Category: Business Matters

Businesses often start out through sole proprietorship or partnerships, with the latter leaning more towards an open company or an open business model in recent years. As time progresses and the company grows, business owners looking for a more stable holding as well as a way to expand their business ventures might see company incorporation as a solution.

When a business goes through company incorporation, the company owners register company and in effect create a separate legal entity called an incorporated business or a corporation. This new entity transforms how business is perceived in terms of legal status.

There are at least three types of corporate structures in Singapore: the C corporation, a separate legal entity controlled only by the company’s shareholders; the S corporation, where shareholders enjoy liability protection and certain tax breaks; and limited liability corporation (LLC), where shareholders and company owners are able to bypass double taxation on corporate profits.

Why Incorporation is Important for Small Businesses

Operating as a corporation does have its share of drawbacks, such as having the need for extensive record keeping and administrative detail, or even creating an additional tax burden. However, this shouldn’t stop small business owners from incorporating through company registration.

While many starting business owners and entrepreneurs launch their companies as sole proprietorships, when they opt to register company in Singapore through SGBusiness or any other business registration firms, changing the structure of that small business can offer far greater advantages. For those businesses that will undergo company registration they will enjoy the following benefits:

• It secures protection for personal assets. Applying for company registration for your incorporated company grants you recognition that your corporate assets are separate from your private assets, though more formalities may need to be observed to obtain this.

• It adds credibility to the business. This added credibility comes from the perception of incorporated businesses in legal terms or otherwise as a more stable business entity than the individual businesses that make it.

• Increased ability to raise capital from and for investments. Investors are more attracted to corporate entities because of limited liability, as shares are easily transferable under that type of company structure.
Additionally, share transferring to new investors is more direct and brokerage firms can easily be tapped for larger public offerings.

• A corporation can last indefinitely. Even if ownership or management changes, corporations and LLCs can continue to exist, while sole proprietorships and partnerships can easily end with the death or leaving of an owner or partner.

• Incorporation grants tax flexibility as well as deductible expenses. A limited liability company has the same tax rate as a sole proprietorship while at the same time limiting the extension of liability to one’s personal assets.

While an entrepreneur setting up a corporation is taxed on both the individual and corporate levels, a corporation can avoid double taxation through electing a Subchapter S tax status.

Steps to Company Incorporation

Before undergoing company incorporation, you must first apply for company registration in Singapore. Because an incorporated business, or corporation, is defined as the merging of two or more businesses, there must be businesses entities to merge in the first place.

However, the requirements for incorporating a company can be different from simple company registration, and need to be prepared before the process:

• Choosing the company name – A clever and unique name is important when registering your Singapore company in http://www.sgbusiness.sg/ to ensure easier brand recognition and add value to your assets. Furthermore, if you register company name that’s unique, it is far less complicated to protect compared to more common names and terms.

• Description of principal business activities – Business owners can select up to two principal business activities at most, though you might also need to register company assets for this.

• Appointment of directors and shareholders – Appointing a board of directors is crucial for a business entity made up of two or more entities. For those looking to register company in Singapore for foreigner businesses, at least one director should be present in Singapore.

• Listing a registered office – A registered physical office must be open for at least five hours on any ordinary business day, and also cannot simply be the address of a P.O. Box. Fortunately, there are many available options when it comes to office spaces, including virtual offices. Business owners can even opt for having a license to operate at home, which can be the case with many an open company.

• Constitution Documents – The principles and policies that define how a company is run are referred to and discussed at length in the company’s memorandum and articles of association (M&AA).

To avoid later complications, the best way to go about any decisions on signing legal documents is to seek a second opinion through legal counsel or by an unconnected professional. If there are multiple owners looking to merge their businesses, a meeting should be called for in order to discuss and finalize this agenda.

• Singpass – For locals and residents of Singapore, Singpass works as a national ID that allows you to lodge the application to register company to the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority online via their electronic portal.

