Why Singaporeans have hard time doing business overseas?

[Dennis Ng]

We have heard of many real-life stories of successful Singapore businesses "failing" in foreign countries eg. China. Why is it so?

In my opinion why most Singaporeans have a hard time doing business overseas?

Here're the reasons in my opinion:
1. No U Turn syndrome.
Singapore is too fixated on rules. For instance, in S'pore you can only U-turn when you see a U-turn sign. In U.S.A, you can U-turn anywhere unless you see a No u-turn sign.

When we're so used to "black and white" rules, we're totally lost when we go to countries where there are no black and white, BUT only many shades of grey.

2. Not encouraged to think
S'poreans education system emphasize too much on "model answers". It's good at producing "obedient" workers. However, how can such people be "creative", be able to find solutions without any model answer of 10-year exam series answers?

3. Comfortable for TOO Long
Most S'poreans have been comfortable too long. They have lost the "survival instinct". They can survie well in a "zoo" like Singapore but they will be eaten when in "jungle out there". They are like lions in the zoo who thought that food comes in the form of "cut meat". They no longer know how to hunt anymore.

4. Lack of cohesiveness
I heard that Taiwanese can be very competitive. Yet when a taiwanese company win a contract, all taiwanese businessmen are happy and spur each other on. When 2 S'pore companies compete, they tend to "tear each other apart". When 1 company won, the other company would be very sour and possible even spread "negative rumours" about the company that won.

How can we win against the outside world when we're not united together as S'poreans?

Above what I say is representative of MOST S'poreans. Of course, there're the rare few that are opposite of what I said. What I said are "frank comments", they might not be nice to hear. However, the sooner we recognise our weaknesses and cover them, the better it is for us Singapore as a Nation.

P.S. I'm a very patriotic S'porean even though I have NEVER hung any S'pore flag before. It's really the thought from the heart that counts.