Singapore's engagement with the rest of the world while much of the rest of Asia looked inward was a feature of its resilience during the Asian crisis and it's exposure during the more recent global slowdown. Singapore is well known for the quality of it's strategy formulation, so a recent interview of BG Lee is useful material for all Asian business strategists...

See Foreign Policy Magazine's article on Singapore's Big Gamble - an interview with BG Lee, son of Lee Kwan Yew and heir apparant to the Prime Ministership for a rare insight into Singapore's strategic planning.

When asked to comment for example on the effects of terrorist strikes on the US and the global economic slowdown amongst others Lee Hsien Loong was direct - That naive euphoria will not return. The sense that we're all going to become one, that all of the boundaries are going to be lowered, that the water level will equalize everywhere, and that societies will become, basically, like the United States - I don't think that will happen. But I think the economic and technological pressures pushing toward greater integration, more efficient markets, and more advanced products that need greater and greater economies of scale - whether it's banking services or a new generation of computer chips - will be there. For countries throughout Asia, if you want to prosper, the way to do it is to plug in more rather than to unplug.

For the full interview, click on the link above..