Commentary

I had just attended the Startup Asia Singapore event, and the question of whether the start-up scene here in Singapore is dead often popped up in my conversations.

Blogs are fast becoming the next advertising phenomenon. And this is not just in Singapore.

Team working is now a vital part of organisational life in most companies in Singapore. Yet working in teams is a complex process with many difficulties involved. The Harvard Business Review recently highlighted eight major problems that teams encounter.

Singapore businesses need to take a critical look at Social Media.

There has been much intense debate in Singaporean about a recent speech by the Education Minister in which he said that many CEO’s had complained to him about the young Singaporean workforce. They were particularly scathing about young Singaporean’s lack of drive, confidence and ability to think outside the box and outside of their comfort zone apparently. Although everyone acknowledged that Singaporean’s work hard senior business leaders were concerned that this wasn’t necessarily as effective as it could be, not imaginative enough and not above and beyond normal working.

Gandhi was a charismatic and revolutionary but until past few decades little was known about him outside India. Similarly De Gaulle inspired defeated France but he left little for his successors.

No one doubts the value of good data. It can transform enterprises, informing their marketing, their procurement, their production techniques – in fact, their entire strategic direction. But in the corporate real estate (CRE) sphere, the potential of management data is possibly less appreciated than it should be. Yes, finance departments appreciate the value of market data, and of data like cost per square metre and cost of occupancy. But in many instances the management and operational data they track does not reflect changes in the way people work. Businesses are missing opportunities to improve performance. In 2011, Regus published a report by two highly-respected academics, Barry Varcoe and Martha O’Meara, on how best CRE practice correlates to company success.[1] The report analysed forty Global Fortune 500 companies, with a total operational portfolio size of 221 million gross square metres. One key finding of the report is the correlation between company performance and CRE data. The authors found that a well-developed operational and management data practice correlates positively to return on assets (RoA) and return on equity (RoE :) a 25% improvement in management information practice relates to an addition of 0.82% to an organisation’s RoA, and of 1.77% to its RoE. Most people realise the link between data and performance: the ability to make better decisions relates to better returns on resources. But the Varcoe and O’Mara research is ground-breaking in that it quantifies the benefits of good CRE data. In turn, it encourages companies to explore what good data entails. Traditionally, property departments think in terms of average cost per square metre, rather than how space is used. But as employees become more mobile, traditional corporate space sits un-used for some of the week. Companies know this, but they may not measure it.

Naturally maximising productivity and efficiency is something every Singaporean business needs to do, especially in the uncertain economic climate of today; thus waste elimination is crucial. The biggest opportunity lies in unused human talent.

Especially today, with the advent of internet, social media and many people having their own smart phones and tablets, being nice to your customers is so important. And it is so much important when your company is a prominent brand in your country.

The comment “Screw the divers” posted on Facebook led to Singapore’s largest supermarket chain, NTUC Fairprice to announce they will stop the sale of shark fin products by the first quarter of 2012.

With all the innovation in technology and business in and around Singapore, as well as new consumer behaviour, it’s sometimes difficult to separate what will shape the future of payments from what is just hype.

It is only the third month of 2012 and already the hiring outlook in Singapore is bleak. Organizations are looking to cut back on spending to stay afloat – too often this means layoffs and salary freezes, with the recruitment process either stopping completely or taking place at a much more selective and slower rate.

As a leading professional recruitment agency in Singapore, we’ve seen and interviewed tonnes of applicants. Our clients pay us top dollar to surface across the top talent that fits their criteria 110%.

Within a changing marketplace, successful biomedical companies increasingly are broadening their marketing approaches through online patient education initiatives and internet outreach.

Almost every marketer worth their salt measures customer satisfaction and loyalty to their brand, believing it's the key to getting their customers to spend more with them over time.

If your company suffers from low productivity, low morale and high turnover you need to know this.