News Analysis 3

Singapore On Top

Competition to be the best country to do business with is heating up in South East Asia. As reported by BBC News World Asia, the World Bank has ranked Singapore among other countries from all around the world as the best country to do business in for the ninth successive year in a row (BBC News World Asia 2014). The World Bank used specific metrics within its survey that included a time table that looked at the duration from start to finish for a business to open its doors to go out of business, the construction permitting process and finally the tax environment of the country’s most business friendly city (BBC News World Asia 2014).  

The metrics appear to cover realistic values a business person or organization would find critical in looking for a location to operate however the story does not talk about whether the World Bank also identified specific industry related data in its research leading to this report. The report does point to several areas that remained conceivably unchanged from previous years, for example regions opening the doors to loose regulatory controls and the embrace of better business practices seemed to show growth in some countries where others that tightened legislative boundaries slipped backward in the rankings (BBC News World Asia 2014).

In parallel to the World Bank report, the country of Malaysia reportedly published their 2015 budget that included plans to invigorate exports and create an environment for strong foreign direct investments according to Bernama News (2014). From this report, it appeared that Malaysia has plans for building a more robust place for doing business alongside their neighbors to the south. Much of the partnerships and collaborations are coming from United Arab Emirates companies the article says Bernama News (2014). The Tun Razak Exchange recently entered into a project forecast to cost nearly $5.5 Billion in US dollars to establish the City of Kuala Lumpur as a global leader in international finance, trade and services the report explained (Bernama News 2014). Considering that Singapore has recently been identified as the top country to do business with, Malaysia will likely find it easy to glean convenient sources for information and techniques from this world class business entity.

The origination of the sources of investment points to healthcare projects, financial and food producing industries however they do not mention anything about other markets like energy and manufacturing as this would directly relate to the quality of life of average citizens. Energy costs and jobs that produce goods relate directly to developing countries and access to a higher quality of life and simply were not discussed in either article which may beg the question about the extent of poverty in these countries and how these regions may be exploiting other nations that do not have access to these amenities that are probably taken for granted in developed countries. As these regions become more viable as global leaders, social and humanitarian responsibilities will likely take precedence in decision making about future markets and growth, defense, and foreign aid. These countries will have to figure this into their calculations when planning for continued expansions in the future.

References

Bernama News (2014). Malaysia To Build Even Stronger Firms To Woo More Investments. Retrieved from http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v7/bu/newsbusiness.php?id=1080552

BBC News World Asia (2014). Singapore tops World Bank business ranking for ninth year. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29813383