I have only worked in Malaysia and Singapore to compare.
Working in Malaysia have 2 extreme sides. Companies which are too comfortable with what and how they are doing things, will not improve. Therefore I have been doing the ‘same thing’ despite being in IT field. These are usually GLC.
Companies where the bosses keep changing and flipping their mind always, the staff need to change strategy or direction every other month before seeing that fruit. End results are the same…both do not progress. Keep beating round the bush at the same spot.

Then comes Singapore…I think it’s the culture of Singaporean to keep learning and keep improving (could also be the reason why they complain a lot). They complain but they work to find a solution for it. The companies have vision and they actually want to improve. Always in discussion about optimisation, improve quality and increase productivity or efficiency.

Apart from currency, I think it’s the value that you get from the employee. In Asia we have offshore offices in Malaysia, China and Vietnam. The brain is in Singapore and a few key positions are in China. Malaysia and Vietnam is just kaki tangan…and between the 2, the malaysia office productivity is lower.