You have raised good and thought provoking points above -
especially on the Keppel Shipyard example, and I can understand and
share the point there.
On the lower section concerning how the acquisition of shares in
foreign business entities could help generate business and
employment opportunities here in Singapore, my trust in the phenoma
is based mainly on the principal of Business Migration and Business
Intelligence.
Hypotetically speaking, when we have Temasek entering into anything
foreign, the initial gains that will be made would not be immediate
monetary profits or a dominating market share upfront.
We would in fact, be more interested to gain learnings on matters
such as a foreign country's internal domestic economic conditions,
commercial trading conditions, the identification of their
successful and reputable corporations who might hold the potential
of posing threats to certain SG incorporated who might be operating
within the same theatre.
For foreign entities identified with investment potential, the
business intel could be passed to IE Singapore, who would then
initate wooing efforts to target these foreign firms to set up
subsidaries here in SG - as you have mentioned earlier too.
Similar but of an alternate flow, the entering into business and
industrial activites overseas, we might also attract smaller
foreign companies to volunteeringly shift core business activites
over to SG as they would also be keen to be closer to there the
heart of action is (SG being Temasek's HQ).
When this happens, we would have job creation all the same too.
Sure the SMEs will face increased challenge, but in our era, there
are no longer any avenue for escape away from Globalization.
The above process is of course not a direct one, but the eventual
benefits will flow into SG and potentially benefit us in an
indirect manner.
By participating in foreign superinfrastructural developments via
mergers, JVs or whatever we have, Temasek would also have gained
first hand knowledge on a foreign government's plans for any
selected geographical region.
When we have access to such infrastructure blueprints - made
available either because these had been communicated by the foreign
goverment or even drafted up internally by the merged or JV
company, we will then KNOW what tricks or changes that our
surrounding economic engines might be habouring.
By knowing the type of investments made, the degree of
sophistication, the amount of investments poured in as well as the
project's team of international participation, SG as a whole, will
then at least have a greater frame of time to be prepared and to
pre-empt and disarm any form of potential economic risk/threats to
us.
That, will help to preserve jobs locally.
