Mr Stephen Lee Yen Ching

Former Chairman
Singapore Business Federation

Topic Synopsis

If You Don’t Manage Your Brand, Your Competitors Will Do It For You

If you are a Singapore company, there is one thing that you would do well to remember: Whatever you can do, you competitors can do also. And the scary thing is, they might even do it better and cheaper than you. This situation has resulted in products within any given category becoming more and more commoditised. The only difference between these products is usually the brand which is not so easy for competitors to copy. Mr Stephen Lee will talk about what Singapore companies need to do to manage this strategic asset better so that they can be more competitive on the international arena.

Biography

Mr Lee was appointed Chairman of SIA Engineering Company with effect from 1 January 2006.

He is the Managing Director of Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank (Taiwan) and Great Malaysia Textile Investments Pte Ltd.

At present, Mr Lee is the Chairman of Singapore Airlines Ltd. He serves as a Director of BAOSTEEL Group (Shanghai), Shanghai Commercial Bank Ltd (Hong Kong), Singapore Labour Foundation and Kidney Dialysis Foundation.

Mr Lee has been the President of the Singapore National Employers’ Federation since 1988 and is a Council Member of the Singapore National Wages Council. He was also Chairman of Singapore Business Federation. He served as Chairman of International Enterprise Singapore from 1995-2002 and of PSA International Pte Ltd from 2002-2005 and was a Director of Neptune Orient Lines Ltd from 2000-2002.

Mr Lee was a Nominated Member of Parliament from 1994-1997 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order Award in 2006 and the Public Service Star Award in 1998.

He graduated from Northwestern University, Illinois, USA in 1973 with a Masters in Business Administration.