Firms in social entertainment need to rethink business model: Chan Chun Sing

COMPANIES that are involved in social entertainment or require high levels of interaction may need to rethink their business model for longer-term sustainability, before the government can reopen those segments of the economy, Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing said on Monday.

As Singapore progressively reopens its economy, priority will be given to the sectors that can reinforce Singapore's position as a financial, trade and transport hub, as well as those that allow the country to fulfil its responsibility to global supply chains, Mr Chan said. This includes sectors like pharmaceuticals, biomedical, electronics and petrochemicals.

"We need to start the preparations now, so that come next week, we can progressively reopen," Mr Chan said in response to a question from Ang Wei Neng, member of parliament for the Jurong Group Representation Constituency (GRC).

These preparations include contingency arrangements for a safe working environment that promotes safe distancing and a higher standard of hygiene.

Mr Chan said these measures will last a long time beyond the circuit breaker and they should be in place for sustainable operations in future.

At the same time, he said, technology will play a key role in enabling interaction and contact tracing.

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However, he noted that some companies would need to rethink their business model for longer-term sustainability, particularly those that are involved in social entertainment or require high levels of interactions either between the workers and the customers or among the customers.

Meanwhile, workers that have been working from home will have to continue working from home in the short to medium term, he said.

"This will be a long fight. We are far from over in this battle with Covid-19; we will need to put in place measures for safe operations," Mr Chan said.

Singapore entered a circuit breaker on April 7 to slow the transmission of Covid-19; under this circuit breaker, non-essential businesses were closed, among other measures. The measures were tightened on April 21, with the list of businesses deemed essential pared down further.

Mr Chan said about 21 per cent or 80,000 members of the workforce continued working on-site during the initial two weeks of the circuit breaker period. The figure was brought down to 17 per cent after the enhanced circuit breaker was introduced.