="cjoyce"]Competition can be looked at from two main
perspectives : qualitative and quantitative.
Cost factor is important to a certain extent. Global competition is
there and every possible means should be utilised to gain the
upperhand.
A persistent view held by the authorities is complacence. They
think that Singapore has the best airport and port and shipping
conglomerates are prepared to pay top dollar for quality service.
The condescension towards Pelapas and other ports is like the fable
of the hare and the tortoise race.
PSA has to be more vigorous in order not to lag behind its
competitors. Once the advantage is lost, it would be doubly hard to
regain the preeminent position Singapore has always boasted
about.
Technology start-ups, innovation and practical broad-based
knowledge application hold the key to a country's progress.
For most of the 1980s and 1990s, Singapore leaders wasted great
opportunities to level up to Korea, Finland and Switzerland in such
areas so it has somewhat stagnated due to over-confidence in
conceptual intuitions and foresight of leaders which could not be
implemented because they are too conceptual and full of bull and
assumptions.
So Yeo Ning Hong had to swallow his word about Singapore having
quality competitiveness. Reality does not agree with what he and
all the old guards have been proposing.
Singapore need new leaders who are truly entrepreneurial, open and
technology savvy. Do we have them?