Conclusion

Setting up the type of company structure for your business allows you to maximize its output, as well as chances of success in terms of both financial and operational perspectives. The best way to get started is by consulting with an accountant or a company registration specialist.

Having a company registration specialist or an unaffiliated, third-party consultant to help you figure out the best direction for your business will help you and your future co-owners and business partners to continue and expand your ventures.

The system of customer relationship management is not solely about having an organized approach to your business needs, but it is also one way to maintain and create relationships with your customers. Implementing the CRM system in your business spans beyond pure business goals since it also allows you to hone personal bonding with other people.

Developing this kind of bonding leads your business to achieve new levels of success. For one, having both a personal and emotional link makes it easier for an organization to point out the actual needs of customers, thus allowing them to improve their ways to serve them better. It is believed that the stronger the strategies involved in a business’ customer relationship management are, the more successful the business will be in the long run.

CRM systems
Major businesses have long dedicated their resources and efforts in securing the best CRM system for their business needs. One famous example is the use of CRM software, which makes the system a lot easier to manage in the workplace. Automating the company’s sales reports and sales management is one way to ease the workload of employees. Doing so also makes the cloud CRM data secure and accessible anytime, anywhere.

The competition between businesses in Singapore remains fierce as ever. Majority of them implement the most sophisticated and updated CRM strategies such as the Crystal Dash customer relationship management in Singapore to stay ahead of their rivals. It can be considered an investment for the organization, considering how the business reaps off its benefits in the long run.

How Important is it?
Implementing a cloud CRM software helps you understand both your current and potential customers. It delves into the behavior and needs of these people, allowing your business to adapt accordingly as they change. CRM strategies help your business in a number of compelling ways and here are some of them:

1. Cut customer recruiting costs
Cutting back on operating costs is definitely a helpful move for most businesses. Implementing a CRM software system happens to help companies cut back on customer recruiting costs, especially when it comes to marketing, mailings, customer follow-ups, and order fulfillment.

These expenses might not seem that much when viewed individually, but collectively speaking, it generates a large amount of sum from the company’s budget.

2. Targeted customer relationship management
Aside from helping the company with sales management and sales reports, the CRM system is also focused towards truly understanding your customers and their needs. Knowing what they like and what they don’t like is an advantage, since you can now improve your sales and digital marketing ads from this knowledge alone.

You can better target the products and strategies you sell to match their needs as well. Having a targeted approach wastes no time in meeting the needs of your customers. If anything, it makes your approach as direct as it can get. Successful businesses in Singapore develop a personalized approach to their marketing services and focus on those which are most effective and gives them the best return.

3. Improved communication channels
With a lot of advanced communication channels adapted in various businesses, organizations now have different ways to get in touch with their customers. This includes both offline and online methods since technology has since then evolved. Implementing a CRM system such as https://www.crystaldash.com/ from Singapore into your business allows you to have better communication channels, helping you interact better with customers and serve their needs.

Having improved communication channels is important most especially to large-scale businesses who serve hundreds to thousands of customers.

4. Centralized system
Having easy access to the CRM system data can be very helpful in businesses which are linked from one country to another. Thanks to its centralized system, data can be made available anytime provided they are granted appropriate access to it. This approach greatly reduces an employee’s process time and also increases work productivity as a whole.

Compared to doing the traditional way of business, this centralized system also helps in cutting back the company’s operational costs. For one, there is a less need of files printed on paper and manual labor by staff. This then requires lesser resources to manage. Undoubtedly, having a CRM system in your company keeps things smooth.

5. Gaining new customers
While your company relies heavily on old and returning customers, it is also important for your business to gain new customers in the long run. Nurturing the existing relationship you have with the people who have already purchased from your brand is just as important as gaining new customers who are willing to patronize the products and services you are offering.

Relying solely on your existing and current customer base is no path to success for your business endeavors. You have to find a way to convert those potential customers into returning customers, something a CRM system can help you with. Updated strategies can help you win new customers’ favor over, especially if you operate in such a highly competitive market.

