MIT prof confirms what Chee has been saying all these years

[makapaaa]

<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/3398-mit-prof-confirms-what-chee-has-been-saying-all-these-years
<TABLE class=contentpaneopen><TBODY><TR><TD class=contentheading width="100%">MIT prof confirms what Chee has been saying all these years </TD><TD class=buttonheading width="100%" align=right> </TD><TD class=buttonheading width="100%" align=right> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=contentpaneopen><TBODY><TR><TD class=createdate vAlign=top>Wednesday, 24 February 2010 </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top>Singapore Democrats

Huang Yasheng

There has been great emphasis on what is ailing Singapore's economy in the past several months. Much of it has centred around the declining productivity of our workforce.

Professor Huang Yasheng from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) weighed in on this issue when he was recently invited to deliver a lecture at the Civil Service College here. In his presentation, Professor Huang gave his insights on how Singapore can go about tackling the productivity problem (see report below).

A professor of political economy and international management, the MIT don has written extensively on the Chinese economy and he also runs a programme at the Institute to train entrepreneurs in management.

In his address Professor Huang made the point that the top-down approach of running the economy in Singapore through GLCs was causing much of the lag in productivity in our economy.

This was because GLCs are largely staffed and led by civil service technocrats who lack the entrepreneurial and innovative drive seen in the private sector.

Much of what Professor Huang said confirms what Dr Chee Soon Juan has been saying all these years in his various books.

Prof Huang: The new game is not about high averages, but outliers. Nor is it about size, but nimbleness. "This idea that size gives you advantage is an extraordinarily strange view. Was Microsoft a big company in 1975? Was Google a big company in 1998?"
Dr Chee: In the US, it is the smaller companies that are more nimble and able to adapt to changes in technology. IBM, the once mighty giant in the industry, is now struggling to keep up with smaller companies like Microsoft and Apple. (Dare To Change, 1994)

Prof Huang:But growing up in the big shadow of state intervention has dwarfed the entrepreneurial culture here. The 'orderly' environment here dulls the incentive to think out of the box. Everything is very well organised. Entrepreneurship typically happens in a more chaotic environment.
Dr Chee: Such a system inevitably produces workers who may perform competently when society is well organised and structured but when spontaneity and creativity is of the essence, find it difficult to exercise an independent unfettered...Conformity has come second nature to the people. (Your Future, My faith, Our Freedom, 2001)

Prof Huang: Even Singapore's top-down education system gets in the way. "While producing excellent maths scores, it is not producing diversity in ideas and unconventional ways of solving problems."
Dr Chee: ...Singapore's educational system has emphasized rote learning and has graded students almost entirely on their perfomance in their year-end examinations...this form of schooling deprives society of entrepreneurial minds, resulting in the school curricular. (Dare To Change, 1994)

Prof Huang: The private sector is the best way to grow the economy. It has the most productive, most innovative and entrepreneurial culture. The state-owned enterprise system doesn't give you that.'
Dr Chee: With world markets becoming more diverse and integrative, private enterprises are better poised to capitalise on business opportunities than state-controlled companies. (A Nation Cheated, 2007)

It seems that the PAP Government simply refuses to make the necessary reforms to ensure that our economy develops in a sustainable way that benefits all segments of society, not just the clique that surrounds it.

But the problems are just beginning to surface and there is absolutely no indication that the ruling party is willing to make the hard but necessary decisions to steer our economy on to the right path. Such an approach will continue to be a drag on the nation's progress.

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[makapaaa]

Rethinking the Temasek growth model
Straits Times
12 Feb 10

How far should the Government extend its long arm into the private sector?

The Economic Strategies Committee last week proposed that the Government, aided by private sector fund managers, invest up to $1.5 billion in Singapore-based enterprises to help them grow and even take a stake in them.

The idea raised few eyebrows here but would have caused renowned political economist Huang Yasheng to do a double-take.

To the Beijing-born Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor, who was in town recently to address the Civil Service College, state-linked enterprise models are a sure-fire way to stifle the economy in the long run.

Known for his critical view of China's bias towards state-linked enterprises at the expense of its home-grown businesses, he expressed the same scepticism about how far state intervention can help private enterprise here.

Singapore should 'rethink' the 'Temasek model', he says, referring to the state investment company Temasek Holdings, which has major stakes in large local corporations such as telecommunications player SingTel and developer CapitaLand.

'The private sector is the best way to grow the economy. It has the most productive, most innovative and entrepreneurial culture. The state-owned enterprise system doesn't give you that.'

He acknowledges that Singapore has 'the most streamlined state management model' worldwide among the countries which adopt this method, but it has milked this system for all it is worth.

