Internationalisation Series: An Outside-In Approach to Sustainable Business Growth, Taiwan

SG SMEs are similar in that they pursue sustainable, profitable business growth, while making valiant efforts to overcome the strategic and operational impediments to that growth. Where possible, most try their best to take advantage of the many grants which SG government agencies provide to offset the costs of training and acquiring additional skills and knowledge. However, despite their best efforts, there inevitably remains critical gaps in strategy, capabilities and operational excellence. They tend to overly focus on continuously improving their product or service, without paying enough attention to whether that improvement strengthens their competitive advantage. As such, it is crucial for SME leaders to take an outside-In approach This would help the company be more aware of the external environment, that includes evolving customer needs and wants; the competitive frame; longer-term sectoral trends; changing social and market conditions; etc.

The specific context of taking an outside-In approach for this course is to gain deeper learning and insights from SMEs in another market. The chosen market, Taiwan, has a market environment with some common characteristics to Singapore’s. Taiwan SMEs number 1.38 million, that is 97% of all enterprises in that market. They employ 78% of the workforce.

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