The Singapore "Advantage" in India: A Perception or a Premium?

• Main Authors: WEE, Alexandra Si-Lan, LEONG, Ai Lin, YEOH, Caroline
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2004
• Subjects: Industrial parks; Singapore; India; Asian Studies; International Business
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/2858; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/3857/viewcontent/auto_convert.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Singapore’s regionalisation strategy has been applied in various countries, such as China, Vietnam and India, through the establishment of industrial parks. The parks are marketed as a winning combination of the host country’s unique location advantages and Singapore style efficiency and management know-how. Singapore’s foray into India was marked by the setting up of the ITPL in Bangalore, and furthered by its venture into a future phase of HITEC City, based on her success in Bangalore. However, with global businesses shifting interests towards India, and competing industrial parks emerging to meet the increasing demand, ITPL is faced with stiff competition from other industrial parks. This paper compares the pull factors and constraints of ITPL with phase 1 and 2 of the HITEC city and also differentiates between these two sites, which both gain leverage from India’s cheap plentiful labour, through the use of in-depth case studies. It concludes that, while location-specific advantages are important to the parks’ tenants, a definite edge is given by the Singaporean affiliation to the parks.