'You are already hitting the wall,' he warns. Retaining this strategy could mean sacrificing future growth that is possible only through a bigger, more dynamic private sector.

When governments get involved in venture financing, they risk getting tangled in a whole host of issues. Few taxpayers, he reckons, can stomach the inherent risks of funding technology start-ups.

'Nine out of 10 investment projects fail. Does the government have such a high tolerance for risk? It's taxpayers' money, right? I don't think, politically, it's legitimate for the government to keep investing in failing individuals and failing projects. How do you defend these decisions?'

Those who fund these start-ups need to understand that risk-taking is part and parcel of the whole process.

'But does the average Singaporean understand that?'

Even if a project does succeed, other thorny issues crop up.

'The entrepreneur gets a disproportionate share of the benefits. Why should I, as a taxpayer, fund these projects? What do I get? There's a basic illogic to the government being involved in venture financing, at a political level and operational level.'

In most other countries, government funding typically goes into basic research without direct commercial applications.

'Maybe a better way is for the government to fund more basic research and then allow universities, private equity firms, venture capital firms and rich individuals to take care of the rest.'

That is because even when the state sector is well managed, it is not as innovative as the private sector, he says.

'From a technological development point of view, you need a bigger private sector to compete, to come up with new products, processes and technologies, to better compete with India and China.'

The case for private entrepreneurship is strong even when applied to these two Asian giants. In a 2006 Financial Times article, he compared the two economies, concluding that India was achieving a high level of economic growth with just a fraction of what China was receiving in foreign direct investment.

The difference boiled down to the level of support for local entrepreneurs.

'An economic litmus test is not whether a country can attract a lot of foreign direct investment, but whether it has a business environment that nurtures entrepreneurship, supports healthy competition and is relatively free of heavy-handed political intervention. In this regard, India has done a better job than China,' he wrote.

The trouble with civil servants leading the charge, he says, is that creative thinking is often in short supply.

'Civil service culture is about discipline. It's about execution. It's about efficiency. Entrepreneurial culture is about challenging the authorities, questioning the existing ways of doing businesses, moving away from the routines and norms. It's about the unconventional, rebellious and diverse. These values are almost polar opposites.'

He stops himself for a moment. 'I want to be very clear, Singapore has one of the best civil services in the whole world, and that's a very precious asset. The issue is, whether you want the civil service to play such a big role (in enterprise) or not.'

State-linked enterprises, he acknowledges, served Singapore very well before the rise of cheap labour in China and India, when growing the economy required merely ramping up production through higher efficiency. But today, the challenge is constant innovation.

'You can increase scale economy with government funding. But when it comes to new products, processes and technologies, it's very different. It's not just about money, it's culture.'

But growing up in the big shadow of state intervention has dwarfed the entrepreneurial culture here, he says. The 'orderly' environment here dulls the incentive to think out of the box. 'Everything is very well organised. Entrepreneurship typically happens in a more chaotic environment,' he observes.

Even Singapore's 'top-down' education system gets in the way.

'While producing excellent maths scores, it is not producing diversity in ideas and unconventional ways of solving problems,' he notes.

The new game is not about high averages, but outliers. Nor is it about size, but nimbleness.

He scoffs at the widely held view here that local firms are too small to compete outside Singapore without help from the government or government-linked firms.

'This idea that size gives you advantage is an extraordinarily strange view. Was Microsoft a big company in 1975? Was Google a big company in 1998?

'The key thing is whether or not you can grow, and how you grow. If government support is behind the growth of a company, that means the company has not survived the competition test. It may fail in a different environment.

Worse still, 'if the government support is strong, it dilutes the incentive to innovate'.

A small company, he says, can be 'extremely competitive' by occupying a strategic niche.

'Academic research shows overwhelmingly it is the small companies that create new technologies and new products. Big companies are innovative only when they acquire small companies.'

Hence, the critical question for Singapore is whether its big firms have enough small companies to acquire.

To help smaller players flourish, he believes local entrepreneurs should have easier access to private funds. The Central Provident Fund system, he points out, is worth a relook. While it builds up retirement nest eggs by enforcing savings that can run up to about 40 per cent of an employee's total wage, it also channels away a sizeable sum from the hands of potential entrepreneurs to government investments.

Putting some of these funds back in the hands of more nimble local entrepreneurs could be Singapore's best bet to stay ahead in this fast moving global economy. Failing to exploit the potential of its private sector could mean the country, once labelled an 'Asian Tiger' for its sparkling growth rates, might go down in history as an economic has-been, he says.

'I think Singapore has done a remarkable job in the last 50 years. The logic of its system is very powerful. But the issue now is that we have a very different environment.

