most small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) polled agreed productivity is key to improving business competitiveness. Over 75 per cent of the 170 firms surveyed said they had used various government assistance schemes and found them useful. Minister of State for Trade and Industry Teo Ser Luck said the Government will continue to help SMEs with the transition to quality growth. A new SME Workgroup, comprising business leaders, government agencies and grassroots advisers, will begin reaching out to SMEs this month, Mr Teo noted. The workgroup will proactively engage with SMEs, encourage SMEs to tap on relevant schemes which help them with restructuring, as well as make recommendations to improve policies to support economic restructuring. He was speaking at the launch of the new SME SCCCI yesterday, where the survey results were revealed. Despite the rather downbeat outlook on business performance, 60 per cent of the companies polled said they still planned to hire more workers, especially higher-skilled ones. About 58 per cent of the firms said they were looking to hire professionals, while 53 per cent were seeking skilled workers and 36 per cent needed unskilled workers. Engineering and construction company Cyclect Group is among the firms looking to hire more staff, but chief executive Melvin Tan said this has turned out to be a tall order. We have had some vacancies here that have remained unfilled for three to six months, he said. We would ideally like to hire Singaporeans for these skilled engineering jobs, but many engineering graduates these days are going into finance or more glamorous industries instead, and it s very hard to find talent. Indeed, manpower is a bigger headache for Cyclect than business costs, though these, too, are posing a growing challenge, Mr Tan said. The cost of transportation and energy is so high, and the cost of lodging our staff is very high, and that s affecting profitability, he added. SCCCI president Thomas Chua, meanwhile, urged SME bosses to spend more time on strategic planning and participating in activities to broaden their mindset. They should not always think that being SMEs, they are hampered by the lack of resources. While the company may be small, entrepreneurs should have a broader mindset and think big, he said at the SME Centre launch yesterday. yasminey@sph.com.sg SIM PAGE 46 January December 2013

47 LEADING THOUghts AND TRENDS THE sunday TIMES Sunday, October 13, 2013 Success stories? Tell students about failure A good way to avoid pitfalls of bad financial decisions is to learn from others mistakes: US expert by Mok Fei Fei THE gridlock in the United States over debt limits and the looming possibility of a default hold relevant economic lessons for ordinary citizens struggling with their own financial situation. That is the view of visiting financial literacy expert Lewis Mandell, professor emeritus of finance at the University at Buffalo (UB) in New York. Professor Mandell told The Sunday Times: Most Americans are very ashamed of what s happening. It s a relatively small number of people in Congress putting at risk the well-being of not just the US but also the world. A behavioural economist with almost 20 years of research in financial literacy, Prof Mandell noted that some of the lawmakers may not be well versed in economics. Others may be but are holding on to their ideological roots at the cost of the rational survival of the economy. Prof Mandell was here to give lectures for the UB Singapore executive master of business administration programme, offered through SIM Global Education. He spoke on Tuesday about investor and financial education, stressing the importance of giving consumers the necessary information at the point of sale. Pointing out the experience of the United States, Prof Mandell said formal school-based financial education courses at the primary and secondary levels have not been effective in improving students knowledge of the subject. One key reason is the lack of motivation among students as they will start making major financial decisions such as taking out college tuition loans or mortgages only much later in life. And some of the financial products that they are taught about in school may be obsolete by the time they graduate. Students are not stupid. They realise that the products that are available when they need them may bear no resemblance to what is out there now, said Prof Mandell. He believes that the problem of costly financial mistakes can be avoided through better regulation, by having laws to protect consumers from predatory or unethical sales personnel. Another good way to help consumers make the right financial decisions is to leverage on technology and give people the information required at the point of need. For example, Prof Mandell has suggested an idea for a mobile app that would come pre-loaded with the consumer s risk appetite and income profile, among other things. When the consumer needs to examine the suitability of a financial product, he could simply use his mobile device to scan the product s barcode or QR code. The app could then check whether the product is legitimate, based on publicly available information, and advise the consumer if it is a good match. Perhaps one of the best ways to avoid the pitfalls of bad financial decisions is to learn from the mistakes of others, noted Prof Mandell. He has advised teachers to bring in people who have failed, had their homes foreclosed or their credit rating ruined, instead of successful former students, to give pep talks in schools. Research shows that pleasant experiences are not remembered. We remember things that affect us emotionally, so if the message is going to be so sad it tugs at my heartstrings, I m going to remember it, he said. feimok@sph.com.sg Sad memories linger Research shows that pleasant experiences are not remembered. We remember things that affect us emotionally, so if the message is going to be so sad it tugs at my heartstrings, I m going to remember it. FINANCIAL LITERACY EXPERT LEWIS MANDELL SIM PAGE 47 January December 2013

48 about sim SIM Headquarters The Singapore Institute of Management (SIM Group) is the leading provider of higher education and professional training in Singapore, reputed for its dedication to lifelong learning and high standards and quality. Founded in 1964 under the initiation of Economic Development Board to support Singapore s economic development, we are today a diverse and vibrant organisation with a wide range of programmes and services. We are also a membership-based organisation with more than 50,000 individual and corporate members. Our extensive range of membership programmes, activities and resources provide an important nexus for students and members to network and learn. The SIM Group offers its core services through three educational brands: SIM University SIM University is Singapore s only private university and its mission is to create excellence in lifelong education through a uniquely-designed learning experience that equips learners for a better future. Home to more than 14,000 students, SIM University adopts a flexible and practice-focused learning approach and offers more than 50 academic programmes in various disciplines. Eligible students taking SIM University s undergraduate programmes enjoy government subsidies and access to government bursaries, tuition fee and study loans. SIM University is a not-for-profit university and the SIM University Education Fund has been a Singapore Institution of a Public Character (IPC) since September SIM Global Education Students can choose from a wide range of high-quality overseas degree programmes made available through SIM s partnership with established international universities and institutions from the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and Switzerland. Most of the students are full-time students, but SIM Global Education also offers part-time programmes that cater to working adults. Offering over 50 academic programmes, its enrolment stands at 23,000, with about 2,500 foreign students. SIM Professional Development Over 11,000 professionals benefit annually from the vast selection of short executive training programmes offered by SIM Professional Development. Its customised in-company training programmes help companies optimise effectiveness in various fields of management and human resource development. For more information, visit our websites at: and SIM Management House 50 years of Fulfilling Aspirations SIM is a leader of higher education and professional training in Singapore. SIM through its 3 distinct educational brands has provided opportunities for Singaporeans to enjoy the benefits of lifelong learning and fulfill their aspirations. As we celebrate our 50th anniversary, we will continue to provide an inclusive and collaborative atmosphere to enable more people to achieve and advance their personal, leadership, management and professional aspirations. To find out more or join us in our celebrations, log on to Singapore Institute of Management, 461 Clementi Road, Singapore Tel: Website: SIM PAGE 48 January December 2013