At a minimum this research report should cover:
A brief description of the industry sector chosen
Coverage of the significant issues facing entrepreneurs in this sector
A discussion of the level of entrepreneurial activity in the sector
Factors which influence the probability of new venture success
You are expected to produce information on their chosen industry. As a tip, students frequently write about their own industry and subsequently only produce their personal opinion. This is usually marked down substantially. As a research paper, the purpose of this assessment is to develop student investigative and research skills. Good research skills are of vital importance to entrepreneurs who often need to make their own assessments and discoveries as part of deciding feasibility of an identified opportunity. This ability to research an industry soundly is the foundation skill tested in this assessment.
The concept of entrepreneurship has evolved considerably post industrial revolution in the 20th century. Earlier, an entrepreneur was known as a person who is venturing into a new business. An entrepreneur is to develop, organize and manage a business along with its risk factors. The IT industry in Singapore has ranked as third in the global market (Carland et al., 2014). ‘Smart Nation initiative’ of Singapore government has boosted the information technology services of this country. However, recently, the entrepreneurs of IT industry are facing some significant issues during running their business properly. Information technology is all about innovation. The entrepreneurs often cannot cop up with the changing requirements of the customers. It leads them to lag behind their competitors. Fundamental disconnect amidst the businessperson and technologist often tend to less focus in the business. This study will describe the IT industry and its associated issues faced by entrepreneurs in Singapore. A brief description of the level of entrepreneurial activity in the sector will also be described in this study. Apart from that, the study will also highlight some factors, which influence the probability of new venture success.
The study aims at exploring the challenges faced by the entrepreneurs of IT sector in Singapore. The study has also explained the various steps followed by entrepreneurs in the IT sector of Singapore.
The purpose of this study is to find and recommend solutions to remove the hurdles of entrepreneurship in the IT sector of Singapore. The study also discusses the factors, which may affect the emergence of IT sector in Singapore.
IT industry is one of the fastest growing industries of Singapore. According to Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore, total compounding growth of IT sector for the period 1995-2000 was 24.33 (Mithas et al., 2012). This growth rate is highest among the cluster of creative industries in Singapore. In 2000, the IT industry fetched 312 million US dollars (mti.gov.sg). According to Global IT Report 2013, the revenue for 2011 registered a growth of 18.5% reaching up to the mark of 83.4 billion US dollars (Crow, & Muthuswamy, 2014). Currently, the industry is providing employment to 143,000 professionals. Singapore is also hosting 80 in top 100 IT companies with more than 15 having their regional offices in Singapore (Vu, 2013). The industry is set to grow even more with large numbers of start-ups coming up.
Challenges faced by the entrepreneurs in the IT sector of Singapore are arising from frequent technological changes and cultural differences. These are not allowing the entrepreneurs to utilize the resources fully.
There is no particular and concentrated market for the IT related services. The market is fragmented into many clusters. It is quite difficult for the entrepreneur to target the market in an efficient manner. Requirements of customers are changing day by day. Apart from that, it is tough to target the market with a standardized product or service owing to the varying requirements of the users of different markets. This is the primary challenge faced by the entrepreneurs in IT sector.
The IT industry in Singapore is not utilizing the PR, advertising and promotional activities to its full potential. Entrepreneurs often face difficulties in developing proper funding model. Due to improper funding model, the entrepreneurs sometimes fail to sustain core business, facilitate growth and support innovation (Blanchflower & Oswald, 2013). Thus, they are not able to convey proper message of their innovative technologies.
This is one of the biggest hurdles for IT entrepreneurs in Singapore. The industry is facing an acute shortage of educated and trained work force in Singapore labor market. The entrepreneurs have to depend on the IT professionals from other Asian countries like India and China. Hiring educated and trained employees from foreign markets becomes comparatively costlier. It is ultimately driving the operational expenses of the company (Brown & Ulijn, 2014). In this way, the entrepreneurs are facing capital shortage in running their business.
The regional market is very complex, as it comprises of diverse language, culture, customs, tradition and social systems. It makes difficult to replicate the success of one market into another (Yeung, 2012). This aspect is ignored by most of the entrepreneurs resulting in their failure. The culture is a sensitive issue, which must be considered while making a strategic decision.
Singapore is a small country with limited natural resources. Therefore, the economic growth of the country is largely dependent on innovative macroeconomic approach. This approach seems to be an opportunity for the entrepreneurs to the IT industry. The entrepreneurs also adopted the opportunity of liberal immigration policy in Singapore (Sandberg & Hofer, 2014). They can easily hire technically educated and trained employees from the foreign market. Recently, the entrepreneurs are no longer facing labor shortage in their organizations.
It has been found that the entrepreneurs of IT industry in Singapore have started to invest more capital in their business. Thus, they are now capable to expand their market and incorporate new technologies in business. Capital investment in technical sectors by entrepreneurs has been increased from $ 30 million in 2011 to $ 1 billion in 2013 (Vennekers et al., 2015). With increased capital investment, the entrepreneurs also have started to promote their technological innovations in an effective way. Popular social Medias like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and lots more are now widely used by the IT entrepreneurs. Therefore, they are now efficient in conveying their promotional message to right customers in right manner.
