Kenichi Ohmae on Singapore

[Ouch!]

I think he's a bit harsh, but the message is welcome for those who think Singapore's already got it made and is now up there with the real world cities, etc.

My own indicator: when the world's (or at least Asia's) rich and famous want to own a pad here, then I'll start to believe it.  As of now, I'm hard-pressed to name any famous rock stars, actors, mega-rich entrepreneurs who want to make a life here.

From the ST today:


Aug 27, 2008
S'pore needs a new story
Make Singapore a better place and attract talent: Management guru
By Chua Hian Hou
SINGAPORE has done well attracting foreign investment but it desperately needs a compelling new story to grab some of the US$60 trillion (S$85.4 trillion) available in foreign investment.

Renowned management guru Kenichi Ohmae, a former adviser to the Singapore Government, said yesterday: 'Singapore is not attractive at all' compared with alternative investment sites like China and Romania.

'Where's the new Singapore story? I haven't heard any,' said Dr Ohmae, who was speaking on the sidelines of a forum on global investment opportunities at the Amara Sanctuary Resort.

While Singapore's strategy - business-friendly government policies, attractive tax rates, solid infrastructure - had worked well in the past, it will not be enough in future, said Dr Ohmae.

The prize on offer is enormous - US$60 trillion in 'homeless money' from sources that include pension funds in developed countries and sovereign wealth funds of oil-producing states.

But global investors now favour high-growth countries such as China or companies like Taiwanese electronics contract manufacturer Hon Hai, to park their money, not safe but slow-growth places. Hon Hai makes products like Apple's iPods and PlayStations for Sony in Chinese plants.

Dr Ohmae said good investment sites include China and India, as well as the European Union, which he believes has become in effect a single 'nation state' with a shared common border and currency. He expects Russia to enter the EU by 2020, making it an even more compelling region.

Another competitor that is looming on Singapore's horizon is a possible region-state comprising Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macau, which will offer low-cost manufacturing, a financial centre and entertainment.

Dr Ohmae also noted that strong companies like Google can pull in investment, whether from individuals or even funds, on their own merits.

With globalisation and the Internet, companies no longer need to depend on land or manufacturing facilities or physical distribution to grow, unlike before.

He cited companies like Microsoft or Google as examples of such global powerhouses. These 'cyber economy' companies are heavily talent-driven, and much of their talent comes from overseas.

While Singapore has a good education system and has in recent years embarked on a drive to recruit foreign talent to work here, its challenge on the talent front is that 'it (Singapore) is not a very attractive place to live', he said.

The low personal taxes are attractive but it needs to do more to improve the quality of life to become the region's Switzerland - low taxes combined with a good standard of living.

Get that right and the country will attract talent to live and work here, build global companies - and reel in investment, he said.

Other speakers at the forum include the opinion editor of India's Economic Times newspaper, Mr M.K. Venu, and Singapore Business Federation vice-chairman Umar Abdul Hamid.

The 20 or so participants includes Mr Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, and MP Penny Low.

[Kenichi]

So in what way is quality of life is bad here? This is Kenichi's main contention. He is just talking through his axx.

[My say...]

well.....I guess he is trying to say the arts scene in spore is pathetic, high rental rates, high cost of living , high international school fees etc

[Myopic Kenichi]

well.....I guess he is trying to say the arts scene in spore is pathetic, high rental rates, high cost of living , high international school fees etc

The rents, cost of living, international school fees, etc are high because there is DEMAND for it. Why is there a strong demand?. Because  Singapore provides the best overall quality of living in Asia and beats many Western cities including cities popular with wealthy people like London.


Kenichi is myopic or maybe his definition of high quality of living is to have a strong Japanese culture.Maybe he want more sushi outlets?

[Disagree]

I am sure majority of expats will disagree with Kenichi that Singapore is not an attractive place to live in.

[the frogs in]

the well will say that Kenichi is myopic but he is not. There is a ring of truth. The bulk of the population is conditioned to think so and that we have arrived. The society here is still two tiered and the niceties of life is way too expensive for the majority still.

[If he was right]

the well will say that Kenichi is myopic but he is not. There is a ring of truth. The bulk of the population is conditioned to think so and that we have arrived. The society here is still two tiered and the niceties of life is way too expensive for the majority still.

