Recently during an interview, the co-founder of Apple, Mr
Wozniack, said that to have creativity, there should be an
environment which is not too strict, and he mentioned
Singapore.
He said Singapore is too straight-laced, and as a result,
Singapore lacks creativity, it lacks artists, poets, inventors,
etc. But on the other hand, everybody has good jobs and has
car.
After I read his comments and think about it, I believe at first
glance, his premise seems to be naturally reasonable.
But on further thinking, I believe it is a very superficial
assumption.
I believe in Singapore, there exists a company named
Creative.
But the reason why Apple became huge and not Creative, is
because the talent pool in Singapore is too small, it has nothing
to do with strict regulations like people cannot chew gum or cannot
spit on the streets. Nothing to do with that.
Apple has much bigger talent pool, much bigger market, and much
better synergy in terms rising capital because it has Silicon
Valley and venture capitalists.
What can a Singapore-based company do..??
But how can a Singapore-based company compete with a much
smaller critical mass and talent pool, much smaller domestic
market, and less convinient capital markets..?
The reason has nothing to do with Singapore being too
straight-laced, and I am often puzzled whenever foreign observers
make this point, because this is not the first time.
Again and again, various commentators say Singapore is too
strict and lacks creativity, but I wonder whether it is simply a
case of cultural misunderstanding which got over-extrapolated and
mis-applied ?
What do you think..?
