Export Factoring: A Strategic Alternative for Small Exporters in Singapore

Abstract

IT HAS BEEN GENERALLY ACKNOWLEDGED DR. TA HUU-PHUONG AND TAN SOO-JIUAN are with the Faculty of Business Administration at the National University of Singapore. It has generally been acknowledged that small and medium-sized enterprises are major providers of technological innovation and entrepreneurship. The small-scale advantage permits them to respond more rapidly to market forces than larger firms and to become more competitive in international trade. However, Singapore's SMEs only account for 30 per cent of the country's annual exports. This paper addresses the issue of how export factoring can be used as a strategic alternative in overcoming some of the major export barriers which have been found to inherit small and medium-sized firms in Singapore from initiating and expanding their export operations. The analysis is based on interviews with major financial institutions providing export factoring services in Singapore and on responses to a survey of 1,200 exporters in the manufacturing and services sectors.

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