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  Business Times 21 Mar 07
Singapore scores low on several counts in big-city lineup
But survey finds it pips 10 other global cities as best place for business
By Anna Teo

 Today Online 21 Mar 07
Not easy to keep up with the big boys
S'pore the most conducive for business, but lags behind bigger cities in other areas
Lee U-Wen u-wen@mediacorp.com.sg

FIRST, the good news: A global study of high-flying cities has ranked Singapore as the most conducive to do business in.

While that is not entirely surprising, what has raised eyebrows is the Republic's poor showing in four of the eight other indicators that the cities were rated on. It ranked near or at the bottom of the heap in lifestyle assets, intellectual capital, technology and innovation — even financial clout.

Conducted by accounting and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the Partnership for New York City, a network of business leaders, the study focused on 11 cities including Paris, Shanghai, London and Chicago.

Singapore came in first in just one category — ease of doing business — where variables such as corporate tax rates, ease of hiring and work-life benefits were taken into account.

Fostering a pro-business environment has typically remained high on the Government's agenda. In this year's Budget, the corporate tax rate was cut from 20 to 18 per cent and measures were introduced to help small businesses and encourage entrepreneurship.

But a closer look at the other categories shows Singapore still has plenty of ground to cover if it is to compete with other global cities.

The Republic aspires to become the financial hub of Asia but it was placed 10th in terms of financial clout, which measures a city's employment in the financial and business services and the value of its private equity, among other variables.

Giving his take on this, PwC Singapore executive chairman Gautam Banerjee told Today that Singapore's physical size continues to remain a "limitation". "The cities that scored well for financial clout are all established financial powerhouses with huge stock markets and high levels of financial activities," he said.

Still, he was confident that Singapore's size, or lack thereof, could be turned into an advantage. "Being small makes us more nimble and agile in responding to changes," he said. "It also makes us an excellent test bed for new technologies. To enhance our financial clout, we should look at ways to attract more fund management, wealth management and private equity firms to base their operations here."

In the field of technology knowledge and innovation, Singapore came in rock bottom on the list, scoring poorly for its low number of patents and the penetration of broadband among Internet users. In a statement, PwC noted that the new Wireless@SG initiative launched last year, which offers free broadband access islandwide through 5,000 hotspots, is expected to increase broadband usage significantly.

Singapore did fare considerably well in the area of safety and security, placing joint-fifth with New York. Singapore pipped all the other cities for the crime statistics variable, but scored badly based on the number of hospital beds it has.

Mr Banerjee, who is also a Nominated Member of Parliament, said there was no "model city of opportunity" as the rankings only represent a snapshot of business readiness at a particular moment. "It shows how the 11 cities stack up and where each of them may want to invest in weaker areas," he said.

He added that Asian cities are fast catching up with their Western counterparts. "In the past, Western cities would have led the race but today, Asian cities such as Singapore and Shanghai are taking their place on the world stage and posing serious challenges to the reigning global powerhouses."

WHERE WE STAND
How the Republic placed on a ranking of 11 cities
1st Ease of doing business
3rd Demographic advantages
5th Safety and security (tied with New York)
7th Transportation assets
8th Cost
10th Lifestyle assets
10th Intellectual capital
10th Financial clout
11th Technology IQ and innovation

Besides Singapore, the 10 other cities surveyed were Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Shanghai and Tokyo.

Business Times 21 Mar 07
Singapore scores low on several counts in big-city lineup
But survey finds it pips 10 other global cities as best place for business
By Anna Teo

(SINGAPORE) Singapore has scored poorly for technology IQ and innovation, intellectual capital, lifestyle assets and even financial clout in a new study of global 'cities of opportunity'. But among the 11 cities tracked, it is the best place to do business.

The study, 'Cities of Opportunity: Business-Readiness Indicators for the 21st Century' by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and The Partnership for New York City, a network of business leaders, covered five North American cities (Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Toronto), three in Europe (Frankfurt, London, Paris) and three in Asia (Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo).

Each of these cities is a centre of commerce and finance and a magnet for companies. Each also has its share of corporate HQs and 'offers distinct advantages for doing business in a global economy', the study says.

But the 11 were chosen simply because a lack of comparable and consistent data ruled out - for now - other worthy inclusions such as Dubai, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Milan, Sao Paolo, Sydney and Tel Aviv, it points out.

What sets the study apart, however, is not the choice of cities but the indicators used. The nine indicators and 32 variables go beyond the traditional cost factors to 'provide a more broad-based picture of what drives business location decisions in the 21st century'.

Singapore ranked last in 'technology IQ and innovation' - perhaps the one indicator which, more than any other, defines, in the popular mind, the 21st century city of opportunity, the study says. The variables assessed here included percentage of self-employed and number of registered patents.

Singapore ranked near-last, unsurprisingly, in 'intellectual capital' - an indicator that looked at, among other things, the number of Top 500 universities in a city and number of Nobel Prize winners in the past eight years.

Similarly, Singapore ranked above only Shanghai for 'financial clout', which took into consideration things like the number of Fortune Global 500 headquarters and domestic market capitalisation.

The other indicator where Singapore did poorly was 'lifestyle assets', covering entertainment, recreational space and number of hotel beds - though its ranking is expected to improve with the completion of the integrated resorts in 2010.

The one indicator in which Singapore emerged tops was 'ease of doing business' - it led across all four variables. But in three of these variables - severance laws, work-life benefits and ease of hiring - Singapore shared top spot with a good number of other cities. Only in 'corporate tax' was it the exclusive leader.

Among the other indicators, Singapore ranked a close third on 'demographic advantages' behind New York and Los Angeles. This assessed the 'right mix' of people to provide a city with advantages in terms of efficiency, diversity and depth of talent and skills.

Overall, the findings are not surprising - for instance, New York dominated the 'financial clout' indicator and Tokyo led in 'technology IQ and innovation'. But one might not have expected Frankfurt to be top for 'safety and security' or Atlanta for 'cost'.

Singapore, by the way, ranked joint-fifth on 'safety and security' with New York, pulled down by a low score for the number of hospital beds. Tokyo, Paris and Toronto ranked ahead.

On cost, Singapore ranked behind London, Paris and Tokyo as the fourth most costly city to live in and do business. The US cities - Atlanta, Los Angeles and Chicago - emerged cheapest in terms of cost of living, purchasing power and cost of business occupancy.

Commenting on the overall findings, the report says that while predictably, 'early beneficiaries of globalisation' like London, New York, Paris and Tokyo are ''obvious leaders', emerging cities such as Shanghai, Singapore, Atlanta and Toronto 'pose serious challenges'.

'With increasing globalisation, most major cities are preparing themselves to attract an influx of business, to be cities of opportunities,' said Gautam Banerjee, executive chairman of PwC Singapore.

'In the past, Western cities would have led the race. But today, Asian cities such as Singapore and Shanghai are taking their place on the world stage and posing serious challenges to the reigning global powerhouses.'

The study does not declare any single 'model city of opportunity', he added. It merely represents a snapshot of business readiness at one moment in time. 'It shows how the 11 cities stack up and where each of them may want to invest in weaker areas.

Almost every city demonstrates leadership in at least one variable, and at times, in more than one. 'While established leaders continue to make a strong showing, they cannot rest on their laurels. For the emerging cities, there are opportunities to learn from their more advanced counterparts. New centres of global commerce are emerging, and new choices and opportunities abound for businesses to consider.'
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