If Kenichi was right, there would be no expats in this forum crying for lower rents.

[arrivals of]

tourists to S'pore DECLINES. The economy is slowing.

[So what?]

tourists to S'pore DECLINES. The economy is slowing.

The whole world is declining. So what. Take care of your job. The pink slip could be on its way soon.

[Ouch!]

He should have been more specific.  I think he means the "X-factor" is missing here, but I could be reading my opinions in his statement.  It's true that there's a lot of expats here, but to be honest, the main reason I'm here is for the money, and in 2-3 years I want to be out of here. 

But where I think he's too harsh is that once you start looking at an individual country, you can always find fault.  The main reason I don't like Singapore is because I'm European and I have European tastes.  But there's enough Asians who would like it.  It will also be a long time before Chinese cities (other than Shanghai and Beijing) overtake Singapore in quality of life (in the sense that Chinese prefer to stay put rather than move to Singapore).  Same with India.

[Ouch Ouch!]

He should have been more specific.  I think he means the "X-factor" is missing here, but I could be reading my opinions in his statement.  It's true that there's a lot of expats here, but to be honest, the main reason I'm here is for the money, and in 2-3 years I want to be out of here. 

But where I think he's too harsh is that once you start looking at an individual country, you can always find fault.  The main reason I don't like Singapore is because I'm European and I have European tastes.  But there's enough Asians who would like it.  It will also be a long time before Chinese cities (other than Shanghai and Beijing) overtake Singapore in quality of life (in the sense that Chinese prefer to stay put rather than move to Singapore).  Same with India.

You can earn more money in China or in some other corner of the world. Why Singapore and not there? Don't kid yourself.

[boomtown charlie]

He should have been more specific.  I think he means the "X-factor" is missing here, but I could be reading my opinions in his statement.  It's true that there's a lot of expats here, but to be honest, the main reason I'm here is for the money, and in 2-3 years I want to be out of here. 

But where I think he's too harsh is that once you start looking at an individual country, you can always find fault.  The main reason I don't like Singapore is because I'm European and I have European tastes.  But there's enough Asians who would like it.  It will also be a long time before Chinese cities (other than Shanghai and Beijing) overtake Singapore in quality of life (in the sense that Chinese prefer to stay put rather than move to Singapore).  Same with India.

Hello??  I have been in Shanghai and Beijing very often in the past 2 years and I strongly disagree that the quality of life is worse than Singapore.  Maybe it is for the average Joe but if you are in the upper middle classes (or an expat) Shanghai and Beijing are like heaven on earth.

[done that]

He should have been more specific.  I think he means the "X-factor" is missing here, but I could be reading my opinions in his statement.  It's true that there's a lot of expats here, but to be honest, the main reason I'm here is for the money, and in 2-3 years I want to be out of here. 

But where I think he's too harsh is that once you start looking at an individual country, you can always find fault.  The main reason I don't like Singapore is because I'm European and I have European tastes.  But there's enough Asians who would like it.  It will also be a long time before Chinese cities (other than Shanghai and Beijing) overtake Singapore in quality of life (in the sense that Chinese prefer to stay put rather than move to Singapore).  Same with India.

Hello??  I have been in Shanghai and Beijing very often in the past 2 years and I strongly disagree that the quality of life is worse than Singapore.  Maybe it is for the average Joe but if you are in the upper middle classes (or an expat) Shanghai and Beijing are like heaven on earth.

yes!!!!  not only do we have maids, but personal chauffeurs as well - imagine that!  for those average expats here who complained about how expensive singapore is - you obviously have not been to china.  everything from school fees (ave US$20k per year) to home rental to groceries and medical care is at last 20% to 30% higher than in Singapore.  Quick, ask your husband to engineer a relocation to china.  You will be living in heaven.  Oh, as for the pollution - who cares, we hop straight from the car into the air-conditioned buildings.  

[Kubes.SG]

Singapore must be more than be a low-tax, reasonably pleasant, well located island.  Let's be frank, those are basic reasons we are all here. 

In the mid-90s, LKY declared that Singapore needed to allow bohemian elements to develop.  The old man had realized that just being efficient, shiny, safe and sterile were not what was required for sustained success in the 21st Century.  About the only thing I have seen that came out of that statement was the Esplanade - not quite what the rest of the world would consider bohemian.

