12. Conclusion

Ever since former Prime Minister Mr. Goh Chok Tong and current Prime Minister Mr. Lee Hsien Loong urged that Singapore’s home-grown firms should not stay satisfied to be comfortably embedded in Singapore, but have to see the world as their oysters, and exhorted Singapore’s firms to take advantage of the country’s geographical and cultural proximity to thriving markets in the region, many indigenous firms have taken the recommendation, and ventured abroad with market-seeking, resource-seeking, efficiency seeking or strategic assets seeking objectives. These nearby markets, because of their proximity from Singapore, were suggested to impose less logistical constraints and sap of access to strategic home-based location-specific resources for these firms’ endeavors. In addition, these locations are likely to share historical, cultural and language affinities with Singapore. It was thus put forward that Singapore’s firms are more cognizant of these business environments, and incur less uncertainty and risks for their overseas forays into these locations.