We live in a time of change. These changes are transforming industries and the way organisations compete. They are causing shifts in the balance of economic and political power around the world. In this era, the ability to innovate will separate the leaders from the followers in all industries.

At the same time, globalisation is taking root. This is an economic phenomenon with social, cultural and technological consequences. Sociologist Anthony Giddens once defined it as a decoupling of space and time, emphasising that with instantaneous communications, knowledge and culture can be shared around the world simultaneously.

Moving forward, global borderless markets will replace traditional markets defined by national and geographical boundaries. The global market is one with no natural owners.

For enterprises that abhor change, this is a time fraught with uncertainty and challenges. For enterprises that embrace change, it is a time that abounds with possibilities and opportunities.

ST Engg is a company that wants to grow. Globalisation will enable us to do that. It opens new opportunities and untapped markets beyond our shores. It gives us access to new capabilities to enhance our existing expertise.

However, to globalise successfully, we need to maximise the use of our most valuable assets. Our ability to innovate, our human capital, business excellence in our processes and our brand equity are the building blocks in our globalisation drive. We are developing new solutions in growth areas – like homeland security – to help our customers and communities tackle shifting global scenarios.

As a corporate citizen of the world, it is our responsibility to apply our capabilities towards creating a better and safer world. We need to balance profits and principles through corporate social responsibility. We must also ensure that the products and systems we develop are of international safety standards and provide safe working environments for our customers, partners and employees.

We have made the internationalisation of our business a core objective in recent years. We believe that an increased global presence and network is absolutely critical to sustain long term growth for our stakeholders. Allow me to share some of my thoughts.

(I) Innovating to Manage Change and Create Value

Successful global enterprises are innovative enterprises. However, innovative enterprises may not always be successful ones. To leverage the full value of innovation within an enterprise requires three things.

Firstly, a culture of innovation. Innovation is a mindset. The leadership must chart and clearly communicate an innovation mission and strategy for its people. A workforce accustomed to thinking out-of-the-box will yield a rich pool of ideas containing gems of creation. Experimentation and tolerance of failure are encouraged in innovative organisations. Only by trying the impossible or improbable can the boundaries of knowledge be pushed further and further.

Secondly, a framework for capturing and sustaining innovation. Enterprises need to take a disciplined and integrated approach to encouraging, documenting and rewarding innovation. The framework should also provide steps to transform a conceptual idea into a revenue generating solution.

Thirdly, the development and use of advanced technology must be a way of life. A focus on ongoing research and development (R&D) should be supported through good and bad times. To take this a step further, emergent or disruptive technologies should be sought out to avoid being waylaid by unexpected technology trends.

Information systems and new applications can provide useful and collaborative platforms for sharing and enhancing knowledge. For example, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions can help significantly improve customer service levels through the intelligent use of software and open standards. Today, our Aerospace sector uses CRM and other online applications to provide customers with remote access to secured, integrated and efficient information on their aircraft.

Thomas Jefferson once said, “Every generation needs a new revolution." The revolution of our time will be centred on ideas, cultures and technologies. An investment in innovation therefore is an investment in our future. Innovation leads to value creation and long term sustainable growth. It can contribute significantly to an enterprise’s market capitalisation, customer trust, as well as its attractiveness as an employer.

(II) Human Capital is a Primary Driver for Success

As we move towards a knowledge-based economy, the value of human capital will grow as it represents the combined knowledge, skills and capabilities of an organisation collected through the years.

The recruitment of the right people for the right job used to be considered a necessary but mundane task. Today, human resource professionals take their place by the side of CEOs, providing strategic counsel on people development.

Physicist and Nobel Laureate Albert Einstein summed it up nicely, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." It is this spirit of discovery that we strive to develop in our people.

At ST Engg, our emphasis on developing our people into creative, thinking, innovative individuals and team players helps us meet our business objectives. However, for a group as diverse as ours, accomplishing this is not an easy task. Each business unit operates under different conditions and industry expectations. As we grow globally, we will have to deal with the issues that come from managing an international workforce. We believe that effective communications, internal and external, will help us make that path a smoother one.

Internal communications is absolutely vital because employees who understand the corporate vision will be able to play their role in achieving these business objectives and become ambassadors for our brand values.

Creating a knowledge-based workforce to compete effectively in a global market also requires the ongoing enhancement of skills. Training paths should be charted on long term goals, and reviewed periodically to maintain relevance. With the rapidly falling cost of communications, the Web has become a cost effective tool for delivering training and collaboration to a global workforce.

