Debora Spar
Barnard College
David Breneman • University of
Virginia
What Higher Education Can Learn
from the Case of Singapore
S
ingapore is the smallest nation in Southeast Asia and one of just three sovereign city-states
remaining in the world, along with Monaco and Vatican City. It is a rocky island less than
one-quarter the size of Rhode Island, densely populated with roughly 4 million citizens and
residents. Singapore achieved full sovereignty from Britain in 1958, and in 1965 became
completely independent when the short-lived Federation of Malaysia collapsed. Debora Spar,
formerly Spangler Family Professor at Harvard Business School and currently president of
Barnard College, taught the Singapore case1—one of 42 country cases focused on national economic
development—at HBS and to government officials around the world. Singapore is clearly an economic success story. Its per capita GDP grew at a nearly 9% average annual rate for 25 years, from 1965
to 1991. Spar reviews the drivers of Singapore’s economic success, and discusses the strategy that enabled it to accomplish so much with so little. Finally, she addresses the implications of the Singapore
case for higher education institutions.
Singapore
Key Notes
In 1819, Sir Stamford Raffles of the British East India
Company immediately recognized the trading potential of
Singapore’s location at one end of the Strait of Malacca.
By 1867, Singapore was part of a Crown Colony directly
controlled by London.
Singapore was granted full sovereignty from Britain in
1958. The following year, Lee Kuan Yew was elected
prime minister. He would be reelected eight times and
govern until 1990.
Singapore is an economic success story. From the beginning, Lee’s government focused on providing housing and
jobs, investing capital in its port and other key infrastructure projects, and offering a stable environment for foreign
investors.
Lee and his small cohort of well-educated governing elites
were part of a meritocratic system that held government
officials in high esteem. Their economic development strategy fit Singapore’s context, and was adapted as circumstances demanded.
While intrusive by Western standards, the government’s
flexibility and willingness to admit mistakes, its clarity in
communications about its plans, and its unquestioned honesty and integrity helped to build and sustain a collective
commitment to its goals for the country.
Singapore’s location at one end of the Straits of Malacca (see
maps) made it an important trading center and port as early as
the seventh century. Modern Singapore dates from the discovery
of the island’s magnificent natural port in the early 1800s by an
officer of the British East India Company, who immediately established a British outpost there.
Singapore’s ties with Britain would last nearly 150 years, until
sustained calls for self-rule finally led Britain to grant Singapore
full sovereignty in 1958. In the election held the following year,
36 year-old Lee Kuan Yew, leader of The People’s Action Party
(PAP), a fledgling pro-communist party, won easily. Lee Kuan
Yew proved to be an enormously popular leader, both within
Singapore and beyond. He was reelected eight times, governing
Singapore as prime minister from 1959-1990, and came to be
known as “the father of Singapore.”
Key economic development strategies and cultural interventions pursued by Lee Kuan Yew and his PAP party, which
the Harvard Business School Singapore case describes in detail, led Singapore to some of the world’s highest economic
growth rates in the world.2
Forest L. Reinhard, “Singapore”, HBS Case No.
793-096 (Boston: Harvard Business School
Publishing, 1993) (www.hbsp.harvard.edu)
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21
Economic Intervention
Cultural Intervention
Under Lee Kuan Yew’s leadership, Singapore became an economic success story—in a place where an entirely different
story very well could have been written. From the beginning,
Lee’s government focused on providing housing and jobs, investing capital in its port and other key infrastructure projects,
and offering a stable environment for foreign investors.
Starting in 1960, Singapore’s Housing Development Board
oversaw the construction of 10,000 low and middle-income
housing units per year (in contrast to just 23,000 built in the
preceding 32 years by the colonial housing authority). The
focus on providing housing, and the construction jobs that
created, led to strong popular support of Lee Kuan Yew and
his PAP party.
Similar to its economy, Singaporean society was marked by a high
degree of government intervention, ranging from forced personal
savings levels that peaked at 50%, to controlling the media and access to satellite dishes to outlawing chewing gum and long hair.
In his speeches, Lee often invoked Confucian values that accentuate hard work and obedience to authority. Education was
emphasized from the top: Singapore’s political and business
elite are products of a rigorous meritocracy, in which only those
with high educational achievement and test scores advance. Indeed, parents aspire for their children to become government
administrators, who are well paid and respected. Education is
paramount to Singaporean families, and Singapore’s educational system—preschool through university—is strikingly good.
The governing elite, comprised of a relatively small
group of people, have a shared vision of what is best
for their country. Their intervention and planned apThough Lee was often intolerant, he was also
proach to Singapore’s development has been in many
undeniably competent and honest. Corruption
ways considered more paternalistic than totalitarian.
—a crushing force against economic and social
Though Lee was often intolerant, he was also undeniprogress in some parts of the world—has been
ably competent and honest. Corruption—a crushing
force against economic and social progress in some
nonexistent in Singapore since independence.
parts of the world—has been nonexistent in Singapore
since independence.
Further, the government recognized its port and harbor as
a lifeline and poured as much capital into the facilities there
as it could afford. To encourage foreign investors to travel and
conduct business in Singapore, the government also devoted
capital to building hotels and an airport, and founded Singapore Airlines. Reinvestment of capital into infrastructure
critical to growth was a key component of the government’s
economic strategy.
Lee Kuan Yew’s government exercised a degree of central
control rarely seen in successful economies. Lee and a few associates promulgated a series of coordinated economic and social
plans encompassing economic development, fiscal and monetary policy, savings and investment requirements, and labor
and immigration laws. The government’s plans were flexible,
though, and revised as circumstances warranted. Despite this
strong central control, the government’s goals for Singapore
were transparent and well-known to Singapore’s citizens—
who benefitted greatly from the island’s economic progress and
therefore were widely supportive of the plans and goals.
