ABSTRACT
Singapore is a small city state which has a land area of approximately 647.5 sq km and a population of just over three million, and is not well endowed with natural resources. Nevertheless, it has successfully attracted large numbers of Japanese and Western multinational corporations (MNCs) to invest in the manufacturing and finance/business services sectors, thanks largely to its locational advantages, and it enjoys the second largest per capita GNP (US$31,208 in 1996) in Asia after Japan (US$36,974) (Somucho Tokeikyoku 1998:81).
