A Common Thread in Singaporeans: Innovation, Outsourcing & Service Culture
May 14, 2006 by Bernard Leong
It all started with a candid discussion over dinner table last night. We were discussing over how outsourcing of business operations diminishes the quality of the product and reduces the lack of innovation. In adopting Steven Levitt’s Freakonomics approach, we managed to piece together a simple argument on how these three seemingly unrelated terms on innovation, outsourcing and service culture pieced reflected a common culture in Singaporean mindset. We call that the common thread, and defined that to reflect some common values present in most Singaporeans. By the time you finish reading this, we would like you to conclude whether the mindset of Singaporeans is within the first or other worlds.
Taxi Drivers in Singapore
To present the story, let’s start with the taxi drivers in Singapore. They are a pretty special breed for some very good reasons. In the tipping point language, the taxi drivers are the connectors. They are the people who know everyone because their clients are sitting in their cars, transmitting all kinds of information. Even for a foreigner, the first person he would most likely encounter is the taxi driver when he touches down in Changi Airport. If you ask around, Singaporean taxi drivers seem to be the carrier of possibly true grapevine. They seem to be the first to know when taxes will rise, when the government will build a casino and when the elections will happen. As connectors, they have become instrumental in transmissing two things: (i) our service culture and (ii) grapevine from government about taxes and other information.
Since I am one of those people who have calculated that it’s cheaper to take cab rides for the rest of my life compare to own a car for 10 years due to increasing road tax, certificate of entitlement (COE) [1], petrol costs, I have daily interaction with these strange breed of people. I have constructed a criteria in assessing the service mentality of a Singaporean taxi driver and each criteria is assessed from one to ten (with one being worst and ten being best) [2]:
About The Author
Bernard Leong - Co-Founder
Dr Bernard Leong is the co-founder of Chalkboard where he currently serves as the chief technology officer and is the architect behind the solution to help small and medium enterprises to market promotions. Formerly a partner at Thymos Capital where he does early stage investments, his portfolio and specialization includes online social networks, mobile-web applications and games that leads to iHipo being acquired and also Lunch Actually (Eteract) raising next round of financing. His accolades include the Young Professional of the Year Award for the Singapore Computer Society 2010 and Outstanding Young Alumni for National University of Singapore 2007. His expertise includes technology and social media. Currently, Bernard also serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with INSEAD Business School and also teaches entrepreneurship in NTU.
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