Judging Criteria
1. Vision & Mission
- Explain the rationale and purpose of the vision and mission.
- Is the vision and mission consistent with the company’s business objectives?
- Were there any changes made to the company’s vision and mission during your leadership? If so, please elaborate.
- How do you ensure that employees share the company’s vision and mission?
- What measures or steps have you taken to ensure the company’s vision and mission is fulfilled?
2. Business Operations & Financials
Operations
- Please provide the operational flow chart for your business.
- How does this structure support your business objectives?
- Do you foresee any changes to the current organisation’s structure for future growth?
- What are some of the operational documentations (e.g. SOPs)?
- What are the operational risks, and how confident are you in restoring operations to normal in the event of a crisis?
- How does the company comply with regulations?
- Does the company hold any Intellectual Property rights? If none, how do you protect your business?
Financials
- How has the organisation performed financially in the past 3 years? (2020 - 2022)
- Explain your company’s financial performance.
- How do you ensure a healthy cash flow for the company?
- In the event of an economic downturn, what are some of your priorities within the company?
- How do you plan to raise capital for future growth?
- Please provide the company’s financial forecast for the next 3 years. (2024 - 2026)
3. Business Growth & Sustainability
- State and elaborate the positioning of the company in the industry. (e.g. consumers profile, products, price point, etc.)
- What was the company’s market share over the past 3 years? What are the strategies for increasing the company’s local and/or international market share?
- What are the strategies deployed to grow the organisation’s market share in your industry?
- How do you effectively track and measure the return on investment(s)?
- How do you ensure the company’s sustainability in the long run?
- What are the future plans in place to maximise your business growth locally and internationally?
4. Resourcefulness
- How do you leverage tangible and/or intangible resources to scale your business? (e.g. stakeholder’s expertise or experience, equipment, machinery, technology, etc.)
- Has the company tapped on any government supported initiatives or grants?
5. Innovation & Technology
- Describe how the company has leveraged innovation and technology, products and services to differentiate its business model and/or to improve the company’s productivity and performance.
- Explain how the adoption and integration of technology and innovation measures have impacted the business? (e.g. charted new markets, disrupted existing players, etc.)
- How do you foster innovation and creativity amongst your staff?
- What are some of your R&D efforts? Have they been successful?
- Has your company attain Data Protection Trustmark (DTPM) certification?
*A bonus of 5 points will be awarded to the company that are DPTM-certified by the Final Round of Judging. The company will be required to upload a copy of the DPTM certificate for verification. For more information on DPTM, please visit www.imda.gov.sg/dptm
6. Branding & Communication
Branding
- Describe how the company’s brand is being manifested through A&P activities, marketing collaterals and website.
- What are some of your company’s branding initiatives and strategies?
- How do you evaluate the effectiveness of these initiatives and strategies?
- Was the company a Winner of Singapore Prestige Brand Award (SPBA)?
Communications
- Elaborate on the organisation’s communication channels and initiatives.
- How do you communicate your brand story to your stakeholders?
- Elaborate on your organisation’s communication channels and initiatives to external stakeholders in terms of crisis management.
7. Human Capital and Productivity
- How do you attract and identify talent? Briefly elaborate on your organisation’s hiring and staff induction processes.
- What are some of your HR challenges?
– Retaining talent
– Top management’s awareness of problems faced by staff members at the ground level
- How did you resolve or minimise these challenges?
– Employee empowerment and engagement – Quality of team management
– Employee cohesiveness
– Career progression & skills development
- Is there a system in place to evaluate staff performance and individual learning needs? How is this system implemented?
- How do you retain and nurture young employees/fresh graduates to be part of your management?
- Are there any succession plans in place for your organisation?
8. Social Responsibility and Ethics
- What does Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and business ethics mean to you, and how does it impact the way you run your business?
- What are some CSR initiatives employed by your company?
- How do you encourage your employees to participate in these CSR initiatives?
- Elaborate on how the company has taken measures to ensure fair and ethical business practices with its stakeholders
– Are there rules and guidelines in place to ensure that all employees are aware of the appropriate business conduct?
– What are the other measures taken to ensure that employees deal with clients/suppliers/vendors fairly? How do you monitor your employees’ business conduct?
– How do you monitor your employee’s business conduct?
9. Service Excellence
- What is the company’s promise to its customers?
- What are some of the company’s customer service practices and policies?
‒ How do back-end employees support employees on the frontline?
‒ How do these existing policies differentiate the company from its industry peers?
- How do you measure the effectiveness of your customer service practices and policies?
- What are the measures/systems in place for obtaining customer feedback
– To evaluate company-customer relationship?
- What strategies have you employed to retain your customers and promote customer loyalty?
- How do you ensure that service excellence is not compromised when there is employee turnover?
- Please upload any testimonial from clients or employees.
10. Entrepreneurial Journey
- What were you doing before you started your business?
- What was your initial ambition?
- What inspired you to set up your business?
- What were the difficulties faced when establishing and developing your business?
- How did your leadership qualities help the company overcome the obstacles faced?
- How did you scale up and grow your business?
- What are some of the biggest breakthroughs and achievements as an Entrepreneur?
- Name three key factors that have contributed to your current success.
- When running your business, who were some of your role models (e.g. business leaders from other industries, fellow businessmen from the same sector etc.)? Why did you chose them as your role models?
- What were some important lessons you have learned over the years as an Entrepreneur?
- What are some of your other business portfolios? Describe your involvements in them.
