Enterpreneurship

Over the weekend (actually a few weekends ago), I was walking along Orchard Road, hoping to find some latest trend or inspiration in town. A teenager (actually a group of 4) stopped me and started explaining to me that he is attending a course on entrepreneurship, and is now on the practical session of the course. They explained that they had their money taken and now to get back to the class, they have to raise cash by selling packets of tissue paper. After some explanation, they asked me how much I was willing to pay for the packet of tissue. Of course, being a miser, I was not willing to pay anything more than 20cts. To my surprise, what they wanted was $10. I dropped my jaw. That was as good as daylight robbery. Why do I need to pay him $10 for something that I do not need, and even if I need that, I could get it at fraction of that price. That was absolutely crazy. To top that up, they even sarcastically asked, “Do you know what entrepreneurship is?” My wife said no and they happily came up with their answer “企业 qi3 ye4”. To me that was just a translation, not an answer.

Back home, I thought about that incidence. Is entrepreneurship an act of generating profit? To some, the answer is yes. This becomes a philosophical question. To me, entrepreneurship is about creating value. The entrepreneur creates something desirable for the exchange of cash. The person getting the creation must feel satisfied with what he is getting. Otherwise, the transaction becomes a rip-off (daylight robbery).

I can understand why there is such a lopsided understanding about entrepreneurship. The financial outcome is glorified while the value creation portion is muted. So, to all the entrepreneur wannabe, start creating value for the society and people will be willing to pay for it. It is never about creating fools (some called it scams).

Taxi

The taxi prices in Singapore is not flexible enough (I didn't say that they are fixed by some company enjoying monopoly and BB support - the 2nd B stands for brother).

How taxi companies set the meter prices I do not understand. Do they get LTA approval (like buses and MRT) to set the boarding price at $2.50 or $3.00 or do they just implement whatever they like? I do not think LTA should get involved to approve this because taxi is considered as operating in a free market as oppose to buses and MRT, which are for the ultramasses. Taxi is a "private service".

For now, the leading company sets the pricing and then the smaller ones follow. This creates a homogenous market. I do not know whether differentiation is impossible or that it is hampered by the monkey-see-monkey-do mentality. For the consumer at this moment, it doesn't matter whether he takes a blue taxi or a red taxi - the price is the same and the comfort level (no pun intended) does not vary noticeably - as long as he is able to get one when he wants one.

So comes the problem - how to get one? If one decides to take the taxi, he has already made up his mind to pay a premium for his journey. Otherwise there are buses and trains with predictable timetables. But when the willing payer cannot find a taxi, he calls. Unfortunately, there are other willing payers as well. Add that up, it becomes a demand. To tap into these demands, taxi drivers do what they can do within their means - wait for the beepers or negotiate a price. The call center efficiency has been validated umpteen times at the 9pm time slot. Taxi drivers are more innovative than that, and they negotiated a willing-buyer-willing-seller deal. Unfortunately, this falls outside the "legal" limits. The willing buyer cannot get his taxi and the willing seller is restricted by the "law". Lose-lose situation? I say yes.

One suggestion is that the red or pink or gold colour taxi can have a different pricing system. Start fare at $5, flat fee for on-call or off-call, CBD to anywhere at fixed price $20, etc, etc...Compete in a different manner instead of relying on ONLY the call system. Call system benefits only the company which enjoys the economy of scale. Consumers have the rights to pay whatever he can afford. Keep the pricing system open and the demand and supply will balance out.

The place I stayed in has a splendid taxi system. The town has a main road and the taxis ply up and down along this road. You can take a taxi to anywhere within the service area and the cost is a flat fee of 1.50. Anyone can board the taxi anytime and sometimes you get to share the taxi with a stranger, sometimes 3 strangers.

Retirement

There is too much talk about retirement. The newspaper had an advertisement with a tropical island depicting retirement. It looks as though that is a destination for the people in Singapore. The government is emphasizing that we must have enough retirement fund for our old age. It becomes really confusing...what is retirement?

If my computer becomes no longer usable, I retire it. If I feel sleepy at night, I retire in bed. The dictionary has various definitions for the word "retire". The street too defines retirement differently.

It seems to me that in Singapore, retirement means having enough money to spend for the rest of one's life. The financial aspect is heavier than the actual action of retiring from something - and that something is active employment. We are so confused - employment, income, retirement, useful work, useless work - they are all so mixed up.

My friend in their 30s are saying that they want to retire by the age of 40 or 45. To me, retirement only happens when one becomes useless, much like the computer that I retired when it no longer runs. But I know what they mean. When they said retire, they actually meant achieving a state of financial independence or freedom. In other words, they don't need to work for wages, and can still live life comfortably.

Just imagine, if one is borned with a silver spoon, and he doesn't need to work a single day to earn his living, does that mean that he is borned a retiree? No. Therefore, retirement should not be confused with the financial state of health. A person retires when he has to retire, not when he has certain amount of money. A person with that money even after quiting active employment can continue to do useful things. Likewise, a person without that money sometimes continue doing useless things just to earn himself a living.