By Linette Lai

MOVE out of your comfort zone and look beyond Singapore in search of business opportunities.

This was the message to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from a conference on how companies can navigate their way through the economic storm.

Management consultants, risk advisers and other experts shared their thoughts on the challenges SMEs face in the downturn and outlined measures that can keep firms afloat.

They warned that the standard reaction by bosses to cut costs and put investment on hold during a slowdown is not the the way to go.

'Companies with foresight know that the search for cost-cutting measures must be balanced out with investment to better secure new opportunities and efforts to improve operational processes,' said Mr Lawrence Leow, Association of Small and Medium Enterprises president.

He added that companies that had emerged successfully from previous downturns did not sacrifice long-term health in their efforts to reduce expenses.

SMEs were also advised on what they should look for when searching for opportunities outside of Singapore.

Mr Teng Theng Dar, Singapore Business Federation chief executive, told the 180 or so participants at the conference that firms should target relatively undeveloped regions like Africa, South America and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

'You want to go for two things: a high-growth market and a lot of growth opportunities. That's where you go in,' he said.

Speakers at the EnterpriseOne Business Information Services conference also highlighted factors they felt were hindering entrepreneurship here.

Mr Viswa Sadasivan, CEO of corporate strategy consultants Strategic Moves, said: 'Speaking as an SME myself, I think SMEs in Singapore are quite spoilt...to a point where the raw entrepreneurial spirit is somewhat blunt.'

He was referring to the many government schemes that have been set up to encourage SMEs and provide them with funding, almost spoiling them for choice.

'The Taiwan entrepreneur will reject, on principle, any funding by the government. That's the level of their pride. So I think to some extent, we also need pride,' he added.

Mr Leow felt that local entrepreneurs are crippled by their tendency to keep their ideas to themselves.

'When I do business over in other countries, I meet my counterparts, and after the meetings, they get together to share and discuss,' he said.

'But for Singaporeans, they don't want to share. They are afraid of competition. If you are not prepared to share and give trust, it's a problem.'

But Mr Teng cited the scepticism home-grown entrepreneurs often face.

'A question that is now becoming the norm in Singapore is: 'What is your justification (for taking a particular course of action)?' Bill Gates did not justify. HP (Hewlett-Packard) did not justify. None of them have ever justified to anyone. If you ask for justification, I think you are definitely not encouraging entrepreneurship.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.