SINGAPORE

EASE OF DOING BUSINESS

IN ASIA

Indicator Rank Score

Overall 2nd 86.2

Starting a Business 4th 98.2

Construction Permits 5th 87.9

Getting Electricity 19th 91.8

Registering Property 21st 83.1

Getting Credit 37th 75

Cross-Border Trade 47th 89.6

Resolving Insolvency 27th 74.3

Overall Rank in world 18th

Non-Verbal Communication
1. The people of Singapore are group-dependent and rely on facial
expression, tone of voice, and posture to tell them what someone feels.
2. They often trust non-verbal messages more than the spoken word.
3. Also, people here tend to be subtle, indirect, and implicit in their
communications.
4. Rather than saying 'no,' they will say, 'I will try, or 'I'll see what I can do.'
This allows the person making the request and turning it down to save
face and maintain harmony in their relationship.
5. Silence is an essential element of Singaporean communication.
6. They do not understand western culture's ability to respond to a
question hastily and think this indicates thoughtlessness and rude
behavior.

Meeting and Greeting

1. Greetings will follow a strict protocol often based on both the ethnic
origin and age of the person.
2. Ethnic Chinese shake hands. Their grasp is relatively light, although the
handshake itself can be rather prolonged.
3. Ethnic Malays shake hands but using the 'salaam' (bowing the head)
greeting is considered more appropriate.
4. Ethnic Indians shake hands with members of the same sex.
5. As with the other groups, the elderly or the person with the most status
is introduced first.