Various CRM tools allow your business to identify potential customers which may be interested in your brand or the product/services you are offering, and with this knowledge, you can focus your marketing efforts on these prospects. People who may become your new customers can be those who have made an inquiry in the past, or those who fit the demographic profile of your targeted consumers.

Overall, adapting a CRM system to address your business needs enhances your reputation as a brand. By constantly providing what your customers need, addressing their concerns, and working on giving them an over-all great customer experience, you are surely to win new and loyal customers in the long run. This is crucial if you want to direct your business into the path of success.

Is it your first time to seek professional logistics services help from a freight forwarding company in Singapore? Don’t worry about not being able to understand most of the terms in your quotation, because this list will help you understand the most commonly used terms in freight forwarding business:

• Air Freight – In simplest terms, air freight is the transportation of goods through a commercial or charter air carrier. It is the task of the freight forwarder to arrange and negotiate with a shipping company that’s connected to an air carrier service.

• Air Waybill – This contract shows the agreement between the shipping company and the air carrier. It also confirms the receipt of good by the carrier.

• Bill of Lading – This is the document that shows the contract between the shipping company and the charter. Customs will need to see this document for clearance and it is also designated as the title of the cargo for sea freight.

• Bonded Goods – These are the goods that are kept in the warehouse because the customs have not yet been paid for the clearance or inspection.

• Carnet – Used for international freight, this document serves as a passport for goods that are eligible for tax-free entry or temporary duty entry.

• Carrier – This is the term used for the party responsible for the physical transportation of the goods. Regardless of whether Singapore freight master has a contract for sea freight, air freight, and land freight, the trucks, cargo liners, and airliners are all called carriers.

• Certificate of Origin – This document will indicate the country of origin or the place where the goods have been produced or manufactured. The freight forwarding services broker can help you arrange this to include the tax information of the exporter, consignee, number and type of package, description of the items, and a unique number.

• Consignee – This is the term used to describe the receiver or buyer of the goods being transported. The consignee can also assist the shipper or sender in arranging for the logistics services of the goods.

• Customs – The department or office that is responsible for the collection of taxes and duties on imported and exported goods. The representative that acts as the intermediary during the customs clearance for the shipper is called the customs broker, while the person that performs the clearance for the consignee or receiver is the customs clearance agent.

• Demurrage or Detention – The shipper or the consignee will be asked to pay extra charges for keeping a shipment in the port or warehouse longer than the allotted time. It is the responsibility of the freight forwarder in Singapore to remind the shipper or consignee of this.

• Door to Door – This is the term used to describe the services that deliver the goods from the origin to the destination. Either the shipper or the consignee is responsible for all the charges of the logistics services and for the arrangement of a contract with a freight forwarder.

• Freight Forwarder – A freight forwarding company will act as your representative to the shipping company and the logistics company. They are responsible for arranging the contracts and making sure that all the parties involved in the transportation of goods will fulfill their roles.

• Freight Broker – The freight broker is the individual sent by the freight forwarder to assist you personally with the documents and fees. The freight broker is licensed and experienced in logistics services and the trade laws.

• Full Container Load – FCL is the term used to describe the full use of ocean containers usually with dimensions of 1 x 20 feet or 1 x 40 feet.

• Full Truck Load – The average size of a truck trailer used by a logistics company is about 53 feet.

• Groupage – If a shipper cannot fill a container, the goods will have to be placed in a groupage or a collection of small consignments that will make up a full load.

• Incoterms – These are international rules that guide the interpretation of foreign trade documents and activities.

• Land Freight – The transport of goods through trucks or rail.

• Less than a Truck Load – This is the term used when other shipments from other shippers are consolidated into one container truck. The term less than a container load (LCL) on the other hand is used for consolidated shipments for ocean container that are later transferred to trucks or rail.

• Modes – This refers to the type of transportation used for the movement of goods. The most common modes of transportation in export and import are trucks, rail, ocean liners, and airplanes.

