The Sustained Economic Development of Singapore

Sammanfattning: Inward Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) is a factor of sustained economic development (UNCTAD, 2020). Developing nations have been eager to attract inward FDI in an attempt to stimulate their domestic economy. Since its independence in 1965, Singapore has transitioned from a developing country to one of the world’s strongest economies whilst consistently attracting inward FDI as an intrinsic part of its development strategy. This paper uses a qualitative approach of analytical narrative to analyze the Singapore experience in the context of absorptive capacity factors to answer the research question, “How has Singapore utilized inward Foreign Direct Investments as a tool to achieve sustained economic growth?” This paper finds that Singapore’s government policies were hyper-sensitive to building domestic social capabilities that were continuously updated and expanded to meet the needs and demands of foreign Multinational Corporations (MNCs).