Uae Product In Singapore

1. Introduction

This report aims to undertake cultural and economic analysis of Singapore. The country analysis will assist and guide us in the development of the marketing plan for exporting dates from UAE to Singapore. The country analysis is considered to be the first step in the development of the marketing plan, and for a foreign market expansion is considered by a company for its products. As a company in UAE “Bateel” is planning to export dates (produced and packaged in Dubai), this report will guide the company to formulate its marketing plan, marketing mix and marketing strategies based on the findings of the country analysis. The report undertakes country analysis in two main categories, cultural analysis and economical analysis.

In this project we have decided to choose the Republic of Singapore as the country that we wish to export to. The product that we will export is Bateel dates, which is a world-class brand that offers luxurious dates with a unique taste. We thought about the country and what are the products that they still don’t have. Also, we kept in our mind that Singapore is a very developed country and have mostly a high class population.

Therefore, we found out that they don’t have dates, and thus we decided to export Bateel dates. Bateel offers high quality products and they constantly develop their products to match the new needs of different customers.

2. Brief discussion of Singapore’s History

Singapore was mentioned as early as in the 3rd Century when a Chinese writing described the island as it was at the tip of the Malay Peninsula. When traders used to sail between China and India, they used to see an island over the top of Malay in 5th Century. Later the island became a trading outpost of ancient kingdom of Srivijaya, which was based in Sumatra (Indonesia). Thus the island influenced the trade of the region greatly from 7th century to 10th century.

Since the 14th century the island of Singapore had only a tiny fishing village called Temasek, and it became an important port in the 14th century until it was destroyed by Portuguese raiders in 1613. However later in the 19th century Singapore became a strategic location with sea ports and the British established a trading post on the island and obtained it as a possession in 1824. Later in 1948 Singapore became a colony of the British, yet in 1959 the British granted Singapore self government, and the first Government of the State of Singapore was sworn in on June 5, with Lee Kuan Yew as Singapore's first Prime Minister.

Furthermore, in 1965 Singapore got their independence and the country started to become a solid economic power, whereas Singapore entered the 1970s as a politically stable state with a high rate of economic growth. Later after the Lee Kuan Yaw, successive governments have continued his policies for encouraging strong social values through legislation. Government projects further the country's five shared values: nation before community and society above self; family as the basic unit of society; community support and respect for the individual; consensus, not conflict; and racial and religious harmony.

Source: CultureGrams online database

3. Geographic Setting

a. Location

The republic of Singapore is an island located in the Southeast Asia islands between Malaysia and Indonesia, and it has 1 main island and about 50 small adjacent islands off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. Part of Singapore occupies land that was reclaimed from the sea through landfill operations. Singapore is actually a city-state; while there are named subsections of the city, there are essentially no rural areas.

Source: Microsoft maps online

Therefore we will be able to transport the packages of dates easily to Singapore, either by air, or even by the sea, whereas it has several sea ports, and a major airport. Later we will discuss the different ways of the transportations.

b. Climate

Singapore lies just north of the equator; the wet tropical climate has no clearly defined seasons. The average annual temperature is 27Ð'oC (81Ð'oF) and the average annual rainfall is 2,400 mm (95 in). Although rainfall is abundant throughout the year, November through January are the wettest months.

Thus we will have the dates packaged carefully to prevent it from ruining in the humid weather, and we will suggest on the package that the dates must be kept refrigerated to help it remain clean and fresh longer, besides directions of storage.

4. Social Institutions

• Family

i. The Nuclear & Extended Family

In July 2007, the total population of Singapore was estimated at 4,553,009. In 1980, the Singaporean household size showed declining trend of an average of 5 persons to 4 persons in 2000. Mostly all Singaporeans lived in nuclear families. Even though both cultures, Indian and Chinese, preferred large extended families, but such families are unusual in Singapore.

ii. Dynamics of the Family

• Parental Roles

Parents roles are vital in every Singaporean family, where parents and their married children prefer to live close to each other. This indicated that the relationship between parents and their married children stays strong and tight. Most Singaporeans, despite age and sex, have the duty to help their family members financially.

• Marriage and Courtship

Among all ethnic groups in Singapore, the Malays take over with the highest part of the households 94% with family nucleus and multi-family nuclei. Singaporeans are known as “family oriented” society. According to a conducted survey in Singapore, it resulted that 82% agreed that it is better for individuals to get married and 90% agreed that they should have children in 2003.

iii. Female/ Male roles

The roles of both male are almost equal in Singapore, due to the shortage in their labor force, the manpower needs the women’s force also as labor. On the other hand, both genders have the same education, and legal rights. However, due to the different cultures available in Singapore, different