The Interactions between the Business Strategies and Financial Strategies among the MNCs in Singapore

Abstract

MNCs have been playing an overwhelming role in Singapore's economic development. Large Singapore MNCs tend to be more westernized. Although cultural differences exist, Singapore is open and pragmatic, and therefore permits Western practices to be introduced and become the preferred management style. As the economic activities in Asia become more competitive, MNCs in Singapore have also been redefining the role of their operations in Singapore � from pure manufacturing to regional headquarters services. As Singapore's economic success is mostly attributed to MNC' FDI inflow, it would require the identification, consideration, and analysis of many risk factors, tangibles as well as intangibles. Nevertheless, the MNCs must strategize to match corporate capabilities and at the same time grant some form of competitive advantage, thereby increasing the value of the company. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the critical factors of corporate strategies that can affect the long-term performance of 18 MNCs in Singapore, so as to provide guidance for their survival and growth. The research examines the interactions between business and financial strategies, and discusses important propositions on growth and risk management based on relevant empirical and analytical findings from two business aspects: internationalization and product/service diversification and two financial aspects: asset liquidity and capital structure. The research also provide an analysis of the impact of internationalization strategy on asset liquidity and capital structure, the relationships between diversification strategy, asset liquidity and capital structure, as well as present the implications that are derived from these two analyses