'Sometimes, the key to innovation may lie outside the company or country'

Singapore

WHILE having the right champions to convince workers of the need for innovation is key to successful business transformation, companies should not be afraid to tap external resources, where required, to achieve their goals.

This insight was shared by business leaders in a panel discussion with Minister for Finance and chairman of the Future Economy Council Heng Swee Keat at the launch of this year's Enterprise 50 (E50) Awards at the Andaz Singapore hotel on Tuesday.

Toby Koh, group managing director at Ademco Security Group, said that ensuring workers' buy-in is essential to driving change within one's team, but added: "Sometimes, change cannot be effected within the organisation because it does not have the capability."

For example, he said, Ademco believes that blockchain will be the next big thing in security, but lacks the relevant expertise in the field. Its response was to invest in blockchain tech logistics company Fresh Turf, so that it can access the technology and deploy it when the time is right.

"Sometimes, innovation cannot come from within the current organisation, and that's where we need an external team. Eventually, we will amalgamate them," Mr Koh said.

Raymond Lim, associate director at engineering solutions company Elmich, said joint ventures with key partners in the countries it wants to reach have enabled the company to meet the challenge of finding local workers willing to work overseas.

In his speech at the event, Mr Heng urged the nearly 200 business leaders in the audience to be ambassadors for change and pursue such partnerships to help their respective industries transform.

"You can share your stories, encourage your industry peers and collaborate, so that we can come together to transform Singapore's economy for the long term," said Mr Heng, who will assume the post of deputy prime minister on Wednesday.

The government is committed to partner those who are taking steps to transform, so companies need not feel alone in their journeys, he added.

For instance, agencies such as the Economic Development Board, Enterprise Singapore (ESG) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) provide support for transformation efforts in internationalisation, research and development and skills upgrading.

Last year, ESG supported about 7,000 capability upgrading projects. It has been estimated that these projects would generate S$10.2 billion in value-add and 10,500 skilled jobs.

Mr Heng also launched a book by The Business Times titled Leaders of Transformation at the event. The book features the stories of 26 local businesses which have stayed ahead of the competition by leading transformation in their industries.

He acknowledged that there is no one-size-fits-all strategy, and noted that the companies written about in the book vary in size and hail from a variety of industries. He urged businesses to take these as encouragement to drive transformation in their own companies.

Nominations for the 2019 E50 Awards are now open, and will close on June 30. The annual awards are organised by KPMG in Singapore and BT, and recognise the 50 most enterprising, privately-held local companies in Singapore.

Participants are ranked on a set of qualitative criteria including their business model, productivity and innovation, management ideals and governance, risk management and market presence in the region and beyond.

A set of quantitative performance indicators over a three-year period is also taken into consideration.

This year's awards will feature three special awards, including a 25th Year Digital Economy Award. The criteria for this will include the business model, degree of innovation and technology adoption, gross market valuation of the company, the amount of funding raised, revenue growth and its Singapore presence.

The Special Recognition - Internationalisation Award will go to a local enterprise that has expanded overseas, while the Special Recognition - Enterprise Transformation Award will be presented to one that is best able to adopt a business model to achieve productivity gains and sustainable growth and to move into higher value-added activities.

The 2019 Enterprise 50 list will be published in the fourth quarter of 2019, in conjunction with an awards gala dinner.

Supporters of the awards include Enterprise Singapore, the Singapore Business Federation and the Singapore Exchange.

OCBC Bank is back as the main sponsor of these awards for the 14th consecutive year.