THE PRINTING AND PUBLISHING INDUSTRY OF SINGAPORE

Abstract

The objective of this Academic Exercise is to highlight the factors affecting the local printing and publishing industry, the problems it faces and its future prospects. The importance of the industry cannot be disputed as shown by its contributions to the manufacturing sector and exports. However, it is facing rapid technological changes. It is found that the most important force affecting the industry is the bargaining power of the labour force. The rapidly growing wage rate and the insufficiency of skilled craftsman have resulted in manpower problem. Another influential force is the higher level of competition among the domestic publishers. The injection of bold young entrepreneurs into the industry has raised the level of competition in the publishing industry. Simple linear regression models are used to estimate domestic and international demand functions. It is found that the domestic demand is significantly influenced by GNP. International demand functions for the countries studied are however not uniform. GNP is found to significantly influence the demand functions of the various foreign markets studied. For the United States and the United Kingdom, demand is also significantly influenced by the exchange rate. A simple comparative regression model is used to compare the performance of the printing and publishing industries of several countries. Controlling for the level of per capita income, it is found that the local industry's output is lower than expected. A possible reason may be that imports, more than local products, serve to meet the domestic demand. Several problems are faced by the industry. The shortage of experienced manpower is the most critical problem as printing is an art, a craft and a science. Major changes in the printing process are faced by the industry in the printing process with the continuously advancing technology. Today, a greater proportion of the printing process involves the use of computers. The industry has bright prospects and continued growth can be expected. Markets such as China and Gemany have good growth potential and it is advocated that these potential markets be tapped. The industry however must not neglect the need to keep pace with the rapid technological changes and the potential that these changes represent. The growth of the electronic medium will also have considerable effect on the industry. Through better and more comprehensive training of the management, it is believed that the industry will be able to better cope with the challenges it faces.