Technical education in Singapore has been increased by 31% from 2001 to 2015 (Bhunia, 2015). The Universities are now more inclined to provide practical knowledge rather than theoretical knowledge. It needs lot of technical devices in the universities. Today, many entrepreneurs of IT industries have tied up with online educational institution (Koh et al., 2012). In this way, they have increased their customer volume.
Some major issues, which may affect the prospect of IT industry, are discussed below:
Government policy acts as a prime factor in deciding the fate of any industry. The government regulates the most aspect of business in any country. According to Sandberg and Hofer, (2014), the tax policy and FDI policy pursued by the Singapore government are conducive for the growth of IT sector.
According to Casson, (2012), availability of capital is the important factor that can decide the future of IT industry in Singapore. IT sector is facing a severe scarcity of funds, which is a major obstacle in the flourishing of the IT sector in Singapore.
The Singapore government has strict IPR protection rules and regulation in place for protecting the interest of IT companies. IPR violations are the major concern for the knowledge-based organizations in the modern era.
A conductive business culture is necessary for the flourishing of IT sector in Singapore. In general, the business environment in Singapore is very fruitful for the growth of industry, but it needs to undergo transition for suiting the unique requirements of IT industry (Brown & Ulijin, 2014).
The study recommends that a robust government policy is needed for promoting the existing and potential entrepreneurs of Singapore. The government must adopt a flexible taxation and FDI policy to encourage the entrepreneurs. It should provide the subsidy and tax rebate for small entrepreneurs. It will improve the overall business environment needed for working in the IT sector of Singapore. The Singapore government should make a special economic zone dedicated to the IT firms, which will attract more entrepreneurs in this sector. Entrepreneurs should also take into account the cultural issues before floating a start-up.
Conclusion
Singapore is rapidly developing as an IT hub in Asia owing to the excellent infrastructural facilities. The country was very quick in embracing changes in the technology to ride the wave of digital boom. The IT companies are flocking to Singapore as it has a robust intellectual property right law and is easily accessible from all major cities across the world. The prediction of the industry forum clearly shows that IT sector will grow by leap and bound in Singapore. The IT sector in Singapore is attracting entrepreneurs in large numbers who are contributing to the digital boom of Singapore. On the other hand, there are many obstacles for the entrepreneurs, which are acting as a hindrance in utilizing the resources. These obstacles are the threat for the entrepreneurs who are aspiring to float a start-up in Singapore. The government is trying to address the issues in the larger interest of the community of entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs are facing many cultural issues, which are needed to be addressed by the entrepreneurs for the success of their venture. Recently, the entrepreneurs have started to invest more capital in to incorporate innovative technologies in their business.
References
Bhuian, S. N., Menguc, B., & Bell, S. J. (2015). Just entrepreneurial enough: the moderating effect of entrepreneurship on the relationship between market orientation and performance. Journal of business research, 58(1), 9-17.
Blanchflower, D. G., & Oswald, A. J. (2013). What makes an entrepreneur?.Journal of Labor Economics, 16(1), 26-60.
Brown, T. E., & Ulijn, J. M. (Eds.). (2014). Innovation, entrepreneurship and culture: the interaction between technology, progress, and economic growth. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Carland, H., Carland, J. W., Hoy, F., & Carland, J. A. C. (2014). Who is an entrepreneur? Is a question worth asking. Entrepreneurship: Critical perspectives on business and management, 2, 178.
Casson, M. (2012). The entrepreneur: An economic theory. Rowman & Littlefield.
Crow, G. B., & Muthuswamy, B. (2014). International outsourcing in the information technology industry: Trends and implications. Communications of the IIMA, 3(1), 3.
https://www.mti.gov.sg/Pages/home.aspx, accessed on July 29, 2015.
Koh, F. C., Koh, W. T., & Tschang, F. T. (2012). An analytical framework for science parks and technology districts with an application to Singapore.Journal of Business Venturing, 20(2), 217-239.
Mithas, S., Tafti, A. R., Bardhan, I., & Goh, J. M. (2012). Information technology and firm profitability: mechanisms and empirical evidence. Mis Quarterly, 36(1), 205-224.
Sandberg, W. R., & Hofer, C. W. (2014). Improving new venture performance: The role of strategy, industry structure, and the entrepreneur. Journal of Business Venturing, 2(1), 5-28.
Vu, K. M. (2013). Information and communication technology (ICT) and Singapore’s economic growth. Information Economics and policy, 25(4), 284-300.
Wennekers, S., Van Wennekers, A., Thurik, R., & Reynolds, P. (2015). Nascent entrepreneurship and the level of economic development. Small business economics, 24(3), 293-309.
Yeung, H. W. C. (2012). Entrepreneurship and the internationalization of Asian firms: An institutional perspective. Edward Elgar Publishing.
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