Market Focus

Riding the economic upturn, is your company ready?

Much like the recent rains that have brought much respite against our tropical heat, the latest MTI data have brought much relieve to most Singapore companies, as the economy finally take a turn northward with a 0.8 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2009.

Looking back, the pace of the economic downturn, set off by the financial crisis in September 2008 has caught most companies off guard. Data from DP Information Group’s annual SME Development Survey 2009, completed in July 2009 shows that 16% may not survive the downturn should the slowdown last beyond 2Q of 2010. In fact, 65% reported no turnover increase compared to 2007, despite the strong growth leading to September 2008, highlighting the severity of the sales plunge in the last quarter of 2008.

In retrospect, what could Singapore companies have done better to cushion themselves against such a sharp reversal? As with all learning, a good starting point is to learn by example, by examining what some company have done right to help them ride out the downturn.

Taking a leaf from the Singapore Fastest Growing 50 Companies (FG50), few ingredients of success have proven imperative in keeping these company on the growth path (See following Article).

With most expecting the long awaited upturn to finally arrive by early 2010, one key take away from the last 12 months is that it will not be business as usual moving forward. China’s dominance will continue to surge forward followed by other emerging economies such as India, Brazil and Russia. ASEAN integration by 2015 with a combined population of close to 600 million is expected to change the dynamics of doing business in this region. The next big question will be “Is your company ready for the new economic order?”