• Ocean or Sea Freight – The transport of goods via ocean liners.

• Pallet or Skid – This is the name for the wooden 48 x 42-inch platforms used to hold cargo. The shipping company or the shipper can pay for the pallet or skid.

• Security Surcharge – An extra fee charged by the air carrier or the sea carrier. Air freight is based on the weight of the cargo in kilos, while the ocean or sea freight is based on the container, bill of lading, or the revenue ton.

• Shipping or Shipper – This is the term used to describe the person who wants to send the goods or the freight. The shipper will have to talk to a freight forwarder to arrange the transport of goods to the consignee or buyer.

• Through Bill of Lading – This is the document issued by the carrier or the shipping company responsible for the transportation of goods. The specific bill of lading is used for multiples modes, and not just for sea freight.

• Warehouse – The building where the goods can be stored temporarily until all the duties are paid.

• Value Added Tax – The tax imposed based on the value of the goods, which can vary based on the type of items.

If there are other terms not listed here, you should not hesitate to ask you freight forwarder to explain them to you. After all, the freight forwarding services company is supposed to be your partner and representative when it comes to negotiations for local freight and international freight.

If you are interested about property management in Singapore, you should learn about how the industry of real estate operates. This is the best and the only way you will be able to understand the concept of property management Singapore. After that, you will know the ways of how to handle your rental properties.

However, if you’re a busy individual with no enough time to manage property rentals, you can make use of a property manager’s services. The property manager is the link between the renter and the owner, and the person accountable for monitoring the properties owned by individuals. A property owner that can’t afford to spend extra time to look for renters, listen to renter complaints, and collect rents, can hire the services of property manager to get all those tasks done.

Identification

The property manager is the person who manages commercial or residential rental property. He is employed to do all the works that the owner is supposed to do. Some of his duties may include searching for and screening of renters, arranging repairs of the property, collecting rents, addressing renter’s complaints, and doing evictions. Also, the property manager to hire should be legitimate and are certified real estate professionals determined by the law, like those property managers in estate info from Singapore.

Features

A property manager, who is a certified estate agent, has to be a broker or needs to be under a broker. For collected rents that are not given straight to the owner, they all go into a trust account. This type of account is especially made by brokers for this type of businesses, and is where all collected payments should be deposited. From the trust account, the property manager can make payments for property repairs and renovations in case the need arises.

Function

When hiring a manager, the owner agrees to the terms and conditions of property management, including the amount paid to the manager, the procedure to be done, and the consequences if terms are not followed. The payment given to the manager is based on the agreed percentage of total monthly earning of the owner’s properties. Cleaning and security deposits are usually handed to the manager and are deposited to the trust account, instead of given straight to the owner. For late payments, they are either given to the manager or the property owner, depending on what’s stated in the contract. Some contracts may also include that the property owner will be accountable for estate fees if the property is sold in the duration of the contract. To make sure, consult a property manager from estateinfo.sg in Singapore to know your rights as a property owner and your responsibility to your tenants.

Considerations

A property manager must responsibly follow the rules and regulations and the standard rental practices. Housing laws condemn the discrimination of clients based on race, sex, color, religion, or national origin. Every country also has specific set of rules that controls the allowable amount of security bond and eviction measures.

Types

Property managers often specialize in residential and commercial properties. In those types, additional specialties are added. Managers that specialize in commercial property may focus in a single commercial property type, such as retail space or warehouses. For residential, property managers may specialize in vacation rentals, seasonal rentals, or full-time rentals.

Protecting your intellectual property through trademarks prompts a cautious assessment of what trademarking entails. Simply put, a trademark is essentially a registered mark which is composed of a unique name, set of words, symbol, device, or a combination of these factors. These marks are primarily used to identify and distinguish a company from the rest – of which includes the specific products and services they offer.