A few years after LKY made his bohemian statement, I read a book by Richard Florida called The Rise of the Creative Class.  It was an interest for me as I am deep in the middle of creative industry/class  - creating value out of brainpower, versus the other more traditional classes:  Working and Services.  Florida discovered that cities/regions that nurtured and supported vibrant creative classes (eg: Innovation, IT, gays) had the greatest economic success. A quoted explanation:

The key to economic growth lies not just in the ability to attract the creative class, but to translate that underlying advantage into creative economic outcomes in the form of new ideas, new high-tech businesses and regional growth. To better gauge these capabilities, Florida developed a new measure called the Creativity Index. The Creativity Index is a mix of four equally weighted factors: 1) the creative class share of the workforce; 2) sophistication of high-tech industry; 3) innovation, measured as patents per capita; and  4) diversity, measured by the Gay Index, a reasonable proxy for an area's openness to different kinds of people and ideas. This composite indicator is a better measure of a region's underlying creative capabilities than the simple measure of the creative class, because it reflects the joint effects of its concentration and of innovative economic outcomes. The Creativity Index is thus my baseline indicator of a region's overall standing in the creative economy and I offer it as a barometer of a region's longer run economic potential.

And another:

Florida's chain of argument goes as follows: "The truly big changes of our time are social, not technological." The social changes revolve around an increasingly important group of people, called "the creative class." This includes occupations that encompass science and engineering, computers and their programs, architecture and design, education, arts, music and entertainment. In short, it embraces anyone who works creatively, and is paid to create, rather than to perform a task. It is this category of people who are driving our current economic growth. Within this group is a "super-creative" core of people who are the inventors, the thinkers, the scientists, the entrepreneurs, who create exciting new ideas, new products, and new industries. The creative class as a whole earns more than the other classes, and they tend to be more heteroclitic in dress, behavior and lifestyle.

Furthermore, creative people are often quite fastidious. They prefer to live in places that tolerate diversity in lifestyles, where troublemakers, weirdos, eccentrics, and deviants feel perfectly at home. Florida has evidence to show that cities preferred by the creative class, are coincidentally the same cities that harbor a higher proportion of Bohemians, and have a higher rate of gay marriages.


A good intro here:  http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0205.florida.html

Florida has since developed an index of Creative Class Cities globally but I can't find it.  What I recall is that my home city Sydney was high on the list, and Singapore was near the bottom.  The concern I have for Singapore's future is that all that we have here, is through a form of reverse bribery - #1 my MNC and I get really low taxes, so shareholder want us to work here.  But because the other basics are met: health-care, education and safety,  we are not pressured enough to leave.

I believe that this weakness in Singapore's ranking in Creative Class Attractiveness contributes to Kenichi Ohmae's position that Singapore is not an attractive investment location.

[Go to China]

He should have been more specific.  I think he means the "X-factor" is missing here, but I could be reading my opinions in his statement.  It's true that there's a lot of expats here, but to be honest, the main reason I'm here is for the money, and in 2-3 years I want to be out of here. 

But where I think he's too harsh is that once you start looking at an individual country, you can always find fault.  The main reason I don't like Singapore is because I'm European and I have European tastes.  But there's enough Asians who would like it.  It will also be a long time before Chinese cities (other than Shanghai and Beijing) overtake Singapore in quality of life (in the sense that Chinese prefer to stay put rather than move to Singapore).  Same with India.

Hello??  I have been in Shanghai and Beijing very often in the past 2 years and I strongly disagree that the quality of life is worse than Singapore.  Maybe it is for the average Joe but if you are in the upper middle classes (or an expat) Shanghai and Beijing are like heaven on earth.

yes!!!!  not only do we have maids, but personal chauffeurs as well - imagine that!  for those average expats here who complained about how expensive singapore is - you obviously have not been to china.  everything from school fees (ave US$20k per year) to home rental to groceries and medical care is at last 20% to 30% higher than in Singapore.  Quick, ask your husband to engineer a relocation to china.  You will be living in heaven.  Oh, as for the pollution - who cares, we hop straight from the car into the air-conditioned buildings.  

Well then why are you here. Go back to China.