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Today’s geopolitical disruption demands a new crisis plan for Singapore SMEs

Forget the survival playbook from the Covid-19 era

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    • With credit conditions tightening, the period of surviving with assistance is over, as it is now the survival of the fittest, says the writer.
    • With credit conditions tightening, the period of surviving with assistance is over, as it is now the survival of the fittest, says the writer. PHOTO: BT FILE

    Aidan Khoo

    Published Tue, May 12, 2026 · 07:15 AM

    WITH global supply chains again fractured amid escalating geopolitical tensions, many Singapore small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) leaders turned to their familiar survival plan: the 2020 pandemic playbook.

    The strategy is deeply ingrained: wait and see, absorb the initial cost spikes, tap into government grants and wait for global trade to normalise. But treating today’s geopolitical disruption as a replay of Covid-19 could be a costly miscalculation.

    The pandemic was largely a one-off supply-side shock cushioned by unprecedented fiscal intervention, such as loans and wage subsidies.

    SMEsSingapore SMEsBusiness managementrisk managementSupply chainsIran war

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