Transborder Business: The “Capital” Input in Singapore Enterprises Venturing into ASEAN and Beyond

After decades of inviting foreign companies to invest in Singapore, the government of the city-state recently has started to encourage domestic entrepreneurs to expand their businesses abroad. This paper investigates the various ways in which domestic Singaporean businesses respond to these policy measures. Focusing on shifts in capital input - defined in terms of economic (start-up capital), social (networks), and cultural (certified knowledge) capital - three different transborder business strategies are identified: conventional, hybrid, and new. In contrast to conventional (that is, family-based and governmentinitiated) patterns of transborder ventures, entrepreneurs rely on personalized networks to expand their businesses into a myriad of foreign countries. A hybrid and rather popular strategy is being a subcontractor of multinational corporations, which leaves risks involved with transborder business expansion to the contractor, while benefiting from new production sites and markets.