Singapore has been touted as a success story in development literature. Various theories have been offered to explain how and why the city to state has succeeded, but none of them have received unanimous approval. This report will look at one of the key elements of the Singapore experience: that of a public-business sector alliance and its wider impact on decision-making and policy implementation within the city to state. It begins with a quick review of Singapore’s development over the last forty years and then looks at some of the key
first principles
that animate this success. In particular, it focuses on some of the major agencies responsible for charting Singapore’s development trajectory and the role that the business sector has played, and continues to play, in the evolution of strategies for growth.