The real latent power in human capital can only be realised when employees are informed, enabled and motivated. They must be treated like valued partners working in an interdependent ecosystem. Only then can we stimulate the generation of ideas that will have a positive impact across our operations.

(III) Developing Our Brand

A brand is more than a name, a trademark or a logo. A brand stands for and communicates an organisation’s values. These values, if deemed credible to the marketplace, form brand equity. It is what differentiates one enterprise from another. And it has financial value, often adding a premium to a company’s share price or total assets.

Successful global enterprises have clearly defined brands. They communicate the organisation’s key value proposition to its customers. Strong brands endure and continue to communicate value even when traditional product lines give way to new ones.

Brands also open doors. They open doors to a customer’s mind and encourage him or her to purchase one product over another. They open doors to new markets, partnerships and opportunities that are unavailable to lesser known brands.

Brand guru David Ogilvy once said, “Any damn fool can put on a deal, but it takes genius, faith and perseverance to create a brand." At ST Engg, we hope our brand will grow to become our calling card when we visit potential partners and new customers. It represents what we stand for – integrity, service and our willingness to go the distance.

(IV) Safety for Our Customers, People and Community

As an industrial enterprise, the safety of our customers, partners, suppliers, employees and community is something that is very close to my heart, and critical in our quest to become a global enterprise.

When developing, maintaining or upgrading products or systems, safety is a primary guiding principle for us. Performance and cost efficiency, while important in their own right, are never allowed to override this principle. Our customers and partners have come to depend on this and we cannot let them down.

Workplace safety in industrial environments is very different from safety in a typical office environment. Accidents have profound impact not only on the victims and their families but also on the organisation as a whole. It saps the corporate energy and credibility, shakes the confidence of the customers and affects the morale of the staff. Creating a safe working environment and ensuring safe practices in whatever we do is the paramount duty of every organisation.

Beyond keeping our people and customers safe, we feel we have an even higher duty – one owed to the community. Our homeland security solutions address a different aspect of safety. They provide governments and other organisations with the systems and solutions to keep nations and communities safe from harm.

What does it take to achieve this level of safety? The basic building blocks are a commitment to safety, a comprehensive safety management policy, and the determination to implement that policy. Not just a commitment on paper. We take this very seriously because we know that any lapse can have grim and irreversible results for our customers, our partners, our people and the communities in which we operate.

Maintaining a consistently high level of safety in all we do requires a safety culture and vigilance on the part of all employees, partners and contractors. Keeping entire communities safe requires even more discipline and innovative technology. With the commitment and help of everyone involved, it is a goal we must strive towards together.

(V) Balancing Profits and Principles for Long Term Gain

Global enterprises today navigate complex and fast changing economic, environmental and social challenges while addressing public demand for greater transparency and accountability.

A corporate social responsibility strategy incorporates an understanding of and respect for local and global concerns into an enterprise’s operations. This can provide a competitive advantage to global enterprises by enhancing its brand image and sales, as well as attracting and retaining a quality workforce. It also enables an enterprise to make decisions consistent with local requirements and in the long term, manage risk more efficiently.

Balancing profits and principles has always been a core tenet of ST Engg’s operations. We believe that to compete successfully, we must develop ethical and responsible business policies and practices that are applied without exception across our operations. Our solutions are designed to help governments and private enterprises ensure national security, protect the public and preserve important social and cultural values.

As we take our place on the global stage, we will continue to demonstrate a sensitivity and respect for people, communities and the environment.

(VI) Conclusion

Balancing the complex and sometimes competing objectives of creating shareholder value and social responsibility is part and parcel of building a global enterprise.

We have taken major steps in our globalisation thrust and will continue to do so in the coming years.

An ongoing focus on innovation will give us the competitive edge we need to participate in the international arena. At home and abroad, our people will be both our chief enablers and our most valuable asset. We will build on the ST Engg brand so that it continues to open doors for us in markets we choose to enter. Technology – both in terms of information systems and R&D efforts – will provide the platforms and solutions to enable us to serve our global customer base better. Even as we face increased competition and seek to address new threats like terrorism, we remain committed to acting with integrity and compassion in everything we do.

Globalisation will enable us to extend our efforts to protect all that is important in life to homelands beyond our own. We have the capabilities, the commitment and the passion to succeed. The future is a landscape which we can help shape – for the better. Can we predict the future? No, we cannot. Can we prepare for it? Yes, we can.