2 The HBS Singapore case was written in 1993 and updated in
1995. While Singapore is experiencing negative effects of the
current global economic recession, the island’s historic context and
development strategies continue to influence its ongoing course.
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Economic Miracle
Singapore’s per capita GDP grew at a nearly 9% average annual
rate for 25 years, rising from just over $500 in 1965 to nearly
$14,500 in 1991—a level exceeded in Asia only by Japan, and
well above the GDP levels of many members of the OECD
(Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation).
In 1991, immediately following Lee’s more than 30 years as
prime minister, Singapore’s port, the world’s busiest for the fifth
consecutive year and the most efficient, overtook Hong Kong
to become the world’s largest container port. Its oil installations
were third in the world in refining capacity, and Singapore was
the world’s third largest oil trading center. In a survey of business
travelers, Changi airport was voted the world’s best for the third
straight year. Government-owned Singapore Airlines, regularly
named the best airline in the world, was also the most profitable.
Euromoney magazine named Singapore the second least risky
country in Asia and the second best economic performer in the
world, and the World Competitiveness Report scored Singapore’s
telecommunications infrastructure the best in the world.
Implications for Higher Education
Perhaps the most striking aspect of the Singapore case is the
extent to which the government’s strategy fit the context within which it necessarily had to play out. Lee and his small
Maps of Singapore and Surrounding Region
N
China
India
Taiwan
Guangdong
Myanmar
Hong Kong
Laos
Thailand
Pacific Ocean
Philippines
South China
Sea
Kampuchea
Vietnam
Brunei
M a l a ysi a
Singapore
I n d o n esi a
Indian Ocean
N
Penang
Strait of Malacca
South China Sea
Malaysia
Malay Peninsula
Kuala Lumpur
Indonesia
Sumatra
Malacca
Singapore
Batam
Bintan
Riau Islands
Indian Ocean
cohort of the governing elite recognized that the tiny island
couldn’t thrive on its own with an uneducated workforce and
nothing to export. The island’s strength lies in its location
and natural port, and early on the government’s economic
development strategy focused on improving that port and its
facilities, and then moved on to build a world class airport
and airline. Clearly, Lee was very much aware of Singapore’s
strengths and weaknesses, and developed policy and direction based upon that knowledge.
The government’s plans and strategies for economic development were transparent to Singaporeans, who felt well
taken care of as there were jobs and housing to be had. Lee
was remarkably successful at getting people to sacrifice and
work hard for the economic good of all largely because of
the very tangible benefits and incentives for doing so—the
government’s focus on housing was key in this regard. Beyond that, though, widespread support of the government’s
plans was undergirded by the long-term cultivation of a
culture that defined a Singaporean as someone who works
hard and contributes to the national economic success.
Further, while intrusive, the government also was responsive to citizens’ concerns via a ministry whose only mission continues today to be to handle complaints—which
it does so promptly. Because the
government’s goals were both well
communicated and largely being
met, popular support was widespread and extended to a collective
Lee was remarkably
commitment to the success of the
successful at getting
whole. The importance of transparency and open communication in people to sacrifice
building collective and productive and work hard for the
goodwill was well understood by economic good of all
Lee and his government.
largely because of the
Lee was a leader of unquestioned
very tangible benefits
integrity, driven by his lifetime pasand incentives for
sion to create a prosperous Singapore. He attracted the best people doing so…
to government both by paying them
well and establishing a meritocratic
culture that held government officials in high esteem. The government was trusted not only
because Singapore thrived, but also because it was completely
free of corruption. Acceptance of the remarkably high savings
requirement, which clearly required sacrifice, for example,
was bolstered by trust in the government and its obvious capital investments in the port, housing, and other infrastructure projects. Corruption clearly is not the issue on college
campuses that it is for some developing nations; nevertheless,
the importance for successful leadership of decision making
based on stated values and principles cannot be overstated.
Similarly, throughout his decades in power, Lee openly
admitted policy mistakes and adapted economic development strategies by changing course as circumstances demanded. The government’s strategic adaptability helped to
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sustain a collective commitment to its goals, as did clarity
and honesty in communications about its plans.
and a sustained commitment to a common goal, and achieved
that goal in impressive fashion by building a strong and prosperous Singapore.
Conclusion
Lee Kuan Yew was an enormously popular leader, both within
Singapore and beyond. Today, at the age of 86, he remains
widely respected. Lee continues to serve Singapore as a “minister mentor” and is a columnist for Forbes magazine as well.
Yet without question, Lee’s sometimes harsh and intolerant
semi-socialist control of Singapore is a far cry from the shared
governance that prevails at colleges and universities. That
said, his success story in a place where an entirely different
story very well could have been written is instructive. Lee
satisfied multiple constituencies, including those as diverse as
Singapore’s many uneducated and jobless citizens in the early
1960s and multinational corporations. Lee created a culture
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k
Debora Spar is president of Barnard College, a position she assumed in mid-2008. Prior to that, she was the Spangler Family Professor and Senior Associate Dean, Director of Research at Harvard
Business School. She is the author of numerous articles and books,
including most recently Ruling the Waves: Cycles of Invention, Chaos,
and Wealth from the Compass to the Internet (2001) and The Baby
Business: How Money, Science, and Politics Drive the Commerce of
Conception (2006). Spar can be reached at [email protected].