Commentary

A 2012 global-fraud survey conducted by ACI Worldwide, a global provider of electronic payments solutions for financial institutions, retailers, and processors, showed that one in four respondents said that they have been victims of credit, debit or pre-paid card frauds over the last five years.

Singapore has experienced a meteoric rise the last years in the arbitration field. If this continues Singapore may dethrone Hong Kong as the arbitration heavyweight in Asia. 

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Tunnel Managers, PE Registered Engineers and Warehouse Managers are the candidates in hottest demand in Singapore as we welcome 2013, with many employers now already starting to action their hiring needs in preparation for the year ahead, according to the latest Hays Quarterly Report.

Singapore business is becoming progressively more global. Services and products offered by businesses are also becoming more focused and targeted at specific demographic segments.

The business world is driven by motivation and opportunity, of which there could be no more dramatic illustration than the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Singapore has cultivated its own blend of colloquial language which is colorful and interesting at its best, and very confusing as well as confounding at worst.

In Singapore, the heart of the web’s success is in connecting people with information. As consumers become more price-conscious, especially during downturns, they’re spending more time online researching purchases and finding good deals.

In 2011, a multinational survey of 14 countries ranked Singapore employees as the least happy. 42% of those who were surveyed indicated that they were dissatisfied or more than dissatisfied with their jobs.

Singapore’s mobile commerce is growing at a skyrocketing pace, according to a study attached.

Ask most people in Singapore what the most valuable asset in the organization is and the almost instantaneous reply will be, People.   

Fitch Ratings expects casinos in Macau, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia to maintain their credit profiles. The established casinos have completed most of their expansionary capex, and the casino gaming market overall is projected to expand.

The year 2012 showed a clear reflection of the general climate of economic and political uncertainty as reported in the BDO Ambition Survey 2012.

The global shipping and ocean freight industry is set to face a fourth year of challenging business conditions as weak demand for goods and services continue to afflict the world’s economy.

So you are negotiating with your customer (or adversary) for an important deal. Somehow, you feel that your adversary may be hiding something from you, or worse, giving you false information. In many books about body language, there are various ways to tell if the person in front of you is lying such as shaking their heads while saying "yes", or not maintaining eye contact. However, studies from acclaimed psychologist Paul Ekman , you don't just read body language or facial expressions to see if your adversary is lying to you. You need to first establish a baseline. The "baseline" is a set of stress-free questions that you know your adversary will be saying the truth. Things like "isn't it hot today?", or other mundane issues. If your adversary looks at their toes while giving you some very direct answers, or he covers his mouth even when asked about the most obvious question, perhaps he's not lying when he displays such actions during your negotiations. The key to spotting if someone is lying or hiding something is when your adversary's facial expressions, voice tonality, words or body language displayed a sudden change, especially when a stressful topic is being raised. Below is an example: Seller: so you are saying that your budget is tight, and you need us to give you a discount. Is that right? Buyer: Yes! Seller: well if you can guarantee a certain minimum quantity per year, I'm sure we can do something about price. Is a minimum of 4 shipments a year something you can commit to? Buyer: That should be OK for us. Seller: So can the first shipment start from early next month? Buyer: Err....that, that should be achievable. In the above conversation, the buyer started out very confident when asked if he wants to have a discount. However, when asked further if he could commit to a minimum quantity, he became less confident by saying "should be". When pushed on a start date, he became even more unsure of himself. Assuming if the Buyer in this scenario had been maintaining eye contact, and when asked if he could make a minimum commitment, he suddenly avoided eye contact, that's a sign of hiding something. And when asked to make the commitment within a deadline, in addition to sounding unsure, his lips curled and there was some signs that he was being uncomfortable, it's a clear sign that he's saying something that he has no clue. Still, there are no guarantees that even when someone changes their behaviours or postures when asked stressful questions, that person is lying. We can only say we suspect that person withholding something or displaying signs of discomfort. We can't say for sure that person is lying.

By the end of January, many Singaporeans will be experiencing déjà vu – New Year’s Resolutions broken and dashed, just like this time last year, and particularly with Chinese New Year round the corner.