'And the ultimate success of a system depends on its ability to adapt to new situations,' he adds.
[URL="http://www.asiaone.com/Business/SME%2BCentral/Prime%2BMovers/Story/A1Story20100210-197887.html"]http://www.asiaone.com/Business/SME%2BCentral/Prime%2BMovers/Story/A1Story20100210-197887.html[/URL]
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[makapaaa]

This idea that size gives you advantage is an extraordinarily strange view

=> Strange things will continue to happen and the PAPee Traitors dish out warped theory as long as the 66% GOONDUS continue to act strangely in the elections to allow the Familee and its running dogs carry on with its 40 years of unbridled leegalized corruption!

 

[johnny333]

Why would the PAP want to change anything

They have a diamond rice bowl, making more than peanuts. They only need to shake legs & make speeches. Any 80+ octogenarian can do that

 

[Lee Hsien Tau]

Why would the PAP want to change anything

They have a diamond rice bowl, making more than peanuts. They only need to shake legs & make speeches. Any 80+ octogenarian can do that

He can fart, but can he forecast?

 

[sodoMee]

He can fart, but can he forecast?

well at least he doesn't apply the divide and conquer method by splitting the country into half singaporeans half FTs...

 

[cunnosieur]

Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 37
My Reputation:Points: 10 / Power: 0


Re: Bank of China S'pore

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Banking Grapevie:

Profile of BOC Accounts Relationship Mgr

EXPERIENCE
Jan. 2002 – Dec. 2005 Bank of China, Singapore Branch


Account Relationship Manager – Corporate Banking Department

 Liaise with arrangers on syndication loans deals;
 Information gathering, assessing and analysing of macro economy, industry, multinational corporates etc.
 Prepare and present of credit proposals;
 Prepare annual review reports for existing portfolios;
 Draft various reports to Head Office;
 Draft, edit and finalise credit manual of the department in Chinese (over 120 pages)
 Translate credit manual of the department into English.


Sep. 1998 - Dec. 2001 The Kwangtung Provincial Bank
Singapore Branch
(KPB merged with Bank of China since
1 Jan.2002)

Senior Officer – China Business Department

 to build and expand customer base;
 to minimise problem loan facilities, increased interest income by 30% within year of 1999;
 to go on business trips whenever necessary;
 handling perplexing projects which involved in legal procedures;
 to draft reports to Head Office;
 to communicate well with senior managers and junior staffs.


EDUCATION
1982–1986 Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, China
B.A., English Language & Literature.

1990–1991 Gansu International Trade Institute, Lanzhou, Chin

 

[cunnosieur]

Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 12
My Reputation:Points: 14 / Power: 0


PRC Bank Exec

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Happen to be at waterloo street doing some bank transaction yesterday lunch time, was told by the counter staff to wait for 15min to half an hour. Went out for a quick puff and saw this gal leaning on my car talking on her phone. The moment she lift up her head, I was WOW..... Not bad leh. She smile back and say sorrie, I told her to carry on leaning in a joking way. We chatted awhile and got to know that she just arrived 3 weeks ago working at the Bank which I just went. So I try to date her out for a drink and she say OK (My Lucky Day).

Pick her up after her work at 5.30pm and we went downtown for dinner. I was trying my best to test water (NO LUCK). We headed to Boat Quay for a drink after dinner and I told myself this time DIE DIE also must ask. All of a sudden, she burst into tear (ALCOHOL EFFECT), saying she misses her parent. I try to console her and told her not to think so much. Time passes and we are now more open up, I pop up the question to her:

Me: Why dun you try to earn more money while you are in SG?
She: How to?
Me: Do part time lor.
She: What is part time?
Me: Must I go into detail, then you can understand.
(Slient for a while) and (Burst into laughter)
She: How much am I worth in your eye.
Me: Hard to say, depends on how good are you.
She: How much do you want to give me, if I say OK to you.
Me: 150 lor (Man Ego).
She: If I am good to you, you give me more is it?
Me: Let see how good are you.
Me: How???
She: Can try. Is it now?
Me: Now lor. If not when?
She: Where?
Me: I bring you there.

10.45pm we check into a hotel at chinatown and the rest is story.....

Name: Txxx Xxxx
Age: 25
Look: 7.5 (Young office exec look)
Stats: 34B / 24 / 34 (I think so)
BBBJ: Yes for me
FJ: 9 (good moaning)
Painting: Yes for me
CIM: No
AR: No
AJ: No
Attitude: Very anticipating
Damage: 150 / 1shot
Overall: Good
RTF: Yes for sure (Bonking a Bank Exec)

http://www.sammyboyforum.com/welcome...bank-exec.html