Trademark registration also allows commercial companies to protect their products and stop competitors from using and/or misusing the same products and services. More than just the need to protect your brand, registered trademarks help in instilling brand loyalty among avid customers and in shaping their perceptions regarding the services you offer.

What makes a good trademark?

If you ask this to any trademark attorney in Singapore, they are likely to urge you to come up with a distinct and unique name. It seems like the more exclusive your trademark sounds or appears like, the better it is at protecting your company – but that belief is entirely all up for debate, though.

Business owners often go with generic names initially, only to set their name into something more unique before they officially register trademark. Doing so makes them stand out from the rest of their competitors across the city-state. Hence, coming up with an effective trademark is crucial for any business endeavor.

In general, there are 5 types of brand names when it comes to trademarking:

1. Generic

Generic brand names encompass an entire group/class of products. This category is considerably the weakest; therefore, they cannot be legally trademarked in Singapore. Examples of this type with Singapore trademark registration would be words like: ‘Cold Beer’, ‘Smartphone’, or ‘Bread’. Even though they can’t be trademarked, you may still see these brand names on some commercial products.

These names are still effective, though. People tend to quickly associate them with the products and other commodities they need because they are simple and easy to remember. But because they are far too generic, these brand names cannot be used to register TM nor used exclusively by a single company.

2. Descriptive

A little step above the generic category is the descriptive brand names, which are still notably difficult to protect. They’re called descriptive because of the adjective/descriptor present before a generic word. You won’t have a hard time distinguishing generic names from descriptive ones. The presence of any descriptive word effectively kicks them up a notch than mere generic brand names.

Examples of descriptive trademarks include Burger King, Pizza Hut, and Holiday Inn – all of which has earned legal trademark protection. That means, corporate owners of these companies possess the right to prevent other establishments from copying their name or coming up with a brand name which is closely like theirs.

3. Suggestive

Suggestive brand names have greater chances of acquiring legal protection. Names such as Greyhound and Amazon are highly correlated with something else – thus they invoke the power of analogy. The word ‘greyhound’ generally refers to a certain dog breed, but in this case, it is a registered trademark for an intercity bus common carrier (Greyhound Lines, Inc.). Meanwhile, ‘Amazon’ is the name of a race of Greek female warriors, but the word is now trademarked for one of the biggest online shopping sites internationally.

Although they’re notably harder to market compared to other types of brand names, having suggestive marks make it easier to register trademark.

4. Fanciful

Perhaps one of the most interesting parts in trademark registration, the use of fanciful and unique names is also considered the easiest to protect. Using this category of brand names requires creativity and wittiness. Since they’re distinct, fun, and easily protected by the law – a lot of business start-ups opt to create or coin fanciful trademarks themselves.

This trend can be observed in the tech world, notably in brands such as Xerox (a global corporation which sells document solutions), Twitter (an online news and social networking service), and Google (a sought-after company specializing in Internet-related services and products).

5. Arbitrary

The last category belongs to arbitrary brand names. These are names which appear to be generic, but they possess certain trademarkable traits because of the obvious way they’re used out of context. For instance, the global oil company Shell was able to trademark the name because the product and services they offer to the public are unrelated to ‘seashells’.

Another example would be “Apple” computers and smartphones. The tech giant gained trademark rights over the name because their business endeavor was not in line with selling produce. Obviously enough, not even a bit.

The process of trademark registration doesn’t just happen overnight. After you sign the documents, you need to give it time before the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore or other related government institutions review your application. Some cases take about 3-6 months of processing time, others even take up to years.

Companies who applied for generic and descriptive brand names were notably the ones who took time in waiting for their trademarks to be legally registered. The board must first ensure there’s no opposition from third parties and there’s no existing business which already uses the same name before they can bestow you the legal rights to protect your brand name.

To protect your brand efficiently, allot generous amount of time in brainstorming about potential trademark names. It is also encouraged to seek the assistance of trademark attorneys before you proceed on applying for your trademark to reduce any chances of errors and fines.