Research Paper on:
Real Estate and Foreign Investment in Malaysia and Singapore

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
and Japanese. Although these countries make up Asia, they have different cultures and ideals and ways of doing things. Also competitive with  one another are Singapore and Malaysia. These two countries have long been neighbors, but with differing philosophies, economies and ways of attracting foreign investors. This paper will attempt to examine  some of the characteristics of both these countries, as well as the rivalry between these two in terms of foreign investment and property. Property has been a main symbol of  wealth in Asian countries, as investors prefer putting their spare cash into bricks and mortar, rather than service industries (Situation Vacant, 1997).  For many years, Singapore was the crown jewel when it came to foreign investment(Asia-Pacific Management Forum, 2002). Malaysia, in the meantime suffered, particularly during the late 1990s (Situation Vacant,  1997). The country, as a whole, offered more amenities, higher business standards, more education, promotion of English as its means of doing business and stronger manufacturing bases than did Malaysia,  its poorer neighbor (Asia-Pacific Management Forum, 2002). As a result, more businesses invested in Singapore, meaning more residents moved into the area (which increased residential and commercial development). However, even  prior to the Asian currency crisis of the late 1990s, business investors were concerned enough by the cost of doing business in Singapore that they naturally turned to lower cost  centers, such as Malaysia, despite the instability of the local economy and political structure (Asia-Pacific Management Forum, 2002). But during the Asian currency crisis, Singapore again was the place to  be - simply because of its stability (Asia-Pacific Management Forum, 2002). More recently, however, Malaysia has become more aggressive in terms of