3.8 Summary

the factors that support their positive outlook beyond the four aspects of business strategy. Among those who may be at-risk yet reported positive business outlook, 65% were dependent of government funding irrespective of the amount, a quarter reported that more than 80% of their business were dependent on government funding.

3.8 Summary

To sum up, the TAE sector is dominated by the private sector and close to 94% were locally owned. About 57% of TPs offered at least one national WSQ programme, and 74% tapped on various government schemes and funding. Among all the TPs that answered our survey, two thirds were micro-SMEs with an annual turnover of less than S$1 million.

While 18.7% (n=57) of locally owned TPs already have international presence or subsidiary / branch in other countries, another 50% were planning to establish partnerships with overseas training institutions, with the aim to enhance their products and services and improve business performance.

About one third of TPs adopted up-to-date technologies, led the way in developing new products, highly customized their products and services to clients’ needs, and were least dependent on price to gain competitive success. In contrast, 13% of TPs were doing least in all these four aspects and may be at risk of being sustainable in the long run. Of the at-risk TPs that reported increase in business performance and positive business outlook, around 60% them were dependent on government funding to varying extent.